The Struggle for Barclay’s
The Barclays Center is a sports complex and holds home to businesses and residences, but there was huge controversy and many obstacles to overcome to make it happen. The center was erected in downtown Brooklyn, right by the Atlantic Terminal where the Long Island Railroad is stationed. The plot it was constructed on is called the Atlantic Yards. Here is the home of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets and soon-to-be home of the NHL’s New York Islanders. There are many retail stores and businesses such as Calvin Kline and Emblem Health inside the massive structure. This place is mostly known for its sports affiliation, but it also holds other events such as circuses and concerts. Although there was controversy over what the land should be used for, everyone had Brooklyn’s best interest in mind and at heart. There were two opposing sides when it came to the new arena. One side was that of the people advocating to build the stadium to bring more attention and wealth to Brooklyn. The other side was against the project because of the losses the area had to undergo to make it possible.
Bruce Ratner is the owner of the company Forest City Ratner and they were in charge of the construction and planning for the stadium. When he came up with the idea to build a new home for the Nets here in Brooklyn that hadn’t had a professional sports team since the Dodgers left to Los Angeles after the 1957 baseball season, he undoubtedly had dollar signs in his eyes. This alone can make the public pause at his intentions. From a financial perspective, this is a genius move because this is the most accessible part of Brooklyn due to all the mass transit that passes through regularly. With the Atlantic Mall and all the local shopping, this was already considered the center of Brooklyn. Adding this attraction only makes it more of a destination and will attract more people that are already familiar with the area and maybe have become unimpressed with what was already there. In either case, there is money to be made. Mike Ozanian from Forbes Magazine wrote, “New York City recently appraised the Barclays Center–based on its potential income–to be worth $741 million.” Mr. Ratner wanted to take advantage of that opportunity and he succeeded in that tremendously. Charles Bagli of The New York Times said, “The Court of Appeals ruled 6 to 1 that the state could exercise eminent domain in claiming businesses, public property and private homes for economic development.” It wasn’t as easy as it sounds though, nor was it without opposition. There were many problems that arose from financing and backlash from the community.
The second perspective you could take from this situation is the one of the people who looked at Mr. Ratner as being immoral and inconsiderate of the consequences. This is because in order to follow through with his planning, they had to demolish many local residences and businesses to make room for the stadium that would take up almost the entire plot on the corner of Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues. This situation would not effect Mr. Ratner directly, therefore he thought it more important to continue and be finished as soon as possible than to take too much time trying to make the public jump on board with his ideas. Without exercising the government’s right to seise the land, he would waste a lot of time and money just to get past all the lawsuits. He attempted to justify his demolition of housing by saying that he would build more high rises to make up for the losses. None of this is guaranteed of course but even the idea had critics bringing up the fact that traffic was already bad in that area and it would only get worse with this option. Not to mention that it could bring large debt to the area due to all the investment and effort put in. With all of this, the recession caused the project to pause with lack of financing. This shows instability and would only give the locals more reason to protest. Now that the economy has somewhat stabilized and more investors decided to help with its completion, it is here. There are plusses for the community, like more jobs and improvements to the surrounding area because Ratner would not allow Barclays to sit alone in a growing Brooklyn. The best example of why eminent domain is legal at all is because of the Supreme Courts ruling of the Kelo vs. New London case. Malcome Glagwell, a writer for the New York Times said, “Kelo involved a chronically depressed city clearing out a few houses so that Pfizer could expand a research and development facility.” This is much different from Ratner’s plan because the productivity was much more urgent to the public. It was a requirement that you had to build something that is for the public and that made the acquisition of the Nets vital to his plan.
Looking at the present, Barclay’s Center has been open for a little over a year and has done very well, being compared to the already very successful and arguably most well known arena in the country, Madison Square Garden. It has already grossed more profit in the short time it’s been open and gained support from all over the country. It is the most expensive arena in the country, but seems to be bringing in the money just as easily as it was spent. None of the housing that was promised by Ratner have been started yet which makes it seem like he has no interest in anything that doesn’t have to do with the growth and prosperity of Barclay’s, which seems to be doing just fine on its own. Hopefully in the future he will work towards making the local residents comfortable with the new structure of downtown Brooklyn because they are ultimately the ones most effected by it in the long run. After all, he is a real-estate developer, not a basketball fan.
Malcolm Gladwell, Sep 26, 2011, http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7021031/the-nets-nba-economics
Charles V. Bagli, New York Times, Nov. 24, 2009 <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/25/nyregion/25yards.html?_r=0&adxnnl=1&ref=atlanticyardsbrooklyn&adxnnlx=1385310423-glOotK/HRAIS+qxewO36Jg>
Mike Ozanian, Forbes Magazine, Sep 17, 2013 <http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2013/09/17/jay-z-set-to-get-1-5-millon-for-his-barclays-center-stake/>
“Eminent Domain.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/eminent domain>.
