sws4420
06-07-2005, 09:46 AM
ALBANY, N.Y. Jun 6, 2005 — New York City's bid to host the 2012 Summer Olympics suffered a setback Monday when a powerful state board rejected critical public funding for a $2 billion stadium on Manhattan's West side.
The financing board failed to approve $300 million in state money for the stadium that would also serve as home to the New York Jets. The plan, which needed unanimous approval from the three-member board, received only one vote.
New York is in competition with Paris, London, Madrid and Moscow for the 2012 Games. Earlier Monday, the International Olympic Committee released a report ranking Paris highest among the finalists and indicating that construction of the stadium is crucial to New York's chances.
The state board could reconsider the issue again later. But without the support of member Sheldon Silver the state Assembly Speaker who came out against the plan less than an hour before vote was taken the state funding cannot move forward.
"This plan is at best, premature," Silver said, indicating he was willing to continue talking about the issue.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg had heavily lobbied Silver in recent days for support of the stadium.
"If we don't have a stadium, we cannot get the Olympics," Bloomberg said after Silver's announcement. "I had not been able to persuade him."
The mayor said he would talk with members of the U.S. Olympic Committee about how to proceed.
Silver said the West Side stadium project and its related commercial development would hamper efforts to redevelop lower Manhattan, which he represents, in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that brought down the World Trade Center towers.
"Am I to sell out the community I have fought for?" Silver said at a state Capitol news conference. The speaker renewed his call for officials to consider putting the stadium in Queens.
Silver, Republican Gov. George Pataki and state Senate Republican Majority Leader Joseph Bruno each have a voting representative on the three-member PACB. Only the representative for Pataki, a stadium backer, voted for the funding plan. Representatives of Silver and Bruno, who had remained on the fence, abstained.
http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory?id=825125
The financing board failed to approve $300 million in state money for the stadium that would also serve as home to the New York Jets. The plan, which needed unanimous approval from the three-member board, received only one vote.
New York is in competition with Paris, London, Madrid and Moscow for the 2012 Games. Earlier Monday, the International Olympic Committee released a report ranking Paris highest among the finalists and indicating that construction of the stadium is crucial to New York's chances.
The state board could reconsider the issue again later. But without the support of member Sheldon Silver the state Assembly Speaker who came out against the plan less than an hour before vote was taken the state funding cannot move forward.
"This plan is at best, premature," Silver said, indicating he was willing to continue talking about the issue.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg had heavily lobbied Silver in recent days for support of the stadium.
"If we don't have a stadium, we cannot get the Olympics," Bloomberg said after Silver's announcement. "I had not been able to persuade him."
The mayor said he would talk with members of the U.S. Olympic Committee about how to proceed.
Silver said the West Side stadium project and its related commercial development would hamper efforts to redevelop lower Manhattan, which he represents, in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that brought down the World Trade Center towers.
"Am I to sell out the community I have fought for?" Silver said at a state Capitol news conference. The speaker renewed his call for officials to consider putting the stadium in Queens.
Silver, Republican Gov. George Pataki and state Senate Republican Majority Leader Joseph Bruno each have a voting representative on the three-member PACB. Only the representative for Pataki, a stadium backer, voted for the funding plan. Representatives of Silver and Bruno, who had remained on the fence, abstained.
http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory?id=825125