The New York Times April 22, 2005 ssemblywoman Deborah J. Glick of Manhattan has asked the International Olympic Committee to release certain documents in an effort to clarify what she called the "tangled financing" behind New York's bid for the 2012 Summer Games...

Assemblywoman Glick has been jumping up and down on the sidelines, yearning for a chance to get into the "Kill the Stadium" game. It's been tough, what with Christine Quinn and Betsy Gotbaum and, yes, even the Invisible Man himself, Gifford Miller, hogging the spotlight.

So now, at the end of the game, when no one is looking, she comes running out onto the field with a Hail Mary play that can do nothing but destroy New York City's Olympic dreams.

After this ridiculous ploy, one can only hope that the IOC will see it for what it is: A pathetic attempt by a provincial politician to grab her fifteen minutes, or, more likely in this case, fifteen seconds, of fame.

April 22, 2005

Assemblywoman Seeks Release of Olympic Bidding Documents

By CHARLES V. BAGLI

ssemblywoman Deborah J. Glick of Manhattan has asked the International Olympic Committee to release certain documents in an effort to clarify what she called the "tangled financing" behind New York's bid for the 2012 Summer Games.

The Olympic committee requires host cities to guarantee to pay for all cost overruns and deficits connected to the Games. State legislation enacted in 2001, however, limited the city and state's Olympic liability to $250 million. And Deputy Mayor Daniel L. Doctoroff has said that the city and state's financial obligation will not exceed that amount.

But, Ms. Glick said, the Bloomberg administration has refused to release Olympic bidding documents that would outline how the I.O.C.'s requirement would be met. "The long-range fiscal health of the city is potentially at risk in the way in which the Olympic bid is structured," she said in an interview yesterday. "If we're on the hook for more than $250 million, what is the outer limit?"

If a private entity has assumed the financial obligations, Ms. Glick said, it might be very difficult to sort out where the public responsibilities end and the private ones begin.

The Games in Athens last year cost at least $10 billion, twice the original estimate. New York's rivals for the 2012 Games - London, Paris, Moscow and Madrid - have all offered unlimited guarantees. But New York officials have argued that the city has enough money to cover any contingency, and that every American Olympics since Los Angeles in 1984 has generated a surplus.

"The parochial views of one legislator don't change the fact that a majority of New York City legislators support the city's Olympic bid and the Olympic stadium," said Jay Carson, a spokesman for NYC2012, the group handling New York's bid.

The proposed West Side stadium is also running into roadblocks. In an interview on NY1 yesterday, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said it is "highly unlikely" that top state officials will approve the stadium before July, echoing comments by the Senate's majority leader, Joseph L. Bruno. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has insisted that the stadium issue must be approved by July 6, when the I.O.C. meets to decide which city gets the 2012 Games.