"Crazy, Crazy, (Rich) White People!": PS 58's Barclays Nets Sign Gets Tagged

What Took So Long?

This is too funny. One of the two Barclays Nets signs were hung on PS 58's fence about two weeks ago, has been tagged. Someone obviously felt strongly about Barclays' naming rights of PS 58's playground and added "Crazy, Crazy, (Rich) White People" and "When will it end" on stickers now glued to the sign.

The signs created quite a bit of buzz around Carroll Gardens. Barclays Nets Community Alliance paid for part of the Carroll School's schoolyard renovation through an organization called Out2Play. In exchange for the donation, the school allowed the signs to be hung on the fence. (Why Out2Play or former Councilman DeBlasio who secured funding for the renovation did not get the same consideration was never fully explained.) Some in the community, including me, found that commercializing our public playground is a bad idea and creates a slippery slope.

Norman Oder of Atlantic Yards Report, who has been a vocal and tireless critic of Barclays involvement in the Atlantic Yards project, agreed. He writes:

I'd point out that, when Out2Play seeks individual donations, they don't advertise the possibility of getting your name on a school playground. That must be reserved for bigger donors.

Out2Play explains:

Every dollar we raise from the private sector often translates into nine dollars in public funding. Each of our playspaces costs an average of $250,000.

How much did Barclays give to P.S. 58? I haven't checked, but would note that the initial $150,000 grant was supposed to help refurbish eight playgrounds.

That's less than $20,000 a playground--pretty good if you get a sign out of it too... (more here)

Not bad, indeed. Where else can you get a prominent advertising space for approximately $20,000?

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What's The Deal With Barclays Signs On PS 58 Schoolyard Fence?

I am waiting to get more information from Public School 58 and from its PTA on two signs that appeared on the fence of the school yard, which runs along Smith Street. The Barclays Nets signs were hung there yesterday and seem to indicate that there was some corporate sponsorship from the bank best known for the highly controversial 'Barclays Center' arena at Atlantic Yards to the school.

The signs puzzled some of the school's parents yesterday afternoon. If Barclays had given anything to the school, they had not heard about it. Neither had one of the school's teachers, with whom I spoke.

I was told by someone in the office that Barclays paid for the new schoolyard. Though the yard has been totally refurbished last summer, most of the funds had been secured by our former Councilman Bill de Blasio before he left that office.

PS 29 secured the same funds at the same time, renovated their schoolyard and as far as I know, have no corporate sponsorship signs on their fence.

I will follow up with the school to get more information, but whatever monies Barclays coughed up shouldn't give the bank the right to turn a schoolyard into a place for advertisement. What's next? McDonald signs?

Its kind of a slippery slope.

I'll follow up with more information and if you are a PS 58 parent, please enlighten us.

***UPDATE***

A PS 58 mother was kind enough to get the scoop on the signs directly from the school's administration.

She writes:

I got the following info in an email from a school employee this afternoon:
Barclays Nets Community Alliance paid for part of our schoolyard renovation through Out 2 Play. I am told the newly hung signs are part of that agreement. I do not know why they were not received for display sooner. The news of Barclay's involvement was mentioned in a school website article last November. I've copied the text below. In addition, there was a public ribbon cutting ceremony on November 4th to which the entire community was invited. Representatives of the Barclays Nets Alliance made a presentation at the ceremony.

SELECTED NEWS STORY
November 03, 2010
Renovated School Yard Officially Open!
On November 4 at 10 AM, PS 58 officially opened its newly renovated school yard. A once blank slab of cracked asphalt has been transformed into a true play yard marked with colorful areas for both traditional sports and games and free-form dramatic play.
Thanks to Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, former City Councilmember Bill DeBlasio, and the Barclays Nets Community Alliance. Thanks also to Assistant Principal Perlman, who along with parent Cheri Walsh, were instrumental in writing the grant and collaborating with Out2Play, a non-profit organization that designs and refurbishes playgrounds throughout New York City.

Thanks for getting us the info.

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Oh, The Irony! Our Former Councilman Bill De Blasio Launches Community Organizing And Constituent Services Department As Advocate

Hannah Sennesh Day School

Thank goodness Bill De Blasio's two terms as our councilman ended in 2009.
He certainly seemed to be on the opposite side of his constituents on many neighborhood issues. He approved of the Atlantic Yards project, opposed the EPA Superfunding of the highly toxic Gowanus Canal, but supported the Toll Brothers' out of scale development along said canal. And just weeks before leaving the council, he sneakily tried to amend and erode a distinct 150 year-old city law that protects the unique front yards on the Carroll Gardens 'Place' blocks by requesting an exception for Hannah Senesh, the private school at the corner of Smith Street and First Place, so that the school could build an extension on city owned property.

Because of community out-cry, De Blasio decided against pursuing his "Courtyard Caper."

Now, in his first day in office, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio is launching "the Public Advocate’s Community Organizing and Constituent Services Department to help organize communities to play a more meaningful role in City Government." According to a press release from his office, the department "will provide New Yorkers with specific organizing tools and strategies in addition to helping them navigate City bureaucracy and connecting them to the services they need."

