Elias26 Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 http://www.blackathlete.net/Blackbox/article_01932.shtml as seen on http://www.kuklaskorner.com/index.php/hockey/ NEWARK'S MAYOR ELECT CORY BOOKER Hopefully Cory Booker will be the exact opposite of Washington's spineless mayor Anthony Williams Williams bent over until his head touched the ground for Baseball and it's absurd Stadium demands. Looks like Booker fortunately is singing a different tune to the rip-off Hockey perpetuated on Newark. A new arena deal that is likely to cost Newark $300 Million for a team and a sport few Newark residents will ever see the inside of and couldn't care less about. For a sport they are as likely to see a Black player in one of those games at the Newark Hockey Taj Mahal as winning the big prize in the New Jersey lottery. Newark needs NHL hockey like it needs a Category 5 hurricane The previous corrupt ( yes Black ) administration in Newark, New Jersey, one of the Blackest and poorest cities in America, where Cory Booker a few weeks ago trounced the Incumbents in his second try for Mayor gaining a whopping 72% of the vote in the May 9th election, at 37 with Giant Ambitions for himself, just may be the person to end this Con. Let's put this in Perspective There could not have been a worse proposal than for Newark, New Jersey, to commit up to $300 Million to bring the New Jersey Devils from the swamp called the Meadowlands to Old Newark. New Jersey. It defies Logic. Currently at least in the Continental Arena there they share the facility with an NBA franchise the New Jersey Nets. But the Nets are headed East to now fashionable Brooklyn, New York, leaving the new Newark arena without any chance of having another significant franchise play there. And empty much of the Time. As for other uses for the new facility that is all unsubstantiated misleading conjecture. Newark has nothing that would attract major conventions or other events to fill the arena the rest of the year. Not the hotels. Not the restaurants. Not the attractions. Nothing that conventioneers want in a special location. Plus they have nearby New York City pr Philadelphia as appealing options. Yet discredited outgoing Mayor James, the New Jersey equivalent of Washington DC Con Man Tony Williams opened the safe for NHL Hockey. At a Staggering Cost So getting out of this Deal and stopping construction of this White Elephant before it rises to the eternal dismay of Newark is Mayor-elect Cory Booker's first priority. But to do that he can't act alone. It will take a Municipal Council that is not Bought & Paid For. That will be determined by Council elections in June which Booker is aggressively campaigning for like minded candidates. How bad is this Deal Newark tore down a much needed and brand new Fire Station to make way for the new Arena about to be Built. Yes indeed this Box is ALL about Sports. How Sports can be used again and again to Abuse rather than uplift the African American community if Black America is not always vigilant. The Rich White Boys who own pro sports and Hockey worst of all without even a nod to African Americans, will take everything and anything they can take from Inner Cities and no worse example than this Fiasco in Newark .... ..... one of the most depressed cities in America, with absolutely no hockey following whosoever forced to foot a $300 million bill so wealthy white suburbanites who don't want their well manicured communities to be burdened with a traffic generating arena stuff it to Newark instead. Enough draw the Battle Lines here time for Sanity and Fairness from Sports for African American communities. Whenever you want to reach us with comments or better yet an idea for a topic for the Box ....... blackbox@blackathlete.net Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HellOnICE Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 Yay for Rich White Boys.... What an article Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizDevil30 Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 So if the Nets were going to play there, this guy wouldn't care? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteyvegas Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 He's an idiot!!! 90% of the NBA crowd is white. What difference does it make what the make up of the city is? The jerk doesn't know revenue when he sees it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exit56 Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 reverse what? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
point Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 The real question is: What will Cory Booker do about the gangs in Newark? The MCI center in DC has revitalized a neighborhood in what had to be a city withj problems as big as Newark's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewarkDevil5 Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 This article talks of racism and the white man keeping the black man down. That is historically true and has happened and still happens, but this story has nothing to do with "keeping the black man down." Its about building something that will bring a community of people to downtown Newark that haven't been there for years. Its not displacement since there are so few people who actually live downtown nowadays. Tell me about segregation and I will point to an article like this. Its the equivalent of someone saying that opening up a KFC in Livingston is unnecessary because white people don't eat fried chicken (which is about as false as saying that black people don't play hockey). Until both communities can bury the hatchet and live together without fighting over stupidities like this, racism will never die in this country. An arena is not a KFC. It doesn't just bring hockey games. It brings all manner of things from concerts to public gatherings of every kind. It can be used for civic celebrations, political debates among mayoral candidates, even national party conventions. In many cities the arena is called the "civic center" or a "forum" because that is what it is. It is a gathering place for people. For less than 80 nights per year it gets used for hockey. What else can it be used for? The sky is the limit. It is the equivalent of building a City Hall that actually brings in money for rent as well as economic development. