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Thursday, January 08, 2009

Yankees swing for bling in new plan

More than a quarter of the $370 million in taxpayer financing in the Yankees’ latest demand would go to shiny new toys like giant video screens and upgraded luxury suites, documents show.

Nearly $95 million is for “scope modifications” - items not in the team’s original plan when it got $942million in tax-exempt bonds via the city.

The city says the project will more than pay for itself by revitalizing a rundown area of the Bronx.

Yesterday, critics of the stadium’s public subsidy, including Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, (D-Westchester) struck out at the baseball team’s latest demand. It comes as tax revenue is dwindling and Mayor Bloomberg has ordered all agencies to trim their budgets.

“When we’re broke and we can’t fund the MTA and we can’t fund schools, to give the Yankees another $400 million is bizarre,” Brodsky said.

Bloomberg testily refused to respond to the criticism. “I just don’t have enough time to answer every one of Brodsky’s complaints,” he said.

Tripon Posted: January 08, 2009 at 04:00 PM | 20 comment(s)
  Related News: GeneralBusinessSpecial TopicsNY MetsNY Yankees

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   1. Vegas Watch Posted: January 08, 2009 at 04:53 PM (#3046863)
The city says the project will more than pay for itself by revitalizing a rundown area of the Bronx.

Maybe I'm missing something, but this doesn't make sense to me. How is the new stadium going to change anything for that area of the Bronx much at all?
   2. Ryan Jones Posted: January 08, 2009 at 04:57 PM (#3046873)
How is the new stadium going to change anything for that area of the Bronx much at all?


Just think of all the new people that it'll bring in to the area to watch Yankee games. It'll be a boom time for all the locals, with all that new foot traffic. I feel sorry for those businesses that exist next to old Yankee stadium. All their business is going to dry up, since people won't go there anymore.
   3. Shooty Is A One Man Legion Posted: January 08, 2009 at 05:03 PM (#3046881)
Maybe I'm missing something, but this doesn't make sense to me. How is the new stadium going to change anything for that area of the Bronx much at all?

It won't change anything at all. In fact, the new stadium HURTS the locals because the Yanks will have their own mall plaza to sell beer and food etc before the game. At least the locals will have their park space back...eventually.
   4. Vegas Watch Posted: January 08, 2009 at 05:07 PM (#3046890)
Okay, that's what I thought. I just wanted to make sure they wasn't some kind of $100MM urban revitalization package in there that I wasn't aware of.

Great response by Bloomberg though, really shot a hole in that criticism.
   5. Shooty Is A One Man Legion Posted: January 08, 2009 at 05:16 PM (#3046907)
Okay, that's what I thought. I just wanted to make sure they wasn't some kind of $100MM urban revitalization package in there that I wasn't aware of.

It most assuredly is not any kind of revitalization plan.
   6. Vegas Watch Posted: January 08, 2009 at 05:22 PM (#3046917)
It most assuredly is not any kind of revitalization plan.
#4 was mostly sarcastic, I was rather confident that this wasn't the case. I just didn't know if there was some smaller factor that I was missing, which would have at least some semblance of truth to the quote in question.
   7. Hubie Brooks Posted: January 08, 2009 at 05:38 PM (#3046945)
One can only hope that the opening is a disaster.
   8. Obama Bomaye Posted: January 08, 2009 at 05:46 PM (#3046956)
Get Bloomberg the #### out of here. I certainly don't despise him on a Giuliani level, but it's time to go.

At one time it looked like the Yankees were spending more of their own $ on this park than anyone has except the Giants. Now so much tax-free bond, property assessment cheating that I don't even understand has gone on, it probably turns out the City has built them a free stadium and paid them a billion for the trouble of moving across the street.

rgjapejapjt
   9. Matt H. Posted: January 08, 2009 at 05:47 PM (#3046959)
Ryan: New Yankee stadium is right across the street, same subway stop, same everything really. I highly doubt that the business that have catered to the Yankees along the strip next to the old stadium (underneath the train platform) will suddenly go belly up. Business might suffer a bit but with the tradition of that area I doubt they will have too hard of a time adjusting their business models to the new reality of less foot traffic.

