October 08, 2004
Jets stadium still on runway
Not much may be happening of late with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's $5-billion-plus Hudson Yards plan, but at least the legislative calendar is starting to shape up. Once the city finally submits its finance plan - now overdue since June, with a whopping $600 million budget hole remaining for the state and city's share of a Jets stadium - the state-run Empire State Development Corporation must wait 60 days before holding a public hearing. At that point, the ESDC board will vote; since ESDC chair Charles Gargano is one of the main backers of the plan, bet you can guess how that vote will go.
Less certain is the outlook in the state legislature, where House Speaker Sheldon Silver has raised objections to the plan, while Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno has said he expects another $300 million in state subsidies for his upstate constituents as a quid pro quo for backing the stadium.
Given the New York legislature's legendary reputation for deadlock, it's looking likely that the state still won't have moved forward on its portion of the plan by the time the city council must vote to approve zoning changes in January - the only chance city elected officials will have a chance to weigh in on the plan. For that matter, deputy mayor Dan Doctoroff may still not have finished the financing plan by then: his spokesperson told the New York Post that "we hope the general project plan will be ready shortly," but then, we've heard that before.