“Our communities deserve a greater say in the policies that affect their lives,” said Public Advocate Bill de Blasio. “Giving New Yorkers the tools they need to organize will help make our Government more democratic and responsive to the needs of the people. My office will help neighborhood activists build grassroots coalitions so they can have a greater impact on all levels of government.”

An anonymous reader sent me the following comment regarding Bill De Blasio's announcement:

From today's NYTimes "the city’s new public advocate, Bill de Blasio, will unveil a plan on Monday to train aggrieved residents to organize petition drives, demonstrations and civic actions"

Hey Bill - I'd like to start some civic action to stop the courtyards of our historic neighborhood being developed because of sleazy political backroom deals done by local council members who put their career ahead of their constituents. Wanna help me out with that?

Ironic is right.

Ms. Found In Brooklyn over at her blog is also fuming about De Blasio's hypocrisy.
Check out her post here.

What do you think, dear reader? Would love to know.



For Home Page, click Pardon Me For Asking

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Brooklyn Songwriters Against Atlantic Yards

From Pardon Me For Asking's mailbox

DEVELOP DON’T DESTROY BROOKLYN CONCERT SERIES: BROOKLYN SONGWRITERS AGAINST ATLANTIC YARDS

Brooklyn-based songwriters joining together to raise funds for Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn's legal fight against the “Atlantic Yards” project BROOKLYN, NY, April 2: Some of Brooklyn's finest singer-songwriters are coming together in concert on May 15th at Southpaw to benefit Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB). John Wesley Harding, Richard Julian, and Clare & The Reasons are Brooklyn-based artists joining the ranks of concerned Brooklyn residents speaking out against the proposed Atlantic Yards development project. A concert by these artists will be preceded by a special screening of the short film "Brooklyn Matters", an insightful documentary that reveals the fuller truth about the Atlantic Yards proposal. This concert is the latest installment of a series of events sponsored by DDDB that features Brooklyn-based artists in opposition to the irresponsible development of their neighborhood. These artists share DDDB's view that projects such as the Atlantic Yards pose a direct threat to the character and community of a Brooklyn that has nurtured and supported creative artists. DDDB supporters are pleased to receive such significant backing from the area’s musical community. "It is a great honor to have such accomplished musicians performing to help raise funds and awareness for the legal fight against Atlantic Yards. We are very proud to have their support," said DDDB spokesman Dan Goldstein. Event Details are as follows: Richard Julian, John Wesley Harding, Clare & The Reasons, and surprise guests with a screening of the film "Brooklyn Matters" a documentary on the Atlantic Yards development

Thursday, May 15th
Doors at 630pm ;
Film at 7pm;
Concert at 8pm
Southpaw 125 Fifth Ave Brooklyn, NY 11217
(718) 230-0236
$12 in advance, $15 at the door

For online tickets, go to http://www.ticketweb.com

ABOUT DEVELOP DON’T DESTROY BROOKLYN DEVELOP DON’T DESTROY BROOKLYN (DDDB) leads a broad-based community coalition advocating for development that will unite Brooklyn’s communities instead of dividing and destroying them. DDDB opposes Forest City Ratner's "Atlantic Yards" proposal in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.


ABOUT Brooklyn Matters No single event will have a more drastic and long-lasting impact on Brooklyn than the proposed Atlantic Yards development. This uncommon proposal, however, is mostly misunderstood. Directed by Isabel Hill, Brooklyn Matters is an insightful documentary that reveals the fuller truth about the Atlantic Yards proposal and highlights how a few powerful men are circumventing community participation and planning principles to try to push their own interests forward. For more information, contact: rob (at) developdontdestroy (dot) org


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Will Barclays' Bleeding Affect The Atlantic Yards Project?

The Future Barclays Arena

Pardon me for asking, but will the fact that Barclays Bank has accumulated £1.3 billion in losses in the past 3 months alone have any impact on Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards Project?

The giant financial institution after all is willing to buy into Ratner's deal by paying the largest amount ever forked over in a stadium deal just for the pleasure of having the Brooklyn Nets home be named "Barclays Arena."

Now, the bank's losses seem pretty remarkable to me. Note that the sum is in British Pounds, not U.S. Dollars.

Could this derail Brucie's sweetheart deal? After all, how can the bank justify forking over all this money if they are bleeding? Or have they already signed everything and can't back out?

Can anyone better informed enlighten me on the subject?

Barclays takes hit of £1.3 billion from crisis

Nick Goodway, Evening Standard
15.11.07

Barclays, Britain's third-largest bank, today admitted it has taken a £1.3 billion hit in the past four months from the credit crisis that is wreaking havoc in world financial markets.

The writedown for October alone was £800 million. The bank was forced by speculation in the City to issue today's update on investment banking division Barclays Capital, which employs hundreds of people in Canary Wharf.

But the scale of the losses was far less than than £10 billion rumoured in the stock market late last week when trading in Barclays' shares was suspended briefly after the price plunged.

