Friday, August 26, 2016

New Jersey Dreaming

I suppose one day everyone might happily be traveling in their self-driving cars to get a dose of the American Dream, and then everyone can mock stupid Atrios for being so stupid, but this ongoing disaster is providing me with much entertainment. Not "ha ha" entertainment, but, well...

Triple Five will repay the bondholders in revenue from the completed mall. The state is allowing American Dream to forgo up to $350 million in money that would otherwise go toward paying sales tax to instead repay the bonds.

The mall will repay the other $800 million to bondholders through a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreement with East Rutherford.

The same agreement will see American Dream pay East Rutherford more than $150 million over the first 20 years of the project, including $23 million up front.

Of course, there's that pesky infrastructure that someone needs to pay for...

The bonds are non-recourse, meaning New Jersey taxpayers won't be on the hook if American Dream fails, Robert Tudor, bond counsel for the sports authority, said. However, critics of the deal said the state would be responsible for additional traffic, emergency and infrastructure costs and no extra revenue to cover those costs.

Public infrastructure and services that need to be paid for? That's pre-Uber thinking, my friends.