Stop playing games with the Olympics

Editorial

April 26, 2005

New York's two top legislative leaders - one a Democrat, the other a Republican, one from the city, the other from upstate - have made rare common cause in subverting, and perhaps destroying, the city's bid to win the 2012 Olympics. They can't be serious. Please, they can't be.

By virtue of their control over a tiny outpost of state government called the Public Authorities Control Board (PACB), Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno have the power to give thumbs up or down to construction of a stadium/convention center on the West Side. Which also gives them the power to drive a javelin through New York's bid for the summer games.

The International Olympic Committee is scheduled to decide July 6 where the games will be held - New York, London, Paris, Moscow or Barcelona. If New York's powers that be do not give the okay to building the stadium by then, we'll say adieu to the event and the billions of dollars in economic benefits the Games generate.

For the moment, Silver and Bruno shrug. "I don't see the necessity" of voting on the stadium before the IOC vote, Silver said Thursday. Bruno ducks behind the many lawsuits that have been filed against the stadium, which would also serve as the Jets' home. "I'm not sure the PACB can meet while there's litigation because they may be enjoined from whatever action that is being contemplated," he said.

Again, they can't be serious. Please, they can't be.

Silver and Bruno cannot believe the IOC would select New York without a commitment to build the centerpiece venue for the Games. This is certain: If we build it, they might come. This is preposterous: If they come, we might build it.

The PACB, which also includes a representative of Gov. Pataki, is scheduled to meet next month. That is when the three men should vote on whether the Jets can go ahead and build the stadium over a Metropolitan Transportation Authority railyard. The merits of the project have been debated up, down and sideways, and all the relevant facts are in. Get serious, gentlemen, and get behind the Olympics. Vote to approve the stadium.