TIME TO DECIDE

Editorial

June 3, 2005 -- It's time for Gov. Pataki, State Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to put up or shut up on the West Side stadium.

It's time for the trio to decide, up or down, on whether New York should accept a $1.6 billion gift from the Jets to build the facility, a chance to host the Olympics in 2012 and a vital spark to spur development on the Far West Side.

Who could say no to that, right?

But this is New York, where no good deed isn't milked by the pols for maximum personal and political gain.

Yesterday:

* Silver sought to delay a vote on the project tentatively set for today.

* Bruno said he would look to amend the resolution to be voted on.

* And State Comptroller Alan Hevesi argued (what a time to first weigh in!) that a decision today is "premature."

Let there be no mistake: Anything short of an unambiguous, on-the-record green light for the stadium by Monday, at the latest, will be seen by the Jets and the International Olympic Committee as unacceptable uncertainty over the project.

That's because Monday is when a key IOC report will assess prospects for hosting the Olympics in each competing city — and without an OK on the stadium, Gotham is likely to fare poorly.

If that happens, in all likelihood the stadium, the Olympics and all that would come from them will be history.

Which truly would be tragic.

Again, here's what's at stake:

* Tens of thousands of permanent and temporary jobs.

* New business activity and neighborhoods in a neglected Manhattan section.

* Continued hope for the Olympics.

* A professional football team for New York and the Super Bowl in 2010.

* Not least, a new, permanent stream of tax revenues for teachers, cops, firefighters and to help keep tax rates down.

Silver and Bruno are against this.

The speaker, for his part, openly opposes West Side development; he says it would damage his Downtown district.

Parochial? You bet. After all, he (with Bruno and Pataki) are supposed to look out for the whole state.

Bruno, meanwhile, hasn't said exactly why he's down on the plan — though his son's role as a paid lobbyist against it might throw some light on the question.

Fortunately, both men have been seen as entirely bribable. Indeed, Silver's already been paid off — in the form of hundreds of millions of dollars for parks and other projects in his district.

As for Bruno, he's all excuses.

Wednesday, he argued that only private investment should be used — which was odd, considering that the Joseph L. Bruno Stadium in Troy was named for the man who funneled $14 million in tax monies toward its construction.

But yesterday, a big excuse collapsed: Bruno wanted to put off the vote until a judge ruled in a suit against the stadium. Yesterday, the judge tossed the case.

The excuses are gone.

The ransom's been paid.

It's time to start building.