Community Board 4 Meets,
and Circus Comes to Town
(Part One)
August 3, 2004
By Tom McMorrow, Jr
When I stepped out of the subway, the battle lines were already drawn. On one end of the block were several hundred union members and local residents who support the planned development of the west side area known as the Hudson train yards, on the other end of the block were a gaggle of politicians and a few dozen local residents opposed to the project. What was missing from that end of the block was the press. You see, the politicians had gathered the opposition together to hold a press conference, which is awful hard to do if the press is not present. Apparently, terror alerts and the heat wave and a monkey which had bitten a little boy in a Brooklyn grocery store were to take precedence this day over yet another press conference by the same circle of politicians repeating yet the same stale charges.
Not to be deterred, Councilmember Christine Quinn took the bull by the horns and gathered the troops around. Damn the torpedoes, the press conference must go on. I walked over and began to take pictures. At least this way it could feel like a press conference, even if I was wearing a shirt that said “Build it” on the front with an artist’s rendering of the proposed stadium on the reverse. And, anyway, Christine is quite photogenic, in a “New Yawk” kind of way.
As Christine spoke, she repeated a falsehood that she has been relying on for months in these gatherings, one which is growing whiskers at this point. It goes something like this: the financing of the stadium relies on the overall development of the project as envisioned by the city planners, and that you have to build giant skyscrapers to fully fund the financing. At least, that is my understanding of what she said last night, and has said on previous occasions. The only problem is, that is just not true. The stadium financing stands on its own, like it or not. Either you believe it is a good investment for the city to sell bonds to cover its $300 million share of the project, or you don’t. It is that simple. The larger development plan is quite complex, involving the #7 train, a boulevard, parks, river access, etc., and does require following the plan as laid out by the city in order to finance itself. Maybe this is good, maybe this is bad, but this is not the stadium, and to confuse the two is to indulge in smoke and mirrors, to say the least.
Speaking of smoke and mirrors, there’s always Assemblyman Gottfried. He was in fine form last night. I know I can always count on him for a whopper, that is, when he’s not a no-show. Of course, the lack of press at the press conference may have something to do with this one. After all, if no one is going to ask a serious question, just play to the cheap seats. “…In truth, $600 million dollars of the Jets contribution is money that they are supposed to pay to tax payers.” Say what? I think what he is referring to is the inquiry by Jets accountants as to whether they can sell tax exempt bonds on the project themselves, since the project is partially municipal. It’s a question that the IRS will decide on one way or the other. It would be incompetent of the Jets accountants not to ask that question. I mean, they do want to maximize the profit of their investors, and if they can find a way for their investors to save a few dollars in federal taxes, they have to do it. In any event, this is federal tax question. My question for the good Assemblyman would be, if you are so concerned about taxes, why don’t you ask your buddies at Madison Square Garden to pay their fair share? Of course, that would mean taking on Cablevision, and we all know the tail does not wag the dog.