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewarkDevil5 Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 Booker has his job cut out for him on quality of life issues in Newark. The Arena shouldn't even be something he wastes his time thinking about. Its being built and any cost overruns are the Devils' headache. If he wants to make sure the Devils keep to their end of the bargain thats fine, but trying to stop it from being built once it is already half built is lunacy and a waste of time. The building can be a great boon to the city in a multitude of ways and those ways should be explored. In every situation in which an arena failed to live up to potential there were reasons why. The mayor of the City of Newark is one of the most powerful mayoralties in the country and he could use that position to make sure that none of those reasons for failure arise in Newark. But far more important than that is the fact that life in Newark needs to be improved. There are still sections of the city that need a lot of help. He talks about job-training. That is a huge part of it. People don't hire unskilled labor for more than minimum wage so talk about minimum wage jobs for Newarkers is pointless because until the workers are trained in skills there will be no jobs at above minimum wage. Is John Smith from the West Ward going to become the next Devils General Manager or Coach? Not bloody likely. But could they become a valuable office worker in the Devils' front office? Sure, as long as they can do the work they need to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SueNJ97 Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 Very few arena or stadium projects actually bring back to the community the kind of "profit" that any public official promises them they will when they get the deal. In general, they do it because they like large public works projects. The jobs that are actually generated by the arena (even in the sattelite businesses like the restaurants, hotels, etc that spring up) are not the high-paying ones that the government seems to promise. However, that doesn't mean that there isn't some economic growth associated with these projects. It is simply never what people predict. And they rarely pay back, in terms of direct economic growth, what the city pays in, for many years, because of this. However, the article is ridiculous. The Nets abandoned the Newark project for Brooklyn, the Devils did not. And in terms of what is going to be torn down, to get that arena built in Brooklyn, the Nets are razing perfectly lovely brownstones that are currently OCCUPIED and would sell for a bundle in todays market. That's right, they are tearing down prime real estate. And they don't have to. A little ways away, the owner has a mall that makes no money that he could tear down, and use that property for his arena. But he doesn't want to, because he likes the frigging tax write-off. On top of that, every Basketball fan I have spoken to has said they cannot imagine how that team will survive in Brooklyn. Forget 'fashionable'. They are going to get killed by the Knicks. The owner of the Nets, if this idiot has forgotten, is white. But somehow his participation would make this OK? Blacks are not excluded from NHL games, if they haven't gone it is because they choose not to attend. If they actually showed up for a game once in a while they might change their minds. It isn't like the NBA tickets are any cheaper. I love how a team actually making a $100M plus investment in a community (which is more than most teams put up) is a racist act. But I guess I'm just stupid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
threestars Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 Wow, just...wow! Can't the guy just be happy that someone is choosing to make some kind of investment in "one of the poorest cities in America"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepperkorn Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 (edited) I wish he'd spoken the truth and said "whitey is too scared to come into the big bad black neighborhoods so the arena will be a failure" instead of saying whitey wants to keep his nighborhood free of traffic. That's not really the case. but I dont think his fears are really so out of line. Just his reasoning is deliberately rable rousing -- and not the truth. The truth is far more disturbing so if you want to be an a$$hole go all the way and alienate EVERYONE -- at least it's honest just say it dipsh!t...Whitey don't want the arena there neither (just read the board) -- THAT is why it's a "white" elephant! Built for white man who we scare away... Sorry to sort of go off -- there -- just in New Haven it's so INFURIATING to see these stupid scared white faces because they walked by a black guy in baggy pants... it's makes you want to brandish an oozy just to see their stupid chins quiver as they wet themselves in biased fear -- that attitude has done SOOO much to foster this crappy economic conditions in urban environments. -- but that's juts my trip soo... Edited May 30, 2006 by Pepperkorn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucifersDog Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 (edited) Hopefully we will see a time when governments City and State will stop putting City and State money into Sport businesses own by the wealthy that are ready to steal everything from the City or State. Let these sport businesses stand on their own two feet with their pockets open to pay all the bills or leave town. I am glad the State of New Jersey didn't get involved with this Newark or Devil fiasco. Don't get me wrong Newark needs to be rebuilt but not with the Devils arena as the cornerstone with most of the money coming from the City and taking it away from other City needs. Edited May 30, 2006 by LucifersDog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emptynet Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 So if the Nets were going to be in the arena then it would be OK to build? