December 08, 2004
Looking for redevelopment in all the wrong places
New York approved a billion-dollar-plus project for the West Side of Manhattan yesterday, but it wasn't the Jets stadium. Rather, the state legislature okayed the $1.2 billion expansion of the Jacob Javits Convention Center; Gov. Pataki is likely signing the bill as I type this.
Though the Javits expansion hasn't garnered nearly the opposition that the accompanying Jets stadium proposal has, it's arguably just as dumb an idea at twice the public price - as convention expert Heywood Sanders has noted, it's not like there's a huge number of conventions out there willing to rush to New York if only they had more room to rattle around in. (Though the Times did note that the American Association of Orthodontists has "a tentative agreement" to hold its convention at an expanded Javits ... in the year 2013. Woohoo?)
—Neil deMause
At least "emperors" used to be able to play a musical instrument while their cities burned.
Posted by Joel Heitin on December 9, 2004 10:08 AM