Sunday, July 24, 2011

The Question Anti-Arena Nassau Democrats Should be Made to Answer

Above is a table that appeared in a 2006 report commissioned by Democrat Tom Suozzi when he was County Executive regarding redevelopment proposals of the Hub. The chart estimates the revenues of a new Coliseum from 2009 through 2035. As you can see, it estimated Coliseum revenues rising from a bit over $200M in 2009 over $400M in 2035. In contrast, Mangano's consultant, Camoin Associates projects revenues starting at only $163M and increasing to approximately $360M at lease end.

If a new Coliseum achieved Suozzi's estimates, the payments received by the County under the proposed revenue sharing agreement would be around 30% higher than the payments projected by Mangano, would easily cover the debt service and would yield the County a hefty profit.

The question for anti-arena Nassau Democrats: Why are you telling County residents that voting Yes on August 1st is going to cost the County $12 million a year? Were you lying to Nassau residents then or are you lying to them now?

7 comments:

  1. Great question, Dave. As I said to you last night, the smartest thing Ed could have done was to base his revenue projections on the report the democrats commissioned in 06 when he was in the legislature. Then, if they pushed back on him, he had a logical question: Why, suddenly, when a member of the other party is in charge, are they disavowing their own numbers?

    Great job.

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  2. Wow, this is corruption at its best..or should I say at its worst?? Forward this to Mangano. hes not the brightest tool in the shed. he could use any help he can get. Even if it from a blogger.

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  3. Umm... 2006... before the national economy tanked and millions are unemployed and disposable income has flatlined. Revenue projections based on people willing to spend money. Ratchet that down now that there is less money to spend.
    THERE is your answer. Thank for playing.

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  4. PS I wouldn't use any data from 5 years ago to project revenue based on the current economy. No one would.

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  5. Anon - nice try, but you landed on the Whammy. The current projections are 30% LOWER than those numbers, and they're still being called "lofty." Try to obfuscate all you want, but these projections are very conservative and based on the new arena being used for 125 dates per year....it could easily be 150-200.

    Please turn your attention to our lovely assistant, who has some nice parting gifts for you.

    Guests are put up in the fabulous Beverly Hilton!

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  6. Oh, and for comparison: The new Prudential Center in Newark is booked 200 nights a year.

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  7. Nick, of course the projections are LOWER, it's because the expectations of disposable income and the reality of ticket sales is much different now that in 2006.
    You wanted to know why Democrats aren't clinging to 5 year old numbers and I told you why. It's simple and to the point. No one was lying about those numbers then and no one is lying now.
    "Could" is the word we have to remember. With 7% unemployment, how many LIers will be able to afford MORE events? Some will of course BUT what new events will fill the Arena? What expostions, shows, conventions, etc can make those xtra nights profitable? The Javits Center in NYC, a premier exposition facility is running in the red.

    My point is that the premise that 6 year old numbers somehow taint a persons position is laughable. This was a failed "gotcha!"

    The long and short of this whole thing is august 1st is a $2million public opinion poll that Mangano hopes to win so that when NIFA says NO, he can blame them and use them as an enemy of the taxpayers. This non-binding referendum is an unneeded waste of time and money.

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