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SC Devs Fan Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 I do admit that I wonder what is best for Newark; to put the money into a stadium or put the money into education; that argument saved the city of Washington lots of $ (and, IMHO, rightfully so) and made the owners pay for more of the stadium. I know the Meadowlands isn't a great place to play- heck, I even worked there when it opened- but I wonder if, in the greater picture of things, that there isn't someting better that all this money could be spent on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewarkDevil5 Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 As for other uses for the new facility that is all unsubstantiated misleading conjecture. Newark has nothing that would attract major conventions or other events to fill the arena the rest of the year. Not the hotels. Not the restaurants. Not the attractions. Nothing that conventioneers want in a special location. Plus they have nearby New York City pr Philadelphia as appealing options. Yet discredited outgoing Mayor James, the New Jersey equivalent of Washington DC Con Man Tony Williams opened the safe for NHL Hockey. In that case lets just pack up shop. Ship the NJPAC, Symphony Hall, Ironbound, all four colleges, the Newark Museum and heck why not airport too. Ship it all to NYC. May as well evacuate the entire population to New York City. Oh, maybe a few might want to go to Philly. No point sticking around, right? Does it occur to this person just how stupid and defeatist that is? No neighborhood stays "fashionable" forever and no city develops without people willing to develop it. Bring in the arena and it is another step in the right direction. It brings the suburban into the city to spend a couple hours a few nights a week. Maybe if it happens often enough the suburban might try catching a show at NJPAC or Symphony Hall too. Maybe after that the suburban might decide to try out some of the Portuguese restaurants in the Ironbound. Maybe after that a few sports bars open up downtown and the suburban decides to start frequenting one of them. Maybe after that a comedy club opens up on Mulberry Street and the suburban decides to stop over for a laugh. Maybe after that a department store opens up and the suburban decides, heck I'm here anyway, I might as well stop in to see what they've got. Development doesn't happen overnight. You're not going to see Newark going from urban moonscape to Times Square within a week of the Arena's opening day. If that is what you expect then prepare to be disappointed. What will happen is that a segment of the population that once lived, worked and was entertained in Newark will start getting entertained there once again and perhaps decide that maybe Newark wasn't so bad after all for the other two. Maybe Newark companies start encouraging their business partners who visit to stay at a hotel in downtown Newark. The Gateway Hilton and Robert Treat Hotel start filling up and maybe another couple of hotels spring up downtown. There's a Comfort Inn recently built now on McCarter Highway north of 280 but there was talk of Mariott purchasing the old Rutgers Law School building which would make a gorgeous hotel right on Washington Park. Things are happening in downtown Newark and the arena would just be the icing on the cake to bring the average New Jerseyan in on it. As far as putting the money into education, the money was earmarked for economic development. It couldn't be used for education or any other purpose for that matter. Besides, $210 million or even $300 million if it ever comes to that, is a drop in the bucket compared with what is needed to educate a school district of 48,000 students. It would add a little more than $6000 per student for one year and then the money would be gone. One year of education will not do anything for any student. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SueNJ97 Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 I'm not sure the arena was the best spend of their money. There are probably other things that could have been done with it. But I also don't think it is all part of some racist conspiracy that it is being built there. Most arena and stadium projects don't return what they promise. That means they all overpromise. If you want better-paying jobs than what these things bring in, you are better off bringing in the kind of companies that bring them, than building the arena or stadium. Or, you need the arena or stadium to be one part of a HUGE redevelopment project, such as the Baltimore waterfront. What this tells me is that the Newark re-development project isn't nearly of that scope. But as soon as the author hinted that the project would be OK if the Nets were there, he ruined his argument. He's willing to spend the money, just not on a sport he despises, that he feels is associated with the hated white population. If it is a rip-off, it's a rip-off, no matter what sport it is associated with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucifersDog Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 (edited) NewarkDevils 5 says "As far as putting the money into education, the money was earmarked for economic development. It couldn't be used for education or any other purpose for that matter. Besides, $210 million or even $300 million if it ever comes to that, is a drop in the bucket compared with what is needed to educate a school district of 48,000 students. It would add a little more than $6000 per student for one year and then the money would be gone. One year of education will not do anything for any student." Based on this statement Newark should shoot the parents and kill the children they will never have a chance. Of course that's bull. The money earmarked for economic development could have been diverted to a worthy cause for the people of Newark instead of lining the pockets of the owners of the Devils. If the new owners didn't like CAA then they had choices: 1) build a new arena out of their own pockets