W. ON JETS' TEAM
By TOM TOPOUSIS

 

May 27, 2005 -- The White House and President Bush's allies are working aggressively behind the scenes to win approval of the Jets' stadium on the West Side, as a crucial deadline approaches, officials said yesterday.

The White House sees the proposed stadium as essential to the city's 2012 Olympic bid, which the president and his supporters believe would showcase to the world the rebirth of Ground Zero.

"Seven years from now, Ground Zero will take shape and will look spectacular. To have a moment to celebrate that would be fantastic," said Roland Betts, a close friend of Bush and his point man on the city's Olympic bid committee.

"The White House is very aware of that," said Betts, who has known Bush since their days together at Yale University.

The effort to convince key state lawmakers to approve the stadium began this week with phone calls from White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card and from Betts, who is also on the board of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp.

State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver hold the fate of the stadium in their hands because they control two of the three votes on the Public Authorities Control Board, which must approve the project.

Gov. Pataki is the only member of the board to so far back the stadium, which would become home for the New York Jets.

"Mr. Card called Mr. Bruno. And I have called Mr. Bruno. There's no question we want the Olympics to come to the United States," said Betts. "We believe having the games in 2012 would coincide with the rebuilding of Ground Zero."

Asked if there would be more than just phone calls made to help convince Silver and Bruno, Betts would only say, "No comment."

But sources familiar with the effort to build the stadium expect more pressure to come from Washington. Among the projects on Silver's wish list is the Second Avenue subway, which will depend heavily on federal funding.

A spokesman for Bruno said that despite the calls, the upstate Republican's position has not changed.

Bruno and Silver have both argued that a final decision on building the stadium should be made after the International Olympic Committee votes on July 6 to pick a host city for the 2012 Games. Paris, London, Madrid and Moscow are in the mix.

But Betts, who met with IOC members during their evaluation visit to the city in February, insisted that without a stadium, there will be no Olympics.

"That's why there is such a big effort to break the logjam," Betts said.

"My argument to Speaker Silver is that if you don't think we can win, then just give us a shot. But we need that stadium. The stadium and the Olympics are the same," Betts said.