Monday, June 06, 2005
The State ain't paying for the West Side Statium
The financial plan for a proposed West Side stadium was rejected by a key state panel today, appearing to end plans for the $2.2 billion project that had been the centerpiece of the city's bid for the 2012 Olympic Games and the proposed home of the New York Jets.
Representatives for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno abstained on the issue at a meeting of the state Public Authorities Control Board this afternoon; the abstentions were tantamount to a no vote because the financing plan required unanimous approval.
Before the vote, Mr. Silver said he opposed the stadium out of concern that new retail and office development planned for the area around the stadium would have hampered redevelopment at the World Trade Center site, which sits a few miles to the south and is part of Mr. Silver's district. He also said that rebuilding at the trade center site had been delayed for far too long, calling it a "moral" issue while dismissing the stadium plan as simple "ambition."
"Am I supposed to sell out the community I have fought for and represented for more than a quarter of a century?" Mr. Silver said during a news conference in his Albany office before the vote. "Am I supposed to turn my back on Lower Manhattan as it struggles for recovery? For what? The stadium? For the hope of bringing the Olympics to New York City?
"And to those who say, 'What about the jobs?' let me point out that the mayor and the governor have had almost four years to establish a construction schedule for Lower Manhattan. If they would simply honor the commitments they made in the aftermath of the attacks, they would make rebuilding Lower Manhattan the top priority that it ought to be."
Representatives for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno abstained on the issue at a meeting of the state Public Authorities Control Board this afternoon; the abstentions were tantamount to a no vote because the financing plan required unanimous approval.
Before the vote, Mr. Silver said he opposed the stadium out of concern that new retail and office development planned for the area around the stadium would have hampered redevelopment at the World Trade Center site, which sits a few miles to the south and is part of Mr. Silver's district. He also said that rebuilding at the trade center site had been delayed for far too long, calling it a "moral" issue while dismissing the stadium plan as simple "ambition."
"Am I supposed to sell out the community I have fought for and represented for more than a quarter of a century?" Mr. Silver said during a news conference in his Albany office before the vote. "Am I supposed to turn my back on Lower Manhattan as it struggles for recovery? For what? The stadium? For the hope of bringing the Olympics to New York City?
"And to those who say, 'What about the jobs?' let me point out that the mayor and the governor have had almost four years to establish a construction schedule for Lower Manhattan. If they would simply honor the commitments they made in the aftermath of the attacks, they would make rebuilding Lower Manhattan the top priority that it ought to be."
