April 13, 2005
Jets roadblocks remain unmoved
New York state's Empire State Development Corporation gave its formal blessing to the Jets' $2.2-billion-and-counting stadium plan yesterday - a development that should surprise no one, since the ESDC is the state agency that's behind the stadium plan to begin with.
The state agency that everyone is watching remains the Public Authorities Control Board, which has three voting members - whose names no one ever bothers to mention, as they are effectively controlled by Gov. George Pataki, state assembly speaker Sheldon Silver and state senate leader Joseph Bruno. Since PACB votes have to be unanimous, and the stadium can't go forward without PACB approval, this effectively gives Silver and Bruno veto power over the stadium.
The Jets clearly hope to put the screws to Silver and Bruno in coming weeks: Yesterday, Jets president Jay Cross warned that if the stadium isn't approved by the end of May, he won't be able to order the steel that would be needed to have the place ready in time to host the 2010 Super Bowl, and said he expects the PACB to vote on the plan before then. That sounds like wishful thinking, though, given Bruno and especially Silver's recent comments - Silver yesterday snarked to the Times' Charles Bagli: "I understand they're trying to close a deal. It doesn't mean I have to give it a lot of credibility."
Meanwhile, Pataki last night signed into law a 2005 budget that doesn't include money for the state's share of the stadium costs, which would seem to blow a $300 million hole in the project budget. (Though there's still the possibility the governor could try to make under-the-table payments to the stadium via the New York City government.) And last month's sale of state rail yards land to the Jets is officially on hold until at least May 10, after the judge in Cablevision's lawsuit against the deal threatened a restraining order if the parties tried to move ahead before then. If it's not quite time to punt, the Jets are certainly still facing third and long on their stadium plans, and the clock is running down.
