COUNCIL LAUNCHES BID TO $TRAFE JETS

By KENNETH LOVETT and TOM TOPOUSIS

April 27, 2005 -- City Council leaders said yesterday they have the votes to pass a law blocking Mayor Bloomberg from pumping $300 million into a West Side football stadium — but the city's top lawyer said such a move could be challenged in court.

"It is an abuse of power for the mayor to try to direct hundreds of millions of dollars to personal pet projects without having a vote of the Legislature," Speaker Gifford Miller charged, after announcing that 34 council members have sponsored the bill.

The bill would bar the mayor from spending so-called PILOTs — payments in lieu of taxes, which the city collects from developers exempt from traditional property taxes — without prior City Council approval.

"I believe that the mayor has to realize that he is no longer an independent CEO of a privately held corporation. And that the way government works in this city is that the mayor spends the money and the council votes to appropriate," Miller said.

Several of the councilmembers backing the bill are also supporting the stadium. But they insist their votes are intended to assert rightful control over the city budget and would not jeopardize the stadium.

"This is about making sure that the council and the mayor are working in a bipartisan manner," said Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-Queens), who joined Miller at a press conference after holding a pro-Jets rally outside City Hall.

Miller said the bill has enough support to survive a mayoral override.

But Corporation Counsel Michael Cardozo, the city's top attorney, told a council hearing yesterday that the bill violates state law and City Charter provisions that spell out the mayor's powers. He warned that only a public referendum could change the charter.

"It is obviously possible that this matter could end up in litigation," Cardozo told lawmakers.

The Jets yesterday won the support of two more council members, Vincent Gentile and Tracy Boyland, both of Brooklyn. That puts the number of city lawmakers backing the stadium at 24 — with another five leaning toward it — but many of those also support Miller's legislative bid to rein in mayoral PILOT spending.

The city has pledged $300 million toward the $2 billion stadium, with another $300 million due from the state.

Gov. Pataki, meanwhile, said he doesn't expect the state Senate will approve the stadium deal without a similar economic-development commitment upstate.

Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno "has always made it plain on any issue that he's looking to achieve balance in the geographic commitment that the state makes," the governor said.

Pataki signaled that he would be willing to match the state contribution to the stadium with upstate spending. Both Bruno and state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver have yet to support the stadium.

BLOOMY NAILS DOWN HARD HATS' SUPPORT
By DAVID SEIFMAN

April 27, 2005 -- Saying he couldn't possibly have envisioned such a scenario four years ago, Mayor Bloomberg yesterday accepted the endorsement of the construction-trades coalition — the first of his re-election drive.

"The only thing I've heard from other candidates is they're opposed to a West Side stadium," said Ed Malloy, president of the New York Building and Construction Trades Council.

The council is an umbrella organization for an array of construction unions — from ironworkers to painters — representing 125,000 members.

The announcement was widely expected since construction workers were among the first to embrace the mayor's West Side development plan, opposed by all four of Bloomberg's Democratic rivals.

Still, the support was sweet for a mayor who won election in 2001 with only one major union — the correction officers.

"You know, four years ago I don't know that I ever could have envisioned this," Bloomberg said.

Political consultant Hank Sheinkopf called the endorsement important because Bloomberg most likely won't win support from the major municipal unions, such as cops and teachers, because of bitter ongoing contract disputes.

"It shows portions of organized labor support the mayor," he said. "It shows he's not out of touch."

As if to prove the point, after yesterday's ceremony painter Arthur Hohn called Bloomberg a down-to-earth guy who "made his money doing something . . . not like the Hilton [sisters]."