Results tagged “jetsstadium”

Put any thoughts of the new Giants-Jets Stadium being named Mara Field (after the recently deceased and beloved Giants owner Wellington Mara) far from your heads. Sports marketing experts believe that the value of slapping a corporation's name on the arena, which is expected to be completed in 2010 and cost $1.3 billion, could generate revenues of $25 million to $30 million annually for the two teams. In comparison, the Mets are charging Citigroup $20 million annually for 20 years to name the team's new stadium in Queens Citi Field.

Check it out! The Mayor Bloomberg, hoping to make Hudson Yards lemonade out of failed Jets Stadium lemons, along with West Side Stadium opponent City Council Speaker Christine Quinn have offered the MTA $500 million for the West Side Railyards. The two officials sent the MTA an "unexpected" offer letter, which has the city paying $300 million for the "Western Rail Yard" (where the Jets Stadium would have been) and $200 million for the Eastern Rail Yard. The $300 million is already $50 million more than the Jets offered for that parcel and is in line with what the MTA wanted last year, but the MTA appraised it at $923 million. Speaker Quinn said, "Together the city must work to create a mixed-use commercial and residential district, one that protects existing residents, businesses and manufacturers while also creating new employment opportunities, affordable housing, and parks." In other words, let's jampack Manhattan with everything while the iron is hot.

thing to do! The biggest transit union filed a suit saying the West Side railyards bidding should be reopened because the MTA perhaps didn't get enough money out of it. And the Straphangers Campaign and Tri-State Transportation Campaign, plus the NY chapter of Common Cause, are joining the suit. While it sucks to be MTA Chairman Kalikow (or NYC Transit President Reuter), Gothamist imagines that the MTA's lawyers are feasting on this like a fatted calf, given what they have to do with Cablevision's lawsuit. We're curious how far the courts will let these lawsuits go, as well as how effective the arguments each side makes will be...perhaps it'll be the International Olympic Committee's summer announcement of the 2012 venue that will really put the screws in for one side, as the NYC bid is contingent on a West Side Jets Stadium.

While many people, in and out of the political arena, can find bad stuff to say about Mayor Bloomberg, there seems to be a problem with finding anything to say about the Democratic candidates who want to run against him. At least, anything to say that will stick with voters, and many Democratic leaders are worried about that. The NY Times quotes Reverend Al Sharpton's political director as saying, "People are saying, why should we get rid of Bloomberg? The Democrats are not giving any solid reasons why Bloomberg should not be in office. I don't think any of the candidates have come forward with lucid arguments as to why Bloomberg has been ineffective and why he should be fired from his job as mayor." Gothamist has to agree: The candidates aren't really proposing anything constructive or feasible (Jets Stadium in Queens? The Jets aren't putting their $800 million in Queens.) that has legs yet. We hope that messages and tactics will take further shape in the next month before the debates start. The primaries are on September 13; the run-off, if needed, will be held on September 27. If you're not a NYC voter and want to be, register here. And here's the New York City Voter Assistance Commission site; you can find your representative here.

...FOR DOING THEIR JOBS. The NY State Assembly has passed a budget on time for the first time in 20 years. This is big news, because these politicians have been called the most dyfunctional in the nation, which is no small task. The NY Post calls it a miracle, but Governor Pataki will be trying to renegotiate the budget because he thinks it spends too much (and, as many people have noted, it does not include $300 million that the state is supposed to put aside for a Jets Stadium). Some things for NYC: An additional $325 million for public schools; an increase of .125% in the sales tax (for a sales tax of 8.5%) to supplement mass transit; and $17.9 billion for the MTA.

As for our fine city's support of the Olympics, it's generally positive, with 59%, but it turns out that's tepid compared to other cities. NYC 2012 estimated public support to be 64-79% (wishful thinking!), the IOC poll found only 59% support. In other candidate cities, the IOC found 68% in London, 91% in Madrid (even higher than what Madrid's 2012 committee found), 85% in Paris (8% higher than Paris 2012 found), and 76-77% in Moscow. This is so going to Madrid or Paris. And the city's support of the Mayor seems to be faulting because of West Side Stadium, making Gothamist realize if you want to flame out, you might as well flame out big.

Gothamist rounds up interesting movement in some of the big city development projects:

"It's a classic story in New York, the city's inability, under Lindsay, to get the snow off the streets," said William B. Eimicke, a professor of public administration at Columbia University. "It led to the reputation that he couldn't get the trains to run on time."That is true, Gothamist does love us some public services working well, but we have found that walking on the snowy, car-less streets makes us feel ALL-POWERFUL. Anyway, Mayor Bloomberg isn't announcing his formal reelection bid until June; he probably wants to be able to take the high road and say "My opponents are criticizing me...I'm not going to deign to comment on that because I'm actually running the city." In the meantime, Miller is bringing his "Bloomberg sucks" show to Albany.

Bloomberg LP did, in fact, negotiate a tax break valued at $14 million with the Giuliani administration in 2000, but Mr. Bloomberg turned it down after winning the election in 2001 to avoid a conflict of interest.Anyway, Gothamist thinks there's only one way for this to be resolved: A tag team cage match - the Mayor and Jets owner Woody Johnson in one corner, the Dolans (owners of Cablevision) in the other.

Nothing quite like hissy fits by billionares. Note to self: when traveling via helicopter, don't piss off guy in charge of landing pad.