Results tagged “internationalolympicscommittee”

New York magazine has an extensive New York vs. London features package. Apparently, now is the time to wonder which city is better, although the International Olympics Committee decided that almost two years ago. There are immediately controversial stories like where is the sex better, where real estate obsession is greatest, which lit scene is more stuck up and who is having more fun. There is an obligatory London sucks essay, but regarding which city is a bigger terror target, our guess is wherever Rudy Giuliani is.

The International Olympics Committee eliminated New York as a possible site for the 2012 Olympics in the second (of four) round of voting. Gothamist thought that watching the city selection process (starting at 6AM) was incredibly bizarre: The IOC Chairman comes out, tells how many votes were given, how many people voted, what the majority is, and then matter-of-factly says something like, "New York will not proceed to the next round of voting." When Moscow was voted out in the first round of voting, the split screen coverage showed the IOC on the right and people at Rockefeller Center cheering (so much for ending the Cold War!) on the left. Then a few minutes later, when New York was voted out, people were just quiet, and cameramen raced to find some crying NYC 2012 supporters. Then Madrid was eliminated in the third round, putting the age-old rivalry of England and France in the spotlight once again, with London and Paris in the final two. The 2012 Olympics city will be announced at 7:43AM (EST) - the IOC was running late!

Today is a big day in the short history but seemingly endless history of the proposed West Side stadium, as the International Olympics Committee gets ready to tell the world what they think of the five potential 2012 Olympics cities and the state panel possibly voting on whether or not the stadium should get funding. With Assembly Speaker Silver in town recently, Mayor Bloomberg has been trying to charm Silver, but Silver has emphasized repeatedly he thinks Lower Manhattan is a more important priority and that the Jets should build in Queens. Okay, Gothamist agrees on point one, but point two is moot, since the Jets have made it very clear they don't want to build in Queens. In fact, the Mayor, in his trademark, whiny tones, said someting along the lines of "[no one/the Jets don't] wants to invest $1.4 billion in Queens." Net net: There's been "little progress" between them, and NYC's Olympic hopes are "waning". But Bloomberg and Silver (Bloomby in the comfy white polo, Silver in a suit) marched together in yesterday's Israeli Day Parade, along with Senator Hillary Clinton, showing that while they can't agree, politicians love a photo op. Gothamist predicts for the IOC will say NYC isn't that great a venue city, and then the state panel will actually end up voting not to allow public funds for the building of the stadium; Silver will call the IOC's analysis what made him finally decide the stadium isn't a good idea.

- Next Thursday: The State Supreme Court will rule whether or not the MTA's acceptance of the Jets' bid for the West side railyards is legal, with the Cablevision lawsuit against the bid leading the pack.Honestly, our head is spinning. It's a soap opera, except a lot of old men are involved and there aren't any spoken monologues to mirrors - at least, there aren't any that we are aware of. Earlier this week, Mayor Bloomberg said on his radio show about the IOC, "The site selection committee puts out their report on the 6th of June, which is Monday [in] a week, and rumor has it that the report will be very complimentary on New York, with the one caveat that is the question about the stadium." Oh, please. Mayor B, we get that you have to do your job, but even a baby knows that's spin.

Here's a little Mayoral Race 2005 action to tie us over: Congressman and mayoral hopeful Anthony Weiner held a protest against the West Side Stadium yesterday, but he was heckled by trade union guys. According to Newsday, the trade unionists were more "amused" than menacing, and called Weiner a "loser." But Gothamist could feel sorry for Weiner, because those union guys could probably take him, it turns out that Weiner heckled back.

And starting next week, it'll be Olympics 2012 in NYC round the clock, the IOC team coming to town. They'll be staying at the Plaza and visiting all the proposed venues, so that's why there are tons of Olympics ads starting to pop up - including the ones where the type runs sideways so you can't really read them. The NY Times notes how Deputy Mayor Daniel "Olympics Boy" Doctoroff is getting ready for the visit. Gothamist on the IOC's analysis of NYC's potential as an Olympics city and the rest of our NYC 2012 coverage.