Facts and Fiction:
What the Stadium Opponents
Don't Want You to Know

This page is dedicated to exposing the truth about specific false arguments or misstatements made against the building of a stadium on the West Side of Manhattan. Sometimes, these false arguments or misstatements are made intentionally, and sometimes they are simply assumptions which are incorrect. We will print the source of the falsehood, along with the facts. We have neglected this page for the past few months, but given the heavy birage of BS co ming from the opposition, we feel it important to bring this page back.

Facts and Fiction for the Day
Thanks for the Memories, now
Pass the Dynamite

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Fact: A Stadium in Flushing is a 1980's Answer to a 2004 Problem.

T:his is the opposition plan for a stadium located where today's Shea Stadium stands. There are several problems with it, but let's just look at the most obvious one. Look around the stadium, and what do you see? Cars. Lots and lots of cars. Made sense in the 1980's or '90's, but this is 2004. We are just now coming to grips with a reality that as a society we should have come to grips with a long time ago, namely that oil is a scarce resource. It is a problem that is only going to get worse, not better. Building stadia that encourage the use of mass transit is quickly going to become the norm in urban design. As explained below, this location is mediocre at best regarding mass transit.

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Brian Hatch displays his Salt Lake City roots when he writes the following on his web site:
Shea and the U.S. Open have excellent LIRR service. There is ample ability to run more trains for football, World's Fairs, and the Olympics. With the Grand Central Parkway, Van Wyck, L.I.E. and abundant parking, the overall transportation picture for football is better in Flushing than the West Side. Below are the facts

There is a myth now wafting through the air that Flushing is Stadium Nirvana. It ain't. Let's just take Mass Transit. Flushing has the #7. That is it. It would be fine for me, mind you- I live in Manhattan and could just jump on the west side IRT, and change at Times Square for the 7. However, the Long Island Railroad, which has been touted as an answer for Flushing by folk who obviously never use that line,(Chris Russo said, with Mike Francesa sitting there, Mike who should know better since he is a NY native, "You can take the Long Island Railroad from Long Island to Flushing in a second," in an interview with Jay Cross on 3-25-04) is a non-starter because it does not link to Jamaica train station, meaning that to get to Flushing from most of Long Island, where many of the Jet fans live, you have to go all the way to Woodside Station, then change to a train going back east. By the time you would get there you could be sitting in your seat at West Side Stadium, sipping a cold one.

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Every one knows that a stadium on the West Side of Manhattan can't possibly make money, right? Wrong. Click here for details of just one annual event

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"It takes an hour to get to the Lincoln Tunnel now. Can you imagine an 85,000-seat stadium emptying into the area after an event?" said Walter Mankoff, chairman of Manhattan Community Board 4, representing Chelsea and Hell's Kitchen.
New York Daily News, December 5 2003

This is an interesting falsehood, one that is accepted as gospel. It comes up in any discussion about the proposed stadium. And, it makes great sense, until one actually bothers to think about the facts.

Opponents of stadium have had 100 years to come up with a plan

Or should we wait another 100 years?

 

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