Do you think the Barclays Center will create jobs for Brooklyn locals?

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Do you think the Barclays Center will create jobs for Brooklyn locals?

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Brooklyn Banter
what am I, new?
Joined: Sep '11
Posts: 3

Hi Everyone -

Do you think the Barclays Center will create jobs here in our neighborhood? Why or why not?

The Barclays Center website says the arena “will be a community centerpiece” for Brooklyn, and will ofter local concerts and high school basketball games in addition to NBA events.

According to the Associated Press, part-owner Jay-Z announced plans to open the venue with a series of concerts next year.

The Brooklyn skyline will change, but will local economy improve? Can the new arena create jobs for Brooklyn residents in a down economy?

In a recent blog post, I spoke to Jose Reyes, a 28-year-old from Brooklyn about job creation in Sunset Park. Jose believes the new Barclays Center could boost the Brooklyn’s economy and potentially offer new jobs to people in his neighborhood.

I’m curious to hear if Brooklyn residents feel the same or differently. If you’re living in Brooklyn, please share your thoughts below.

for the full blog post, check out: http://thebrooklynbanter.tumblr.com/post/10713257074/from-hoops-to-hire-will-the-barclays-center-create

# Posted 1 yr ago
Idlewild
rocking it
Joined: Sep '05
Posts: 2,795

WITHIN ten years the Nets will move to greener pastures. And we will have a For Rent sign hanging on the entrance of the arena. And while big places like Ikea, the Barclay's Center, Sears, WalMart and so on, do provide jobs, they certainly don't provide any learning experience like small businesses do. So while the money is being doled out, workplace knowledge and one on one experience is not.

"Clamato! Straight Up! No chasah!

# Posted 1 yr ago
Brooklyn Banter
what am I, new?
Joined: Sep '11
Posts: 3

Thanks Idlewild for your comment. I've heard of many people in favor of the center, so I appreciate your thoughts. Why do you believe the Nets will move on in 10 years?

# Posted 1 yr ago
Idlewild
rocking it
Joined: Sep '05
Posts: 2,795

It's not a matter of me supporting or not supporting the arena. It's going up and will be in service. I'm going by NYC sports team history. Why have most teams moved out of NYC? Better offers, tax rates and more money to be made in other cities and states.My guess is NYS & NYC will sue to prevent the move and will lose. At the most a ridiculous settlement will be made in the Nets' favor. Ratner is going to make a killing in the end.

"Clamato! Straight Up! No chasah!

# Posted 1 yr ago
bohuma
above average
Joined: Aug '08
Posts: 466

I think that there will be work created at the stadium. There will be a management office with the gamut of sales people, administration and accounting. There will also be maintenance staff to keep everything working, people to clean the stadium and when events are actually happening there will be security, crowd controllers, vendors, cater waiters etc. How many of these will be locals is a matter of conjecture. Some will be, some won't. Some will be recruited from outside Brooklyn but will buy/rent somewhere in Brooklyn to cut their commute.

What I am concerned about is the influx of cars during Nets games. The Nets are currently based in NJ and can be expected to have a large contingent of fans resident in NJ. As a more suburban community, NJ has a higher proportion of car owners than NYC. If you are a Nets fan living in NJ, and you have a car in the garage, are you really going to take a NJ Transit train to Penn Station, then change to a 2/3 subway to Atlantic Ave to get to the game, or are you going to drive? I think a lot of fans will drive, and most people look for free parking before they decide to pay $20 to $30 to park for a few hours, so I think the streets surrounding the Barclays Center and any nearby subway station will be jammed with cars. I just hope that NYPD Traffic get out in force and ticket and tow the illegally parked cars, but they won't because the city will bow to pressure from the stadium owners to go easy on their patrons.

# Posted 1 yr ago
homeowner
mod
Joined: Jan '06
Posts: 3,018

I think that the vast majority of the Nets management folks will move with the jobs. People like sales staff, accountants, lawyers and all the front office folks won't give up jobs in an industry its just too hard to break into. Those staffers have been preparing literally for years for the move to Brooklyn, so its not going to be that much of an adjustment for them other than figuring out how to do the commute without a car. The stadium administration jobs will come, but some of those are already being filled by current FCR staff who will transition over after the stadium is complete. The vast majority of the jobs will be low wage, low skilled non-union jobs. There will be hundreds of folks competing for a handful of jobs that allow them to sell t-shirts made in China or direct the flow of pedestrian traffic. There are a bunch of economists that study this regularly and its the same situation everywhere. The economic development aspects of stadiums are limited at best and the majority of the benefits accrue to a very narrow swath of folks, usually those that own the companies that contract out for things like security, and catering, Very little benefit passes through to the job holders and instead stays with team owners and arena operators.

# Posted 1 yr ago
danaeo
getting it
Joined: Sep '05
Posts: 135

Tickets sales, administration, operations and accounting are already filled by the current Nets employees, most of whom will continue to carry on their work in Brooklyn. Many of these jobs, like accounting and ticket sales, do not need to happen on site anyway. It's also in management's interest to keep on their experienced staff.

What's left are jobs like maintenance, vendors, security that will provide seasonal, part-time, hourly wage work when arena events are happening. Aside from the larger question of whether all the subsidies were worth creating these jobs, there are practical questions that we still don't have information about less than a year before the arena opens:

How will the jobs be advertised?
Will priority be given to residents in the surrounding neighborhoods?
Who will manage outreach and hiring? And will it be done in a way that reaches out to a large demographic or just to people connected to the CBA signatories?

The same type of questions apply to the first residential building that is supposed to begin construction after the new year.

# Posted 1 yr ago
Boygabriel
M Train Devotee, G Train Appreciator
Joined: Nov '05
Posts: 4,431

Jobs will technically be created. The question is whether this was the most efficient way to spend PUBLIC money to create jobs.

The answer is a massive and obvious NO.

Spend a buck, light a number for one the 400,000 victims in Darfur: darfurwall.org

# Posted 1 yr ago
whynot_31
Former Lurker
Joined: Mar '06
Posts: 16,095

Outside the arena, some locals will sell bootleg t-shirts to the crowds. They will play cat and mouse with the police.

I also expect one of our local grocery cart pushers to get dibs on recycling the cans left in the parking lot. Those guys know all the supers on my block.

For better or worse, the change on Nostrand is going to make the change on Franklin look minor.

# Posted 1 yr ago
Brooklyn Banter
what am I, new?
Joined: Sep '11
Posts: 3

Thanks for the responses! Keep 'em coming!

# Posted 1 yr ago