BOND BOMBSHELL IRS Would Hike Ratner’S Yards Cost the Program Under Scrutiny Is Called Cable Taxes,” the IRS Said in the Regulation
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BROOKLYN’S REAL NEWSPAPERS Including Windsor Terrace, Sunset Park, Midwood, Kensington, Ocean Parkway Papers Published every Saturday — online all the time — by Brooklyn Paper Publications Inc, 55 Washington St, Suite 624, Brooklyn NY 11201. Phone 718-834-9350 • www.BrooklynPapers.com • © 2006 Brooklyn Paper Publications • 20/16 pages •Vol.29, No. 43 AWP • Saturday, November 4, 2006 • FREE BOND BOMBSHELL IRS would hike Ratner’s Yards cost The program under scrutiny is called cable taxes,” the IRS said in the regulation. Secondly, PILOT cash doesn’t flow into Experts: New “payments in lieu of taxes,” or PILOTs. Us- “If the proposal becomes law, it will city coffers, but instead pays for the develop- ing PILOTs, a city can take land off the generally raise financing costs for er’s debt servicing or maintenance of the de- rules could scare tax rolls in exchange for fixed rent-like developers,” said George Sweet- velopment — another cozy arrangement that payments — but the payments are ing, deputy director of the has drawn the attention of the IRS bean- typically less than property taxes city’s Independent Budget counters. off investors and, in Ratner’s case, would not Office. PILOTs are routinely used for public By Ariella Cohen even end up in the city’s coffers. This could hurt Ratner in projects like hospitals. But critics — in- The Brooklyn Papers If the new rule goes into ef- two ways: cluding city Comptroller Bill Thompson, fect as expected next year, de- For one thing, the IRS who called the incentive rife with “costly Bruce Ratner’s sweetheart deal velopers would no longer be al- rule change would force PI- flaws and misuse” — argue that when used may be about to turn sour — thanks to lowed to use federally subsidized, LOTs to be pegged to a piece as a development incentive, the program the IRS. low-interest bonds for projects that of land’s fluctuating value. But cheats ordinary, tax-paying citizens. Just in time for the final approval of Rat- involve PILOTs, unless the pay- the investors who are expected to “It’s a slight of hand that allows the city ner’s Atlantic Yards project, the Internal ments reflect taxes based on a prop- buy the bonds to underwrite Rat- to stick it to taxpayers on behalf of devel- Revenue Service has proposed the reform erty’s actual value. ner’s construction don’t like such fluc- opers,” said Neil DeMause, author of Field of a development-friendly tax program — a The change would “better assure a tuations. As a result, they’ll demand a of Schemes, which focuses on the massive bond-financing scheme that happens to pro- reasonably close relationship between eli- higher return on their investment to compensate public cost of stadium financing. vide a funding foundation for Atlantic Yards. gible PILOT payment and generally appli- for the added risk, experts said. See RATNER on page 14 / Dennis W. Ho / Dennis W. The Brooklyn Papers The Brooklyn THIS WEEKEND Trick and treat Chloe Kate-Barton displays her bounty at the Cobble Hill Park Halloween Parade on Tuesday. During Park Slope’s parade, a reveler in costume rob- bed a bank on Fifth Avenue (see page 14). Still ‘sweet’ / Adam Husted Brooklyn Museum Brooklyn on Brooklyn Workers from the Brooklyn Museum deliver sculptor Ron Mueck’s lifelike creation through a back door for his solo exhibition, which opened on Friday. For Lisa J. Curtis’s By Ariella Cohen granulated sugar substitute in 1957, the Baby on boards review of the Brooklyn Museum’s Annie Leibovitz show, see page 11. The Brooklyn Papers year the Dodgers left his hometown. And for the past 49 years, Eisen- The little Brooklyn biz known stadt’s saccharine blend has been for creating Sweet’n Low cele- mixed, packed and shipped from a brated its 500 billionth carnation- low-slung factory across from the colored packet this week, remind- Navy Yards in Fort Greene. ing a Splenda-iferous “It’s a beautiful, lovely Taxidermist to hipsters: Stuff it! world that the old pink place,” said Brenda lady of sugar-free is Holland, a Sweet’n Low still going strong. packer who estimated her By Dana Rubinstein And let the sugar puns share of the 500 billion The Brooklyn Papers begin! packets produced by the Achic bar in Park Slope host- “It’s pretty sweet,” company as “a lot.” ed a master class on how to deadpanned Borough His- Eisenstadt’s company, Cum- torian Ron Schweiger before turning berland Packing, donated the 500 bil- mount dead animals. serious about the decline of Brooklyn lionth packet to the Brooklyn Histori- Taxidermy, of course, is an