A plan for 2016?
BY DAN JANISON AND JOHN JEANSONNE
STAFF WRITERS
June 13, 2005, 9:41 PM EDT
If it fails, as many expect, Mayor Michael Bloomberg's 11th-hour, Queens-based emergency plan to win the 2012 Olympics could be reworked into a proposal to lure the 2016 games, some insiders say.
For now, however, the mayor is focused on proving his own past statements wrong. He insisted for months that without the now-defunct West Side stadium deal, the city would not get the 2012 Games.
With the International Olympics Committee allowing the proposal to be amended, he's revving up the sales pitch as he prepares to meet with its members this week in Ghana.
"We have shown that we know how to get things done," he said yesterday. "Even when we have reversals, we come right back. We don't walk away."
In addition, New York's diversity makes it a natural fit for the games, he said.
In his underdog Plan B announced Sunday, the Mets would provide the venue with a new stadium next to the current Shea Stadium. The city and state would provide tens of millions of dollars in infrastructure to support a privately financed stadium there that the Olympics could use.
Tax-exempt financing could also be on the table.
The Mets would play at Yankee Stadium for the 2012 season. A stadium deal for the Yankees in the Bronx with public support is expected to be announced by the city as early as Wednesday.
Both stadiums would be started regardless of the Olympics, officials said. The Mets would open the 2009 season in their new home.
Like an underdog candidate seeking office, Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff is expected to avoid discussing a later bid unless and until he and his team lose the current one.
The city would have to go back to the U.S. Olympic Committee if it loses its bid on July 6 and be nominated again as the nation's representative locale.
The United States choice for 2016 could hinge on whether New York comes close for 2012. Doctoroff has long been the premier advocate of and strategist for bringing the Olympics here -- he headed the NYC2012 committee before joining City Hall -- and isn't expected to quit.
State Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Queens), a Bloomberg political supporter, said when asked about 2016: "Why not? You'll have everything in place.
"I see no downside -- though you've got to keep talking positively for 2012."
Jay Carson, spokesman for the NYC2012 committee, said, "The only year NYC2012 is bidding on is pretty clear -- it's in our name. There literally have been no discussions about 2016."
Other aspects of Plan B -- traffic, the fate of Willets Point, and financing -- took center stage at a Bloomberg news conference yesterday in Fort Totten. Auto repair and parts shops would have to move out of Willets Point, where a media center would move in.
Bloomberg said the city could help the displaced shops, but "there has to be a time when you say the greater purpose of this city is how many jobs you can create in other kinds of businesses."
Councilman Tony Avella (D-Bayside) expressed concern about the proposal's impact on residents.
"I want to see what's in the proposal to improve the traffic situation," he said.
Bloomberg drew criticism from Democratic hopefuls in the fall mayoral election for losing time and even public funding by pushing the West Side plan, which had negative ratings in popularity polls.
"I think this is a good development for Willets Point, and I am glad he's finally been paying attention," said candidate Fernando Ferrer. But Ferrer warned that the plan, once detailed, could prove costly to the public.
City Council Speaker Gifford Miller (D-Manhattan) said, "Given all of his previous hostilities to this plan, I am pleased that he's come around to this point, because, look, this makes for a stronger application for the Olympics."
Miller said, as did Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Queens/Brooklyn), that transit officials can now get a better price for the West Side rail yards than was offered under a Jets stadium deal.
Bloomberg praised Mets owner Fred Wilpon and Yankees owner George Steinbrenner for considering the city's interest in agreeing to the backup Olympic plan.
Queens Borough President Helen Marshall said the ability of Queens to accommodate the Olympics had previously been "underestimated."