It's still right next door to the stadium.

As for the City's involvement in the financing for the new stadium, it's been a farce since the start, and hopefully charges are brought in the fraudulent land value appraisal investigation.

NYC is broke, and while the 2009 reality of "broke" is a far cry from the 70's versions, it's ludicrous that at a time of new fees (including as much as u increases in MTA fares), oodles of new state taxes (on soda and Itunes downloads to name just a few) that the city is giving money away to a private corporation that DOES NOT NEED IT.
   10. Matt H. Posted: January 08, 2009 at 05:48 PM (#3046961)
Not sure what happened there, but MTA fares are going up as much as 75 %. Not "u" or whatever the heck the text editor showed it as.
   11. villageidiom Posted: January 08, 2009 at 05:59 PM (#3046969)
Ryan: New Yankee stadium is right across the street, same subway stop, same everything really. I highly doubt that the business that have catered to the Yankees along the strip next to the old stadium (underneath the train platform) will suddenly go belly up.
Matt H. needs an adjustment to his sarcasm detector.
   12. Ryan Jones Posted: January 08, 2009 at 06:15 PM (#3046989)
Matt H. needs an adjustment to his sarcasm detector.


I agree with this statement.
   13. alskor Posted: January 08, 2009 at 08:12 PM (#3047085)
Maybe I'm missing something, but this doesn't make sense to me. How is the new stadium going to change anything for that area of the Bronx much at all?


Hey, its already paying dividends - The biggest eyesore in the area is scheduled for demolition!
   14. Matt H. Posted: January 08, 2009 at 08:17 PM (#3047094)
IRL I'm known for having an overly sarcastic and dry wit. I'm also very cynical so I assume that most of what I read is ######## fabricated by people that don't know what they are talking about.

That said, that's sarcasm on 2nd read.
   15. With 17th Pick, From LA, 1k5v3L KcoLLoP Posted: January 08, 2009 at 08:21 PM (#3047096)
Bloomberg's fellatio of the Steinbrenners and the Wilpons has been an embarrassment.
I'm so glad I don't live in NYC any longer so my money won't be wasted on this crap.
It'll be wasted on a whole bunch of other ridiculous crap, mind you, but I can live with that
   16. Lassus Posted: January 08, 2009 at 08:35 PM (#3047109)
...that the city is giving money away to a private corporation that DOES NOT NEED IT.

What are you, some kind of communist pinko America-hating liberal bed-wetter? The market will fix all ills. All hail!
   17. robinred Posted: January 08, 2009 at 08:49 PM (#3047117)
What are you, some kind of communist pinko America-hating liberal bed-wetter?


Yes, I am. And you?
   18. Tripon Posted: January 08, 2009 at 10:01 PM (#3047166)

What are you, some kind of communist pinko America-hating liberal bed-wetter? The market will fix all ills. All hail!


The Yankees are going to get an even larger Federal bailout?
   19. SteveM. Posted: January 08, 2009 at 11:46 PM (#3047222)
Can't people enjoy a ballgame without a giant TV screen? Can't we, I don't know, watch the action on the field>
   20. Exploring Leftist Conservatism since 2008 (ark..) Posted: January 09, 2009 at 12:56 AM (#3047258)
NYC is broke, and while the 2009 reality of "broke" is a far cry from the 70's versions, it's ludicrous that at a time of new fees (including as much as u increases in MTA fares), oodles of new state taxes (on soda and Itunes downloads to name just a few) that the city is giving money away to a private corporation that DOES NOT NEED IT.
You clearly misunderstand the purpose of government, Matt, which is to funnel as much cash as humanly possible to the wealthy, powerful, connected, and itself, without provoking open revolution.
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