November 22, 2004
Stop sports subsidies (for the other guy)
New York mayor Michael Bloomberg and Cablevision chair James Dolan may be the "public diptych" of the Jets stadium battle, according to (who else?) the New York Times, but the Jets themselves are certainly playing an active behind-the-scenes role in stumping for that $600 million in public funds they're asking for. The latest revelation, again from the Times: The Jets have been lobbying hard in the state legislature to repeal Cablevision's $11 mil-a-year property-tax break on Madison Square Garden, in revenge for Cablevision funding the anti-Jets-stadium campaign. This may be a first: two sports teams simultaneously lobbying for an end to public subsidies, at least for the other side. Thank god for lack of ruling-class consciousness!
In other Gotham news, U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, a likely mayoral candidate in 2005, got on the Betsy Gotbaum tip yesterday, saying that a Jets stadium could leave the city on the hook for $267 million in cost overruns. (Presumably arrived at by guesstimating a 20% overage typical of similar projects; public advocate Gotbaum also estimated $150 million in inflation since the project was first planned in 2001, plus a billion or so more dollars in other unaccounted-for subsidies.) The mayor's office insisted that the Jets will pay all cost overruns; it's unclear, though, if this includes overruns on the platform and roof that would be built with public money - and if not, how it would be determined which costs get assigned to which partner.
