The "experts" can now stop trying to read the tea leaves on how many City Council members are in support- the stadium has a majority.

It will be built, if we can get Joseph Bruno and Sheldon Silver to hear us.

City pols urge thumbs-up on Jets

BY MICHAEL SAUL
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU

A majority of the City Council sent the state's top lawmakers a letter yesterday urging approval of the proposed West Side stadium, all but killing Council Speaker Gifford Miller's bid to scuttle the deal's financing.

The letter pledges the Council members' support for spending $300 million in city money on the stadium - an expenditure opposed by Miller.

"We're here to send a clear message up to the state that we are in support of this [project]," said City Council Majority Leader Joel Rivera (D-Bronx). "We want the Olympics. We want the Super Bowl. We want the NCAA Final Four. ... How dare people say no!"

The letter, signed by 28 of the 51 members, could be a potent lobbying tool as the three-member Public Authorities Control Board prepares to vote on the plan.

The governor's office has yet to schedule the date for the vote, but sources expect it to be June 3. The stadium, which would house the Jets football team, is also the centerpiece of the city's bid for the 2012 Olympic Games. The city's Olympic supporters say New York will lose its bid unless the stadium is approved before the International Olympic Committee selects the host city on July 6. The letter is "an enormous statement of support," said Jay Kriegel, executive director of NYC2012.

Miller, a Manhattan Democrat and mayoral candidate, is behind a bill to stop Bloomberg spending the $300 million. "Members are entitled to their individual views, but I think that if it came down to it that they would not want to take money away from schools, subways and senior centers in their districts," Miller said.