without government funds 2) move to another place where suckers would help them and 3) stay where they are. I would like a new house mine is old. What City or State will pay for 2/3's of the costs of new construction to financially help me? Will the City of Newark pay 2/3s of the cost of that new Marriott hotel? I don't think so. How about a new manufacturing business with decent wages for Newark residents will they pay for that? That's what I am talking about when I speak economic development. Most jobs at the Devils arena will be low paying and are already taken with employers and their employees at CAA. Edited May 30, 2006 by LucifersDog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizDevil30 Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 NewarkDevil, you should email your post to this guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elias26 Posted May 30, 2006 Author Share Posted May 30, 2006 NewarkDevil, you should email your post to this guy. Thats what I thought Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizDevil30 Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 NewarkDevils 5 says"As far as putting the money into education, the money was earmarked for economic development. It couldn't be used for education or any other purpose for that matter. Besides, $210 million or even $300 million if it ever comes to that, is a drop in the bucket compared with what is needed to educate a school district of 48,000 students. It would add a little more than $6000 per student for one year and then the money would be gone. One year of education will not do anything for any student." Based on this statement Newark should shoot the parents and kill the children they will never have a chance. Of course that's bull. The money earmarked for economic development could have been diverted to a worthy cause for the people of Newark instead of lining the pockets of the owners of the Devils. Putting that money into education, would only put in the the pockets of adminstration. Not into the classroom. A couple of weeks ago on NJ12 they showed hearings regarding the Abbott school districts. I only watched a few minutes, because if I watched any longer I would've become ill, but one woman was in the hot seat trying to explain why a Newark admin was being paid $200,000 and being given bonuses if he got test scores up. One question I thought she was going to choke on was why was he given bonuses? Isn't getting test scores improved covered in the $200,000 he's making a year? We've been throwing money at "education" way to long. Time to invest in the city. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewarkDevil5 Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 NewarkDevils 5 says"As far as putting the money into education, the money was earmarked for economic development. It couldn't be used for education or any other purpose for that matter. Besides, $210 million or even $300 million if it ever comes to that, is a drop in the bucket compared with what is needed to educate a school district of 48,000 students. It would add a little more than $6000 per student for one year and then the money would be gone. One year of education will not do anything for any student." Based on this statement Newark should shoot the parents and kill the children they will never have a chance. Of course that's bull. The money earmarked for economic development could have been diverted to a worthy cause for the people of Newark instead of lining the pockets of the owners of the Devils. Please tell me what part of that paragraph could be construed as saying that. What I was saying was that this was a one-time lump sum of money from the Port Authority that was earmarked specifically for economic development. Even if it could be used for schools would have virtually no effect on the school budget which is so much larger that it would be a drop in the bucket. If you were to use it all at once it would barely pay for one year of education at $6250 per student after which point it would be gone. Money for education is already allotted to Newark by the state which, yes, comes partly from suburban taxes. That is the way a Democracy works. Everyone pays taxes rich and poor and everyone should in theory get an equal education from the public school system. Does it work that way? No. Would putting a one-time sum of $210 million into the system do anything to change it? No. The problems in Newark run far deeper than what that money could cure. There is corruption that needs to be weeded out. Hopefully that will happen now that Booker is in charge. If the new owners didn't like CAA then they had choices: 1) build a new arena out of their own pockets without government funds 2) move to another place where suckers would help them and 3) stay where they are. And they chose option 2 for the same reason that Brad Richards accepted his maxed out contract: because it was there for him to take. Other states and cities would be glad to make that offer and in the past they have. It is part of the business as it stands. Until things start changing, the game has to be played the way its played. Real life sets in. I would like a new house mine is old. What City or State will pay for 2/3's of the costs of new construction to financially help me? Will the City of Newark pay 2/3s of the cost of that new Marriott hotel? I don't think so. How about a new manufacturing business with decent wages for Newark residents will they pay for that? That's what I am talking about when I speak economic development. Most jobs at the Devils arena will be low paying and are already taken with employers and their employees at CAA. Who will own your house? If you're starting a business there are corporations that will build to suit and lease you the building. That is more or less what the City of Newark did. The city owns the building and will receive rent from it. The details of the lease have been difficult to find and Cory Booker only just received his full copy of it a week ago, but what it comes down to is that if the details need to be amended with regards to how much yearly rent the Devils will have to pay, thats