by
INTRO:
Plans to build a sports arena on Manhattan's west side
are the centerpiece of mayor Michael Bloomberg's bid
for New York
to host the Olympic games in 2012. Recently, the
controversy over how to use the land and how much the
land is worth has become a political football. Michael
Rice reports from the 50-yard line.
SOUND: Streets, traffic. (Fade in, then under
narration.
NARR:
The Hudson River Rail Yards are a desolate garden of
industrial neglect. The six-square blocks lay between
30TH and 33RD streets, from 10TH Avenue to the West
Side Highway. In the area you'll also find a
Department of
Sanitation depot, a service road that feeds the
Lincoln
Tunnel, and a waterfront Heliport.The train yard
itself is effectively a parking
lot for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
SOUND: Helicopter. (Fade in)
NARR:
Aside from the occasional person jogging the bike path
along the West Side Highway, most New Yorkers never
see the yards up close. Bill, a corporate chauffer,
sits in
his car in the parking lot of the heliport that faces
the
rail yards. He says he comes here every day.
TAPE: BILL:
There's nothing there. Trains. Trains, and greyhound
busses
and garbage trucks.
NARR:
The perfect place to build a sports arena, right?
Well, Bill doesn't think so.
TAPE: Bill:
Give the money to the police and
firemen. That's who needs the money. Not the Jets.
NARRATION:
There are many New Yorkers who like the idea of
building a stadium in Manhattan.
The fact is, neither of the City's two professional
football teams actually
play in New York. And, even if you're not a sports
fan, you could always
make the argument for economic development. Brandon
Santiago is a 24-year-old Bronx resident who works at
the nearby Jacob Javits Convention Center.
TAPE: BRANDON:
For me, personally, I think the stadium would be good,
'cause I think it will open more jobs for people. I
have been seeing in the newspapers that some people in
the area don't really like it a lot. Personally, I
don't know why.
NARR:
Meanwhile, the MTA is in a dispute over just how much
the
land is worth. The MTA says the land is worth 900
MILLION dollars...
but they are only asking the New York Jets for 300
MILLION...
And the Jets... they're only offering 100 MILLION.
State legislators and grassroots activists fear the
Jets are receiving special
treatment from the MTA in order to push the deal
through.
So, on February 3, the New York State Assembly
subpoenaed
MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow and Executive Director
Katherine Lapp to shed some light on the negotiation
process.
State Assemblyman Richard Gottfried questioned Kalikow
during the hearing.
TAPE: Gottfried and Kalikow
Gottfried:
The mayor ought to be paying fair market value. And
he's not.
He's asking you to subsidize that park, if you will.
Kalikow:
He hasn't asked me to subsidize anything. He has never
asked me to receive anything less than fair market
value.
NARR:
The hearing drew the interest of public
advocacy groups including NYPIRG, the New York Public
Interest Research Group. NYPIRG chairperson Joel
Kelsey:
TAPE: Kelsey:
It's very scary if a public authority, in an opaque
and private process, can enter into a binding
arbitration over public property that is potentially
worth millions and millions of dollars more than the
Jets are willing to pay for it.
NARRATION:
In an effort to move the negotiations forward, the MTA
and the Jets have hired former U.S. Senator George
Mitchell to serve as independent arbitrator for this
transaction.
Meanwhile, the Jets have unveiled a new design plan
for their
stadium that reduces the height of the original plans
by
120 feet and uses a glass facade to increase natural
light.
The original design for the stadium met with
disapproval
from critics who found it opaque and boring.
For Columbia Radio News, I'm Michael Rice.
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