While Coolfer was out for a jog the other night, I ran across a flyer stapled to a telephone pole in Prospect Heights. "Do You Want A Sports Stadium" asks the headline, "complete with congestion, noise, air pollution, garbage and parking for 20,000 visitors, in your backyard?" (As if all 20,000 fans are going to drive to the game.) The flyer is a rallying cry from Patti Hagan and the Prospect Heights Action Coalition, a group intent on keeping out the Nets and Devils, the new arena at Flatbush and Atlantic that would house them, and 5,500 units of "high-rise housing" that would also come with the development.

Hagan isn't the only one who doesn't want the Nets to play in Brooklyn. Some Jersey developers and politicians--Sen. Jon Corzine, Gov. Jim McGreevey and others--want the Nets to stay put (read NY Post article).

Coolfer wonders which way this could go. Cities sometimes reserve the right to tax businesses according to the benefits they receive from their proximity to arenas and stadiums. (This is mentioned in this Sacramento Bee article about a new arena proposal for the Kings.) It's possible that lower income residents could be squeezed out. And, worst of all, Alonzo Mourning would be in the area on a regular basis. On the flip side, arenas can revitalize a city or district. Here's an article on how Coors Stadium was a boon to Denver's downtown area.

The Flatbush/Atlantic intersection already has one construction site: Forest City Ratner is building a shopping center/office building (pictured) that's due to open in March. Current tenant list: Target, Bath and Body Works, Chuck E Cheese and Red Lobster, among others. Uh...woo hoo.

The Prospect Heights Action Coalition is holding an emergency meeting on Sunday, September 14th at 2:00pm, at the Hanson Place Seventh Day Adventist Church (88 Hanson Place).

[music jobs] Hiring? Put your job here by listing on the Coolfer Job Board!