Lies 101 Pt II Raymond J Keating Not Consistent On Views About New York Islanders vs Other Local Teams

New York Islander Fan Central | 4/28/2012 08:31:00 AM |
You must write the exact same thing for every single team getting taxpayer money or you are not being consistent.

Raymond J. Keating, claims he is a Long Island based economist, and a New York Islander fan, however he is not consistent with his views, despite his long economic resume. 

Economist/writer, Raymond Keating, is not an unfamiliar name to NYIFC, he made sure to tell folks to vote no overwhelmingly, in the NY Post 7/28/11 one of many city publication that got selective amnesia on every other local team getting massive taxpayer subsidizes or exemptions.

April 2010 Mr Keating was also critical of Mangano and had a few words on his Casino Plan For the Coliseum Site.

Mr Keating was there co-writing an article 4/18/2000 days before Charles Wang purchased the Islanders that article said Long Island fans have shown in the past that they will support a competitive team.

Depending on what you take from his contribution he may have favored a private development from Wang's ownership?

My math may be sketchy in an NHL where attendance figures are obviously inflated, however the Islanders for their low attendance in 2011-12 was significantly higher than it was during Howard Milstein's last season.  
4/27/2012  Mr Keating is now writing if the Islanders cannot pay for their own arena, and they have to move to Quebec or somewhere else so be it. There are still plenty of sports and other entertainment choices around while reminding us about other teams playoff success?
What's interesting there is Mr Keating was just as outspoken about those " other sports choices " getting their taxpayer money or exemptions, however he never wrote that those teams should leave? 

To make matters worse, now he's doing infomercials for the same facilities who got their taxpayer money, as other sports choices?   I guess he's not interested in Mr Vanderbeek's issues at the Prudential Center, where the taxpayer outright paid for a big part of the Devils new home, or how Barclay's Center was financed by taxpayers?

Mr Keating apparently also is not interested or aware of the massive taxpayer funding Quebec's new arena will receive or how Edmonton's arena will be financed by taxpayers which has been widely reported, despite his business articles about Canada. 

It's also fair to write in Mr Keating's view it's now ok to spend our money on other sports choices once we have given them our tax dollars like Msg receiving their 1981 tax exemption check from Mr Bloomberg, while he now attends games at Cablevision's subsidized arena after threatening to revoke it for years?

Mr Keating in 1998 wrote Yankee Stadium should be privately owned, and Mr. Steinbrenner should be told to pay for his own ball park and pointed out how much we paid for the 1973 renovation.

Yankees went on the dole in 1971 when the city took ownership of Yankee Stadium and began a huge renovation. The initial estimate was $24 million, but in the end costs reached almost $150 million -- an overrun of about 500 percent, paid for by the taxpayers.

Mr Keating in 1998 did not write so be it if the Yankees leave, or that there are plenty of other sports choices around? He was critical in pre Dolan Newday 2006 here when the Yankees and Mets got their massive taxpayer handouts for their stadiums, but he seemed to get over it before moving on to his next book.

Mr Keating's 4/5/1999 SPORTS PORK The Costly Relationship between Major League Sports and Government on page fourteen reports New York City taxpayers footed the bill for the Msg two hundred million dollar 1990 renovation while they were also getting their 1981 exemption here.


Bottom line:
Mr Keating seems to pick and choose, that's not acceptable.

You cannot write no taxpayer funds for any team, they should all be privately owned, and if they leave so be it only for one team, then turn around and write we should go to the places you used to be so outspoken against for the same reasons?

Also Mr Keating does not seem to grasp the concept many local governments do not want to give up the land, many stadium's or arena's sit on.

Most of the teams in New York to this day are still paying rent.

It was not easy finding much of anything where Mr Keating called out taxpayer financing on every other local facility that got approved with deals done in backroom that were made without referendum.

Mr Keating apparently also never wrote about Charles Wang's many renovations as a tenant to his landlords building.
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Dolan's got his people working overtime to get the Isles out these days, nothing new there.

I wonder if Nassau paid for a 200m dollar renovation in 1990 and gave whoever owned the Isles an 11m dollar tax exemption every year since 1981 if things would be more exciting for the team?