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July 19, 2006
IRS okays NYC stadium bonds
The Internal Revenue Service has ruled in favor of the Mets' and Yankees' tax-exempt bond plan to finance new stadiums. (See my previous Village Voice online article for why there's good reason to believe this is illegal.) This eliminates the final government hurdle for the twin $2 billion stadium deals, and while neither team has announced a groundbreaking date, it can't be far away.
Unless a planned lawsuit by Bronx residents is successful in getting a court injunction against the construction - environmental lawyer Antonia Bryson, who's representing the group, calls it "one of clearest environmental justice issues I've ever seen" - it looks likely that the century-old Macombs Dam Park will be demolished in coming months to make way for a new stadium, with Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium to follow in the winter of 2008-09.
In lieu of flowers, please post memorial messages in the Comments section below.
Yanks are breaking ground August 1st
Posted by Mickey Rivers on July 19, 2006 09:31 PM
It's odd how the Friends of Yankee Stadium weren't able to generate the same level of outrage that happened in Boston when Fenway Park was on the bubble... I wold have thought there would be at least more buzz surrounding this decision, but it just seemed so, ehhhh. Maybe it's stadium fatigue, New York certainly has had it's share of that recently.
Posted by Jonathan Judd on July 20, 2006 12:14 PM
Opponents of the Stadium have one chance - to kick the can down the road until after the NY Governor election in November. It's one thing for Pataki to leave the new Stadium as a legacy, it's another for Spitzer to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a ballpark as his first act in office.
Blocking this stuff takes constant effort and volunteers and community groups have a hard time keeping up the fight for a decade against the Yankeees legal department that stands to get close to a half a billion dollars in subsidies as payoff.
One desparation move might be to get the Catholic Church involved. I'm pretty sure Pope John Paul II is on the fast track to sainthood and I'm not sure it's copacetic to destroy the spot where he gave his famous US speech.
Berlin remodeled it's 1936 Olympique Stadium as the showpiece stadium of the 2006 World Cup. I'll never understand why the Yankees can't remodel the existing stadium other than vulgar greed. For a team that is supposed to value history they are about to trade in the Boston Gardens for the Fleet Center. Ask Celtic fans how that turned out.
Posted by joejoejoe on July 20, 2006 02:51 PM
Boston Garden was a dump. So is Fenway. Old stadiums are great in theory, but not in practice. As a 6'5" man, I would gladly trade in Fenway for a new stadium, having never sat through more than 3 innings at a time there, due to the roughly 9 inches of legroom. If the Yankees want a new stadium, fine.
Posted by mjk on July 20, 2006 11:17 PM
Fine for you, mjk. But it's not fine for the people who live there. That community was build around a park, with thousands of apartments facing it. Suddenly they'll have a stadium not more than 50 feet from their living room windows. The new Yankee Stadium plan is racist, plain and simple, but unfortunately no one can seem to call it that. A lot of nerve, and greed. All those government subsidies hidden in a dishonest plan. The Yankees lost a lifelong fan on this one.
Posted by james joseph on July 21, 2006 02:07 PM
Fine for you, mjk. But it's not fine for the people who live there. That community was build around a park, with thousands of apartments facing it. Suddenly they'll have a stadium not more than 50 feet from their living room windows. The new Yankee Stadium plan is racist, plain and simple, but unfortunately no one can seem to call it that. A lot of nerve, and greed. All those government subsidies hidden in a dishonest plan. The Yankees lost a lifelong fan on this one.
Posted by james joseph on July 21, 2006 02:07 PM
With every issue it always has to deal with racism.This has nothing to deal with racism.If the yankees didnt play in the bronx the people would have to pay higher taxes to live there.
Posted by dan on August 3, 2006 01:51 AM
RACIST??? *NOW* I've heard EVERYTHING.
New Stadiums BAD! BAD, BAD, BAD!!!
Posted by Pete on August 7, 2006 01:11 PM