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The Last Dance at Circus Circus
December 17, 2004 At last, the circus is leaving town. The Stadium Opposition Traveling Circus gave its final performance last night at the Empire State Development Corporation hearing chaired by Charles Gargano at the Jacob Javits Convention Center. They saved their best, or perhaps I should say their worst, for last. Whether some of the clowns were paid to be there by NYABC or Cablevision is an open question. Unable to fill the hall with local opposition, NYABC scooped up loonies from around the city and deposited them, sans keepers, in the hearing hall. There they whooped, hollered, pranced, danced, shrieked and snorted. When the meeting began at 4PM, Mr. Gargano attempted to make opening comments. Every other word he spoke was buried by shrieks from the asylum. Unable to be heard, he would pause, attempting to wait the din out, which proved futile. In the end, Mr. Gargano’s five minute opening remarks lasted almost half an hour. Disgusted, Mr. Gargano left the hall, with his assistants taking charge. Mr. Gargano’s departure led to a wonderful moment later in the evening of absurd hypocritical, political grand-standing by Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, a stadium opponent, who said she was shocked that Mr. Gargano was no longer present. Considering that Ms. Glick’s mob did everything but hurl the furniture at Mr. Gargano, I am not quite sure what she expected Mr. Gargano to do. But I jump ahead. The day began with a lovely demonstration by supporters, about 500 in number, in favor of the stadium, serenaded by a fabulous band from Local 802, who are strongly supporting the stadium. Unfortunately, the way the event timed out, as the demonstration of support was coming to an end, the stadium opposition's imported talent was already rushing the front of the auditorium. During the first hour of the hearing, the opposition's imported loonie visitors grew so rambunctious that even the local politicos, Christine Quinn, Thom Duane, and Dick Gottfried, grew visibly uneasy. Mr. Gottfried went so far as to ask his followers not to interrupt the speakers, a request which went unheeded. I guess you get what you pay for. In turn, when Thom Duane’s three minute speech (all speakers were requested to keep comments to three minutes) rambled on and on and on, past six minutes, stadium supporters began to chant “three minutes, three minutes, three minutes…” (Why do politicians have such a problem being brief? Have they ever read the speeches of Abraham Lincoln? If you can’t say it in a few minutes, it probably isn’t worth saying. Thom Duane is a clever man, so why does he constantly make the same mistake? Less is more, Thom, less is more.) There were a couple of other notable speakers for the opposition. Gerald Schoenfeld was remarkably brief. He seemed a bit nervous as he walked to the microphone, quite unlike him, dropping his spectacles to the floor as he prepared to speak. The ugliness of the opposition's antics seemed to rattle him a bit. In the past, Mr. Schoenfeld has abused the three minute rule, standard at these hearings, mightily, and the elected officials in charge have been loath to interrupt him. But now, Mr. Schoenfeld was quite brief and to the point. Mr. Schoenfeld’s stated objection to the stadium can be boiled down to a fear that he has that the stadium in operation would somehow threaten his matinee business on Sundays, a fear that is not shared by other theatre owners. Of course, Mr. Schoenfeld does represent the Shubert organization, the largest theatre owner in the city, so his concern should receive some consideration. However, he ignores the traffic studies that have been done by various city agencies, as well as by the New York Jets, relying instead on the “unbiased” research done by Madison Square Garden, aka Cablevision, the very folks who fund the loonie fringe of the stadium opposition. Proponnents of the project held a rally, as noted above, before the hearing, which included elected officials, former and current Olympians, business representatives and union leaders. Stadium supporters who spoke included Brenda Levin of the NYC2012 Olympic Committee, Assemblyman Keith Wright, WestSideStadium.org members Lowell Kern, Tom McMorrow, Jr., and Patrick Centolanzi and Rick Bell of the American Institute of Architects-New York Chapter, who spoke strongly in favor of the architecture of the stadium. Other stadium opponents to speak included Betsy Gotbaum and Robert Yaro. As the day wore on, the opposition loonies filtered out, leaving behind the hardcore stadium opponents, about 100 in all. These are faces I have seen time after time at these hearings. Some of them are amiable but serious folks who truly believe that this project is bad for the city and for the west side. Some are against change of any kind. Others, usually quite elderly, are afraid of what the stadium might mean for their lives. The local politicos stoke this fear. Several elderly women told me they were going to be thrown out of their apartments if the stadium was built. This, of course, is untrue. The construction of the stadium will not displace one single resident. However, it is important for the local politicos to maintain this canard. That way, when the politicians pass the legislation covering the zoning changes on the west side that will, in the end, displace some of these elderly, they will have the political cover of saying, “Remember me, I opposed the stadium.” And the politicians will run unopposed, and be re-elected, or even better yet, elected to a higher office. For a politico, that’s "...such stuff as dreams are made on."
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