Atlantic Yards poll transcript

Hagan: No, from New Jersey. I believe it’s from New Jersey
…

Pollster: Yeah, New Jersey. I’m sorry ma’am. Yeah, New
Jersey. The new owner of the team is proposing to build a sports and entertainment
arena for the Nets in Downtown Brooklyn at the intersection of Flatbush
and Atlantic avenues.

Generally speaking, are you inclined to favor or oppose plans to build
a sports team for the Nets basketball team at this site in Brooklyn?

Hagan: OK, could you start that question again? Because you sort
of messed up on it.

(The pollster repeats the question.)

Hagan: I absolutely oppose it! And I am the leader of the opposition.
I started the fight to stop this boondoggle.

Pollster: OK. There has also been talk of building a new football
stadium for the New York Jets at a site on the West Side of Manhattan
near the Javits Convention Center. Generally speaking, are you inclined
to favor or oppose plans to build a football stadium for the Jets at the
site in Manhattan?

Hagan: I oppose that also. It is a waste of public money.

Pollster: That’s “strongly oppose,” right ma’am?

Hagan: Strongly. I testify against it every chance I have. The
next time will be on Thursday.

Pollster: OK, next, turning back to the proposed basketball arena
in Brooklyn. This arena would be the centerpiece of a large commercial
and residential complex that would be built on the same site. It would
include retail stores, office space and more than 4,000 units of housing
for all levels of income and needs.

The retail stores and office buildings would be located adjacent to the
arena at Flatbush and Atlantic avenues. The residential units would be
built along Atlantic Avenue between Sixth Avenue and Vanderbilt Avenue
and part of the project, six acres of land in and around the site, would
be landscaped and made into public open space.

Having heard more information, do you favor or oppose plans to build a
sports arena for the Nets basketball team and a commercial and residential
development at this site in Brooklyn?

Hagan: I absolutely oppose the whole damn thing!

Pollster: OK.

Hagan: And by the way, that [information being read] doesn’t
say that they’re going to destroy the homes and offices and businesses
of more than a thousand people, and just kick them out of this neighborhood.
They don’t say that.

Pollster: OK, now let me read you some different opinions about
this project. Supporters of this project say that the basketball arena
and the surrounding office and residential complex will bring great benefit
to Brooklyn. The project will create thousands of jobs and provide some
badly needed housing space for people from all different income levels
in Brooklyn. It will bring in hundreds of millions of dollars in extra
tax revenue each year that could be used for schools and other vital services.

And the new arena would serve as the centerpiece of a revitalized Brooklyn.
It would be a striking symbol of the borough’s re-emergence. OK?

Opponents say that the project will cost as much as $200 million in taxpayers’
money, which could be better used for schools, police and housing and
other things that are more important than bringing a sports team in Brooklyn.
They also say the project is too big, will create too much traffic and
that some people could lose their homes or jobs because of the project.

With this in mind, do you strongly favor, somewhat favor, somewhat oppose,
oppose or strongly oppose building a team arena for the Nets basketball
team and commercial and residential development at this site in Brooklyn?

Hagan: Strongly oppose!

Pollster: Supporters of the project say that no taxpayer money
will be used to build the arena or the surrounding complex. The only taxpayer
money involved will be to cover the cost — what are known as infrastructure
improvements — which are things like fixing roads, improving subway
stations and putting new sewer lines in and around the arena complex.
The cost of the arena and the other buildings themselves will be entirely
funded by the developers of this project and would not require any taxpayer
money.

Does hearing this information make you more likely to support this arena
project, somewhat more likely to support it, or does it not change your
opinion of the project?

Hagan: That is a damn lie! The whole thing. It doesn’t change
one bit of information that I have about it. I have facts about it. This
developer is looking for more than $1.3 billion in public subsidies. It’s
absolutely outrageous!

Pollster: OK. Supporters of the project also say that it will bring
in much more new tax revenue than it will cost. Having a professional
basketball team and sports arena in Brooklyn will bring in hundreds of
millions of dollars in extra tax revenues for the borough each year. It
would also create tens of thousands of well-paying jobs, many of which
would go to Brooklyn residents.

In addition, economic studies show that a major sports arena in the Downtown
area will provide widespread benefits to the surrounding community and
generate sharp increases in business at local stores, restaurants and
other businesses.

Does hearing this information make you more likely to support the arena
project, somewhat more likely to support it, or does it not change your
opinion of the project?

Hagan: It does not change my opinion because I don’t believe
any of that because I’ve read enough books about how this bankrupts
and kills the small businesses in the area and as far as bringing in tax
money, that’s just a crock. The developer gets tax exemptions for
25 years and more.

Pollster: The developer of this project is negotiating an agreement
with a community housing organization to set aside 50 percent of the housing
units in the residential complex for low- and moderate-income families.

If the developer did go ahead with this agreement would it make you more
likely to support the arena project?

Hagan: It does not change my negative opinion at all because it
is all lies. Three is no way that 50-percent subsidized housing can happen
because the city doesn’t have the money to support that level of
subsidy. It’s not gonna happen — it’s just talk.

Pollster: OK. The developer of the project has also agreed to enter
into what’s known as a community benefits agreement, after negotiating
with local community leaders. This voluntary agreement is the first of
its kind in New York and is legally binding. It sets out the level of
jobs, job training and affordable housing in this development that the
project will provide with the local community. Does hearing this information
make you more likely to support the arena project?

Hagan: Does not change my negative — absolutely negative —
opinion at all. He’s only met with handpicked groups, some of which
he started and funded, and many of the community groups most impacted
by what he [developer Bruce Ratner] wants to do are not being included
and not being talked to and, by the way, they all happen to be people
who are not — who are white or Asian or Hispanic and they are all
being excluded. He’s only dealing with black groups.

[The pollster also asked how favorably Hagan supports a roster of elected
officials including Mayor Michael Bloomberg, District Attorney Charles
Hynes, Senators Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer, Gov. George Pataki,
Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, and also Gotbaum’s potential opponent,
Norman Siegel, the noted civil liberties lawyer representing arena opponents
in their fight against eminent domain.]

Pollster: OK. Now that you have heard this important information,
let me get your final opinion. Would you strongly favor, somewhat favor,
somewhat oppose or strongly oppose the new sports arena for the Nets basketball
team and commercial and residential development at the site?

Hagan: Strongly oppose! With every breath, every day I’m fighting
this thing and by the way, it doesn’t say it’s 17 skyscrapers
in a low-rise residential neighborhood. And it doesn’t say that one
of them is 60 stories tall. And that the whole thing is totally out of
scale and out of place and out of sync with our neighborhoods. It doesn’t
say that it’s gonna cut off three big roads, make traffic even worse
than it is here now.

Pollster: OK. The main person behind the efforts to bring the Nets
basketball team to Brooklyn and build this arena complex is a man named
Ratner and his firm is called Forest City Ratner. Were you aware that
Bruce Ratner and Forest City Ratner were involved in the effort to bring
the Nets to Brooklyn? Or is this the first time you’ve heard mention
of him?

Hagan: [laughing] I’ve been aware since July 23, 2003, when
I first read about it in a newspaper article and I got alarmed.

Pollster: OK. Generally speaking, do you have a very favorable,
favorable, unfavorable or very unfavorable impression of Bruce Ratner?