The plaintiffs in four lawsuits against the Metropolitan Transportation Authority each have their reasons for fighting the deal that gave the New York Jets development rights for a prime piece of real estate on Manhattan's West Side. The loudest howls have come from Madison Square Garden, which lost its bid despite offering more money.
The Garden's offer was no bargain for the city. But the Jets deal should still be voided, because the M.T.A., using a rushed and slippery process, cheated itself, taxpayers and straphangers of the true value of the property, and did so at a time when public transportation - especially the subways - are in crying need of money just to keep running.
Judge Herman Cahn of State Supreme Court, who lumped the cases together and heard arguments on Thursday, was right to stop the clock on this deal. The public subsidy for the stadium could reach $600 million, and the M.T.A. made a bad deal worse by selling the Jets the air rights over the West Side rail yards, valued at more than $900 million, for $250 million. The Jets also had an inside track.
The lawsuits by the Straphangers Campaign and by Betsy Gotbaum, the city's public advocate, ask the city to start from scratch and seek a better deal. That may raise hackles among those who believe that any delay will hurt the city's Olympics bid, but it is past time to listen to those who were ignored as the project rolled forward.
It is time for elected officials to do right by the people of New York. Mayor Michael Bloomberg should stop pretending that the stadium will gush money. The stadium is unlikely to produce the revenues forecast by the city, and by siphoning money from the M.T.A., the project presents a clear threat to the city's infrastructure.
For their part, the construction unions must stop pretending that only a stadium in Manhattan will put their members to work, as if other development on the west side, or a stadium in another borough would not produce jobs. And Albany's leaders must assert themselves. The stadium requires approval from the Public Authorities Control Board, where Governor Pataki Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver all control votes.
Mr. Silver is understandably preoccupied with the problems that threaten the rebuilding of his district in Lower Manhattan. A stadium that would cheat all New Yorkers deserves his attention, too.