February 23, 2006
Yankees stadium plan heads for council
As expected, the New York City Planning Commission approved the Yankees' $1.2 billion stadium plan yesterday, by a 12-0 vote, with one abstention. The project now heads for the city council, where, according to the Daily News, "council officials indicated the 53,000-seat stadium faces no insurmountable opposition."
The city also released its Final Environmental Impact Statement in the last few days, a 730-page tome (really frickin' huge PDF file downloadable here) that by law must include responses to all public comments submitted in response to the earlier draft report. Of course, there are responses and then there are responses. My favorite so far:
The commenter's assertion that the proposed project is "laden with hidden public subsidies" is outside the scope of a SEQRA or CEQR analysis. ... Neither the City nor the State will have any obligation to pay for construction of the new stadium. Thus, there are no hidden public subsidies.
If you want to read along for yourself, dive in starting on page 528.
The council is legally required to act on the stadium plan within 60 days; no word yet on when a vote might come, or whether there will be public hearings first. (Councilmember Helen Foster, who represents part of the Bronx neighborhood that would be affected by the stadium plan, is chair of the council parks committee; I'm awaiting an answer as to whether she plans to hold hearings.) In the meantime, the state Empire State Development Corporation will hold its own hearing on Thursday, March 2, at Hostos Community College on Grand Concourse and 149th St. (not sure what time yet [UPDATE: 4-6 pm]); an ESDC hearing on the $600 million Mets stadium plan is scheduled for Monday, February 27 at Flushing Town Hall, 137-35 Northern Boulevard, from 4-6 pm.
Finally, the Bronx Save Our Parks Coalition is staging a demonstration today at 5 pm outside Yankee Stadium to protest the loss of central public park space and the estimated $481 million in taxpayer subsidies. Some people just can't take "there are no hidden public subsidies" for an answer.
So how much exactly is NYC on the hook for with this project?
And how much exactly is NYC on the hook for with the Shea project?
And how much would NYC be on the hook for with the Brooklyn project?
And why won't NYC build a MLS/soccer stadium in Flushing Meadow ?
Posted by: bertell ollman on February 23, 2006 04:53 PM
Do you want just NYC figures, or NYC+NYS? I have both.
Posted by: Neil on February 23, 2006 07:14 PM
I would like both. First seperate, and then combined.
Any any word on soccer stadium in NYC (Flushing Meadow) since $$ seems to be everywhere for stadiums.....
Posted by: Bertell Ollman on February 23, 2006 07:20 PM
These numbers are necessarily estimates, since we don't know the exact value of future rent and tax breaks, but roughly:
YANKS: $275m city, $100m state
METS: $300m city, $90m state
The Nets project I don't have solid enough figures to break down this way, but it would likely be in the same, er, ballpark.
As for Flushing Meadows Park, the borough of Queens just about rose up as one in fury when it was proposed to build a Jets football stadium there, so I can't imagine a soccer stadium would be any more popular, even if you figured out a way to pay for it. And some actual white people live in Queens, so the city is less blase about bulldozing the parks there.
Posted by: Neil on February 23, 2006 07:36 PM
Thanx for those figures.
As for a soccer stadium in Flushing Meadow, its probably the 1 stadium that the city DOES NEED. If you have ever been to FLushing Meadow during the summer, the entire park is transformed into soccer fields. A soccer stadium complete with auxillary fields would be an absolute GOLD MINE..... IMO
Posted by: Bertell Ollman on February 24, 2006 02:41 PM
If the whole park is already in use as soccer fields, where do you propose putting the stadium? Or to put it another way, where are all the amateur soccer players supposed to go once MLS comes and takes over a dozen acres?
Posted by: Neil on February 24, 2006 02:48 PM
I've scouted the area. There is plenty of room.... especially if the willets point chop shops are vamoosed.... The new Shea will reside in the car park of the current Shea.... It would be a perfect scenario.... Especially with the #7 over Roosevelt Avenue....This is something that the neighborhood wants, and would have much use for. The current soccer fields in FMP are horridly crap. A few new fieldturf pitches were built recently, but they are practically in use 24-7, and their condition has suffered quite rapidly.
Posted by: Bertell Ollman on February 25, 2006 03:03 AM
