Political football games

Silver still wavering, stadium vote today

BY MICHAEL SAUL
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU

It's West Side gridlock - Albany-style.

Even as a state judge paved the way yesterday for the Jets to build a $1.9 billion stadium on Manhattan's West Side, two of the state's top legislators still threatened to sack the project.

The Public Authorities Control Board - whose unanimous approval is needed for the stadium to go forward - is scheduled to take up the matter at 2 p.m. today.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is one of three voting members; Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Rensselaer) and Gov. Pataki control the other two votes on the board.

But Silver (D-Manhattan) - who already has delayed the board's stadium vote once - said yesterday he may ask Pataki for another delay.

Even if there is a vote, Silver said he won't attend - sending a surrogate in his place.

Silver would not say how his surrogate would vote, saying, "It's a long way to tomorrow ... I never rule out a compromise."

Silver suggested he'd be open to compromise if the Bloomberg and Pataki administrations scrap a plan to build 24 million square feet of office space in midtown - which he asserts would hinder lower Manhattan redevelopment efforts.

"That obviously would go a long way to the way I view the entire project," Silver said.

A state official confirmed that talks are ongoing with Silver about meeting his demands to rebuild lower Manhattan and with Bruno on his request for economic development projects upstate. These behind-the-scenes negotiations are expected to continue today.

For his part, Bruno sent a letter to International Olympic Committee Chairman Jacques Rogge pledging his support for a West Side stadium on the condition that New York wins the 2012 Summer Games. He said he has "serious doubts" about the need for today's vote.

Pataki supports the stadium, the centerpiece of the city's bid for the 2012 Games, the proposed new home of the Jets and a major component of the planned expansion of the Javits Center.

The IOC is slated to publish a report on Monday assessing the bids of the five finalist cities, and the city's Olympic supporters fear New York's bid will be irreparably hurt if the stadium remains unapproved when the report comes out.

"We've run out of time - now's the time to get a vote," Mayor Bloomberg said.

The stadium cleared one hurdle yesterday when Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Herman Cahn rejected allegations of bid rigging in four lawsuits and affirmed the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's unanimous March 31 vote to award its West Side railyards to the Jets for $250 million.

Cahn ordered the Jets and the MTA not to finalize the deal until the close of business on Tuesday, allowing time for appeals. The judge did not rule on legal challenges regarding the environmental impact of the project, leaving some hope among opponents.

The judge's ruling was an embarrassing defeat for Madison Square Garden, the stadium's chief opponent, given that the judge called nearly every argument that the company used to try to scuttle the project as either "unpersuasive," "irrelevant" or "uncompelling."

The Garden and the other petitioners in the case pledged yesterday to appeal.

"We do not believe the MTA board has the right to cut an inside deal and are highly confident that this will be overturned on appeal," the Garden said in a statement.