Times Backs Stadium in the Heartland

From the typewriter of Our Wise Old Egg

Times Backs Stadium in the Heartland of New York

– Excuse Me, Did You Say in QUEENS ??

Another county heard from . Specifically, Queens . Me Too, in the person of community activist David Oats, pops up to cry, “Why not a stadium out here, in the far reaches of the Bedroom Borough?” This is known as piggybacking on the other guy's dime, also as claim-jumping.

This is not to diss Mr. Oats. He is a thoroughly decent Queens community activist, whom I remember from my days on the Daily News, but I also have to say, hey, Mr. Oats, stop endangering New York's 2012 Olympics bid, because the Jets Stadium project is the key ingredient in it.

No sooner had Mr. Oats surfaced with his counterclaim (based on airy assumptions as opposed to the Jets' solidly-backed one with the aggressive support of the Mayor and the Governor) than the Times put its assigned hatchet man, the otherwise blameless Charles V. Bagli, on the story, and Bagli responded with a May 8 paean to the Oats proposal.

To get himself ink in the local press, Oats puts forward a plan that even Bagli admits can be called “quixotic” – that's Timestalk for an idea that smacks of the delusional.

Let's go over his objections to the Jets Stadium one at a time. He says “local politicians, community groups and some theater owners” oppose the stadium. Well, the local community population, all 17 of them, represent part of the voting constituency of the local City Council member, so she has to appease them. Now we come to the theater owners. I have yet to comprehend the Shuberts' angry opposition to the Stadium. Doesn't Gerry Schoenfeld want football fans coming to New York who, along with touchdowns, would also love to see some of those gorgeous Broadway musicals?

Bagli describes Oats's people as “an ad hoc” group, meaning impromptu, as opposed to the well-organized folks who are for Westsidestadium.com. And so they are. Hey, they live in Queens , they're for Queens , and we all admire pride in your community. Unfortunately the site they propose for the great stadium would stand on what used to be marshland. Not a very solid underpinning for a gigantic stadium. Dig down on Manhattan Island , on the other hand, and you find solid rock. That is why Manhattan was the first area in the world to sprout towering skyscrapers.

Also: Why do you think Madison Square Garden , though it has moved around since its birth more than a hundred years ago in Madison Square , has always had the magical aura of the world's number one indoor stadium? BECAUSE IT WAS IN THE HEART OF NEW YORK CITY !

That's where we need the Jets' Stadium. – TMcM

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