September 05, 2007
Yankees fund for Bronx more than a year overdue
Anybody remember that $900,000 a year community trust fund that the New York Yankees were supposed to set up for Bronx parks and schools in exchange for $799 million in public stadium subsidies? (And yes, that is the most lopsided Yankees deal since the one involving Bob Sykes.) Geoffrey Croft of NYC Park Advocates did, and called the state attorney general's office to see if the not-for-profit organization to run the fund - which according to the agreement "shall be established upon the commencement of the construction of the Project," i.e., last August - had in fact been set up.
What he discovered, according to today's Daily News:
More than a year later, the required structure has yet to be set up for turning the paper agreement into cash grants - totalling $800,000 a year - for needy community groups, schools, youth and sports teams, and other nonprofit organizations.
The agreement also calls for the Yankees to provide 15,000 free Yankee tickets a year to Bronx youth and sports groups and others, along with sports equipment and promotional merchandise valued at $375,000 a year.
None of that has happened because Bronx elected and political officials haven't set up the required Bronx Community Trust Fund to administer that part of the agreement. Nor have they obtained the proper charitable exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service.
"There have been too many cooks involved in making the soup," one knowledgeable Bronx official said.
The Yankees placed the $800,000 that could have been paid out this year in escrow until the trust is properly established.
Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion released a statement that "the Yankee Fund Advisory Panel has recently been created and it is expected that this panel will convene shortly." According to last year's agreement, though, the panel is just a body of members "appointed by the Yankees, the Bronx Borough President and other Bronx elected officials in consultation with and approval from the New York City Council Bronx Delegation" to oversee the actual fund - Carrion's office hadn't responded by the time of this post as to whether the non-profit fund itself has been set up, or whether the panel members have even been approved by all parties. But hey, what's 13 months between friends?
—Neil deMause
