Vote no on stadium

We like the Olympics, not the arena

 

Newsday Editorial

June 6, 2005

As the clock winds down on the selection of a site for the 2012 Olympics, the fight over a new $2.2-billion stadium on Manhattan's West Side is roaring into overtime.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff argue passionately that without the solid guarantee of a Manhattan stadium, the city's Olympic bid will die. And only one agency at the moment can offer that guarantee. It is the obscure state Public Authorities Control Board, which consists - surprise! - of Republican Gov. George Pataki, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) and state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Brunswick), the same three guys who control nearly everything in Albany.

After repeated delays, the board could vote on the stadium as early as today. We hope it votes no, and not because we dislike the idea of a 2012 New York Olympics. We don't.

The problem all along has been the non-negotiable issue of a West Side stadium. Not only would this stadium leave taxpayers on the hook for as much as $1 billion in subsidies. It would also make the Far West Side - rather than Second Avenue - the focal point for new subway construction. And it could throw the West Side into direct competition for office tenants with Lower Manhattan - which has yet to recover from the loss of tens of thousands of jobs on 9/11.

Had the NYC2012 strategists included an alternative site for a stadium in their plans - Flushing is one logical place - chances are they wouldn't still be scrambling to get a venue approved. Unfortunately, they did not.

So here we are - looking at a dubious bet.

Today the International Olympic Committee is to receive a final report from its site selection commission. City Hall hoped to have approval for the West Side stadium in hand before that document was done. No deal.

Now it can only try to convince Bruno and Silver to brush aside reasonable skepticism and ratify the stadium, which would also serve as a home for the New York Jets. And then in a last-minute flurry of salesmanship it must try to make a deal with IOC before its July 6 final decision. This is a costly gamble against terrible odds. Albany must say no.