They rose 16p to 549p today as the bank said that even after the writedowns, BarCap's profits for the first 10 months of 2007 were, at £1.9 billion, ahead of the same period last year. BarCap had pre-tax profits of £2.21 billion in 2006, and the bank's total profits were £7.1 billion.

Barclays chief executive John Varley denied the bank had rushed out the BarCap statement ahead of a full trading update in two weeks' time.

"We have updated the market about BarCap each month from July to September, and decided we should do so again once we knew October's trading," he said.

BarCap head Bob Diamond said the £800 million October writedown had been so much larger than those of the preceding months because it contained what he called the "second leg-down in the subprime market". He explained: "Early in October, the credit ratings agencies downgraded some 5000 CDOs [collateralised debt obligations] and the next few weeks were by far the most severe in those markets.

"We have answered demands that we should give a greater degree of clarity on both our exposure and writedowns in these markets."

Diamond added that, despite the write-downs, BarCap had in October posted the fourth-highest monthly income in its history. He refused to say whether the writedowns would result in job cuts but pointed out that the majority of the losses were in the US.

"Prudent cost management is a stalwart of our ethos but we've nothing planned in that area at the moment," he added. As for bonuses, he was making no forecasts: "People are paid on performance, and the whole year is not through yet."

Diamond also said that Barclays' large leveraged-loan business had been far less badly hit by the credit crunch than many analysts had expected, with a net writedown of just £60 million.

That could prove good news for rival Royal Bank of Scotland, where analysts had been forecasting writedowns of at least £500 million, based mainly on its leveraged book and US consumer banking businesses. It is due to update the market on 6 December.

Diamond and Varley scotched rumours that one or both of them is set to leave the bank, which recently failed in its bid for ABN Amro to RBS. Asked if someone should step down Varley replied: "Actually what we've announced today is record profits at BarCap. I think that is a very resilient and very strong performance, with which I'm well-pleased."

Related Reading: Nothing Says "Brooklyn Basketball" Like... A British Banking Conglomerate (The Village Voice) For Home Page, click Pardon Me For Asking



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Bloomberg Wants To Retract Extra Ratner Money ?

That little sweetheart deal giving Atlantic Yards Developer "Bad Guy" Ratner even more of our tax-payers money to build his Ratnerville still needs to pass across Governor Spitzer's desk. Surprisingly, Bloomberg was not too pleased about the present form of the 421a Reform and would like to make a few changes. The most important one would be to withdraw the additional $300 million dollar tax incentive for Ratner. Read below:

Mayor Seeks to Reform 421a Reform
New York Observer by Matthew Schuerman
Published: July 12, 2007

The Bloomberg Administration has another favor to ask of the state
Legislature, along with passing congestion pricing: change a law you
just passed on the 421a property tax abatement.
The Mayor was none too pleased with the Legislature' s revision of the
program and even asked Governor Spitzer to veto it. But it turns out Mr.
Spitzer might not have to, because the bill, passed in different
versions by the Senate and the Assembly, has not even made it to the
Governor's desk.
"The position is still that we are negotiating to try to get a better
bill before it goes to the Governor's desk," said Neill Coleman,
spokesman for the city Department of Housing Preservation and
Development. "Then we are looking for a veto. Right now there isn't a
bill before the Governor to veto."
Mr. Coleman said that housing officials were talking with legislators,
including Vito Lopez, the chairman of the Assembly's housing committee.
If the Assembly returns along with the Senate on Monday to vote on
congestion pricing, an amendment could be introduced Friday night to
give it enough time to mature to be eligible for a vote the following
week.
The city wants the Legislature to make three changes: extend the
abatement to government-supported middle-income housing, such as that
planned for Queens West; shrink the so-called exclusion zone; and
retract the $300 million additional tax break that Atlantic Yards, alone
among new developments in Brownstone Brooklyn, would qualify for.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, two Brooklyn legislators who represent the
Atlantic Yards footprint asked the complex's developer, Forest City
Ratner, to commit to building more low-income condominium units on the
22-acre site, a means to comply with the spirit of the Assembly's bill
even though, technically, it does not really have to.
Assemblywoman Joan Millman, who represents a district directly to the
west of Atlantic Yards, said she would have signed the letter also but
had been on vacation. "This is a developer who has gotten many, many tax
benefits from the city and state," she told The Observer. "This is just
another piece."
However, another area Assemblyman, James Brennan, who has been one of
the more vocal critics of the project, said last week that he did not
object to the paragraph that gave Atlantic Yards special treatment.
That's because current law would have automatically given tax abatements
to all of the Atlantic Yards buildings; it is just that current law that
expires at the end of December. The state legislation renews the program
and, in the process, makes all new apartment buildings in Prospect
Heights, along with much of the rest of the city, ineligible for the
421a abatement unless they include low-income housing on the premises.
"It's not a carve-out," Mr. Brennan told The Observer last week. "The
only thing that happened was that Atlantic Yards got grandfathered in." Read more