not a big deal really. The numbers we're talking about for yearly rent are in line with how much one superstar gets paid yearly. Its not that big of a deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbdf Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 NewarkDevils 5 says"As far as putting the money into education, the money was earmarked for economic development. It couldn't be used for education or any other purpose for that matter. Besides, $210 million or even $300 million if it ever comes to that, is a drop in the bucket compared with what is needed to educate a school district of 48,000 students. It would add a little more than $6000 per student for one year and then the money would be gone. One year of education will not do anything for any student." Based on this statement Newark should shoot the parents and kill the children they will never have a chance. Of course that's bull. The money earmarked for economic development could have been diverted to a worthy cause for the people of Newark instead of lining the pockets of the owners of the Devils. If the new owners didn't like CAA then they had choices: 1) build a new arena out of their own pockets without government funds 2) move to another place where suckers would help them and 3) stay where they are. I would like a new house mine is old. What City or State will pay for 2/3's of the costs of new construction to financially help me? Will the City of Newark pay 2/3s of the cost of that new Marriott hotel? I don't think so. How about a new manufacturing business with decent wages for Newark residents will they pay for that? That's what I am talking about when I speak economic development. Most jobs at the Devils arena will be low paying and are already taken with employers and their employees at CAA. Actually, many cities run programs where abandoned/blighted/tax lien'd properties are sold to people willing to renovate for anywhere from $1 to some other nominal amount. One I can tell you for a fact was (is?)Baltimore - they sold rundown abandoned or confiscated row houses for years to "low income" buyers for $1, as long as they agreed to do something like $10,000 or $20,000 in improvements (and the city underwrote the loans for the improvements) and live there for a number of years before flipping it. It's called revitalization. The alternatives are A) Leave it as is and let it rot some more, or B) Steal it from it's rightful owner through "eminant domain", sell it to a developer that underwrote your election campaign fund, who then builds upper income communities that exclude anyone who they haven't already pushed out (see longbranch/asbury park etc.). Look at DC around MCI center or LA around Staples center - these were very blighted, but a commitment for the arena there brought in commitments for hotels and restaurants, and over several years, the areas improved dramatically and became places people weren't terrified to go to anymore. And although hotels, restaurants and sports arenas aren't going to pay inner city workers 6-figure salaries, they will hire people who may have been on welfare/unemployment etc and give them a chance to earn more than the city was paying them for not earning anything - think about it, location prohibits many of the inner city/low income residents from even finding jobs - it's not like they own cars that they can jump in and go to work 20 to 50 minutes away each day, and mass transit in NJ is a joke, but put an arena, some hotels, restaurants etc. right there in the city - they may not be high paying jobs, but they are jobs none the less, and that's something that wasn't there before. You've got to learn how to crawl before you can stand up and walk. This is step one, Booker would be wise to embrace it and leverage off of it into a larger picture revitalization. (However, I don't blame him if he "positions" himself aggressively in order to sweeten the deal for newark a little more - try to force vanderbeek into using his best efforts to attract more capital into the area and such) Oh, and btw, the idiot who wrote this article, what a racist. Why is it that the "minority" can blast the "evil white man", but if the "white devil" ever says anything remotely non-pc, sharpton and jackson and lawsuits start flying all over the place. There's no reason we can't call this ignorant s.o.b. a racist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SueNJ97 Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 One question I would like to ask, though, is what shape the school infrastructure is in and could that $$$ have been used to upgrade it. I don't know the answer. I just think people are over-estimating what the arena will do for the city, based on the returns past projects in other cities have brought in. The sky's the limit, which I saw in one post, is never a good estimate. And the stuff they put out when they sell these things in is always high. The jobs they generate, even in satellite businesses, are almost always low-paying and they are usually seasonal. If they want urban development to bring in better jobs they should have done development differently. However, the portrayal of this as the most evil, racist thing ever to happen in Newark is ridiculous. And the yearning for the Nets, a team who told the City of Newark and the State of NJ in essence, to go fvck themselves, while calling the Devils, who stayed, a bunch of racists, just floors me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Leeds Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 This article talks of racism and the white man keeping the black man down. That is historically true and has happened and still happens, . Speak for yourself ND5, I haven't, "kept any black man down". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueSkirt Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 there is no way construction will be stopped in the next 16 months. that arena will open. its a freight train going downhill without brakes.... Old Newark, reminds me of the "chocolate city" comment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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