activi- industry. cal Society. ty more commonly associated with “Domino Sugar left. The oil indus- The Pink Panther, as the sweetener union halls upstate than with Union try left, the Navy is gone. At least we is now trying to re-brand itself, has Hall, the bar on Union Street. kept something indulgent,” he said. seen its fate shift along with the tides But at 5:30 pm last Saturday night, The scion of the company, Ben of American culture and health. Scott Bibus, a member of the Min- Eisenstadt, invented the world’s first The diet craze of the 1970s, and nesota Association of Rogue Taxider- Ho / Dennis W. mists, sat down at a long table in the 1980s brought prosperity, pub’s trendy basement, for once but like TAB, the no-cal church-like in its silence. drink with a similar after- Bibus put his scalpel to the breast taste, the growth of the of a white-feathered chicken, and nation’s multi-billion-dol- sliced it down the middle, all the way Papers The Brooklyn lar diet industry brought to its “vent,” an industry euphemism Scott Bibus gestures as he removes the skin from a chicken with the competitors and flagging for anus. help of Serena Brewer during his taxidermy lesson on Saturday. profits to Cumberland. Then he took his latex-gloved fin- A mob scandal and un- ger and inserted it into the carcass to in the master class, likes to make As Bibus carefully removed the proven links to cancer in begin separating its delicate skin gaffes, or fake animals, by combin- skin from the body (and lectured the 1990s didn’t help — from the “inner anatomy.” ing the body parts of different about diseases carried by dead ani- but the nation’s battle Taxidermy is the craft of skinning species. She’s the kind of person who mals, such as the leprosy carried by with diabetes — the sixth an animal, preserving that skin, and would put antlers on a squirrel skin armadillos), audience members fired leading cause of death in then mounting it onto a form sculpt- to create the legendary “jackalope.” a barrage of questions. the Brooklyn — has the ed to represent the original animal Like most members of the Associ- “What’s the best way to preserve pink lady no longer / Dennis W. Ho / Dennis W. body. ation, Bibus and Brewer rely on road cat whiskers?” one person asked. singing the blues (except The Rogue Taxidermists use the kill for their carcases. But the chick- Mothballs in Tupperware. Ho / Dennis W. in diners where only traditional craft as an artistic medi- en was store-bought. “If you want to just preserve the Equal is offered). um. Bibus, for example, likes to “Step one is skinning,” said Bibus, bones, can you use maggots?” anoth- “As terrible as it is, di- make his finished specimens look giving a play-by-play. “Remove the er would-be animal stuffer asked. abetes has been good for The Brooklyn Papers The Brooklyn ghoulishly dead, in contrast to the skin as intact as possible, with as few Beetle larvae work better. us,” said company CEO “Heinrich of Bavaria,” a multiple-species creation, conventional practice of making incisions as possible. Any meat left These weren’t the questions of au- Papers The Brooklyn Steven Eisenstadt, the stands proudly at the Great Autumnal Taxidermy Get- dead animals look ghoulishly alive. behind will shrivel and be plagued by dience members who came merely to The 500-billionth packet of Sweet’n Low rolled third-generation Eisen- Together at Union Hall in Park Slope last Saturday. Sarina Brewer, who assisted Bibus bugs.” See STUFF IT! on page 14 off the Fort Greene assembly line this week. stadt to run the company. Smartmom keeps tabs ‘As the Slope Turns’ HE NEW FILM WITH KATE WINSLET And the unmistakable con- But life doesn’t imitate art. and hunky Patrick Wilson, “Little Chil- clusion is this: Don’t let your When Smartmom’s pal To- Tdren,” reminded Smartmom of something libidinous selves get carried futta had a massive crush on a she’s known for a long time: extra-marital sex away, Slopers. It won’t solve SMART stay-at-home dad she met at just isn’t worth the bother. any of your real relationship Tots-on-the-Go, she barely The film, which follows Sarah and Brad, issues: kids, money, sex, ca- had enough time to go to the reer unhappiness or bad com- two dissatisfied parents in a high-end suburb bathroom, let alone plan an munication. mom afternoon interlude. not unlike Brownstone Brooklyn, makes han- In the film, Sarah married By Louise Crawford ky-panky seem even more transgressive than And there was just nowhere the wrong guy, an older man to go for their intimate interac- Smartmom ever expected. Why, it’s right up who’s obsessed with Internet porn. When she tions. His wife worked at home and “doing it” there with being a pedophile or something.