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West Side Stadium on the Ropes
By
Jen Chung
Published Jun 6, 2005
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Jun 6, 2005
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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Today is a big day in the short history but seemingly endless history of the proposed West Side stadium, as the International Olympics Committee gets ready to tell the world what they think of the five potential 2012 Olympics cities and the state panel possibly voting on whether or not the stadium should get funding. With Assembly Speaker Silver in town recently, Mayor Bloomberg has been trying to charm Silver, but Silver has emphasized repeatedly he thinks Lower Manhattan is a more important priority and that the Jets should build in Queens. Okay, Gothamist agrees on point one, but point two is moot, since the Jets have made it very clear they don't want to build in Queens. In fact, the Mayor, in his trademark, whiny tones, said someting along the lines of "[no one/the Jets don't] wants to invest $1.4 billion in Queens." Net net: There's been "little progress" between them, and NYC's Olympic hopes are "waning". But Bloomberg and Silver (Bloomby in the comfy white polo, Silver in a suit) marched together in yesterday's Israeli Day Parade, along with Senator Hillary Clinton, showing that while they can't agree, politicians love a photo op. Gothamist predicts for the IOC will say NYC isn't that great a venue city, and then the state panel will actually end up voting not to allow public funds for the building of the stadium; Silver will call the IOC's analysis what made him finally decide the stadium isn't a good idea.
And City Council Speaker, mayoral hopeful and extreme anti-West Side Stadium politico Gifford Miller marched in the parade as well, wearing a snazzy sash. For his part, Miller actually supports the Nets arena.
Update:
The full report (gigantic PDF file) by the IOC Evaluation Commission on NYC 2012 has been released. Overall, the AP says it's a positive evaluation. Gothamist skimmed and found that the opening parade has the athletes walking down Broadway before entering the stadium.
Photographs from Newsday
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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