In clash of visions, 1 victor

A popular pastime of the chattering class is to lament the notion that modern politicians lack grand visions.

In fact, the battle over the West Side stadium was such a titanic clash because it involved two competing visions for the future of New York.

Reconciling those visions proved impossible because of two big numbers: 67,000 and 24 million. They are the main reasons Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver killed the stadium.

You don't have to agree with Silver to appreciate his logic. For a man who can be notoriously obtuse about his bottom line, he was consistent and clear in laying out his thinking.

Let's start with the 67,000. Silver told anyone who would listen that his lower Manhattan district has lost that many workers since 9/11. Each of them is a lost shopper for local delis, department stores and electronic shops.

The problem is not just Ground Zero. The whole area is drifting aimlessly, as proven by Goldman Sachs dropping its plan to build a headquarters. Nearly four years after the terror attacks, shuttered stores, thin crowds and closed streets are common sights downtown.

"It's about a moral obligation each and every one of us committed to when we saw those towers go down," Silver said in an impassioned speech before pulling the stadium plug.

Now consider the other number - 24 million. That's the number of square feet of new commercial space City Hall plans for the West Side of Manhattan.

Silver has cited the 24 million as direct competition for businesses that might go downtown. And he was doubly convinced of the danger when he learned City Hall was offering greater incentives for businesses to move West than downtown.

That's where his vision clashes with Mayor Bloomberg's. For just as Silver wants to rebuild downtown, Bloomberg sees the West Side as the future of New York, even if it comes at the expense of downtown. Indeed, not long after he was elected, the mayor told Daily News editors and reporters that financial businesses have been leaving downtown since the crash of 1929 and that there was probably little the city could do to stop them.

His goal was to keep and attract firms to somewhere, anywhere in the city. He looked at the open, low-rise district on the West Side and saw a soaring new neighborhood of offices, shops, apartments - all anchored by and dependent on a stadium. As for lower Manhattan, Bloomberg saw it becoming more of a residential area.

Two men, two visions. Because they are politicians, lesser motives added to the intrigue.

For Bloomberg, the Olympics are a big part of the mix. But I remain confused over why he gambled the Olympic bid on the stadium. Had he put it in Queens, as many New Yorkers advised, he might have lost the Jets and their money but he would have won a stadium and a better chance at the Games. By linking them, he has lost both.

Silver also had a confluence of motives. He never liked the stadium and had even less use for its chief salesman, Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff. One source said Gov. Pataki warned Bloomberg a month ago that Silver would never make a deal with Doctoroff and that Bloomberg should bench his deputy and deal directly with Silver.

But given the competing goals, it was probably futile. A last-minute request by Silver for a moratorium on West Side development showed how far apart they were. An insider said the mayor called Jets owner Woody Johnson to report the request and said he thought it unreasonable. Johnson agreed, saying it was "un-American."

When it comes to visions, there was only room for one.