Olympic obstacles

NYC2012 worries Albany is 'losing' Games

BY MICHAEL SAUL
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU

New York's Olympic officials are worried about losing the city's high-stakes bid for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games to Albany foot-dragging - in what would be a humiliating eleventh-hour fumble, a confidential memo reveals.

The three-page NYC2012 memo, obtained by the Daily News, paints a brutal picture ofhow the drawn-out debate - and ensuing bad publicity - overthe proposed West Side stadium is "undermining our momentum" to win the Games as a crucial vote on the project looms tomorrow.

"While the other cities are beginning their closing campaigns with a demonstration of strong local and national support, we are locked in this ongoing state process over the stadium, which is undermining positive stories about the bid," wrote Charles Battle, NYC2012's international relations director, in a memo to Jay Kriegel, the bid group's executive director.

The memo, dated Tuesday, says recent comments by on-the-fence state leaders - Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver - questioning whether New York can win, "rather than expressing their support and enthusiasm for the bid, is sending a negative message at this critical moment."

Olympic officials around the globe, Battle wrote, view some of the remarks as "disingenuous."

"Statements by the state legislative leaders that they support the bid, while declining to approve the stadium, appear to some internationally to be inconsistent, if not disingenuous," he wrote.

Bruno (R-Rensselaer) insisted yesterday that New York will do right by the Olympic Games.

"If they make a decision to come to New York, we will vote to approve the stadium to host the Games," he said.

But he said his vote on the stadium - which also would house the Jets - hinges on the outcome of various lawsuits challenging the project and whether he gets answers to his questions about the proposal.

Some of those legal questions could be answered as soon as today, when a Manhattan judge is expected to rule on various lawsuits seeking to zap the project.

Silver (D-Manhattan) blasted Gov. Pataki's administration for failing to spell out the details ofhow the stadium would be financed and run. "We still can't get a finger on how much is the public investment," he said.

The Public Authorities Control Board - a panel controlled by Pataki, Silver and Bruno - could cast a decisive vote on the stadium tomorrow. All three voting members must approve the project for construction to begin.

New York is competing against Paris, London, Madrid and Moscow. The International Olympic Committee will select the host city during a meeting in Singapore July 6. But local leaders want an answer on the stadium before Monday, when the IOC is set to publish a report assessing the cities.

Kriegel said the city's bid has "significant momentum," but that will only continue "subject to approval of the stadium."

"We're talking about positioning New York City on the world stage in the strongest possible position," Kriegel said. "To do that and to win ... we need to resolve this issue."