July 17, 2006
Park Service gives okay to Yankees project?
New Yorkers For Parks is reporting that the National Park Service has given its approval to the Yankees' plan to use federally funded parkland as the site of their new stadium. If true, it clears one of two remaining hurdles for the project (not the last hurdle, as NY4P erroneously reports): The Internal Revenue Service still needs to sign off on the use of tax-exempt bonds for the project, though it's possible the financing could be re-jiggered even if the IRS gives the thumbs-down on the current plan.
It also means a near-certain lawsuit over the NPS ruling, since local neighborhood activists have long objected that the new parkland being created is not of equal "value and utility" to the old parks, given that residents would have to cross a highway to get to much of it.
More on this in the morning...
