The Dream is Dying...
About two or three years ago I started seeing people around my city wearing NYC2012 t-shirts. I got really excited, thinking we were going to have the olympics in my hometown. I found out that we didn't win it yet, but are one of the four or so candidate cities (others include London, Paris...). I thought it was way too early to start talking about something that was still a good nine years away.
Still I saw great hope and possibilities for the games being showcased here. Our city really hasn't been the same since 2001. I always feel like something's lacking when I travel. News came of an Olympic stadium/New York Jets stadium to be built on the west-side. Immediately there were tons of commericials both for and against the plans. As time got closer to the present, there was increased support to build the stadium.
Governer Pataki supported it. Mayor Bloomberg supported it. There were just two men in the way of approving the stadium Their names are Sheldon Silver and Joseph Bruno. Silver was against the project because he believed it would mean less attention and opportunities for his district of lower Manhattan. Even with promises by the mayor to look after this district, Silver voted this past Tuesday against the stadium.
The Olympic commitee praised NYC, and were actually in support of having the olympics here. It took one man's selfish reasoning to end the dreams of new yorkers and our supporters. The final decision for the olympics has not been decided yet, but with a lack of a stadium (a prerequisite for the games), it's almost a done deal. How could you think of your little district, and not of your city? I pity you Mr. Silver, just know Karma is a real bitch.
Update: The Mayor devised a new plan the other day to build a new stadium for the New York Mets in Queens. This stadium could also be the olympic stadium. In a letter I recieved via email from the executive director:
The plan includes construction of a new stadium for the New York Mets, which will be converted in 2012 into a modern, state-of-the-art, 80,000 seat Olympic Stadium. This plan is totally consistent with the Olympic X and is within the Olympic Park cluster, which was already planned for use for five Olympic sports - tennis, archery, water polo, rowing and canoe/kayak. The IOC Evaluation Commission toured the Olympic Park during its visit here and has seen all the arrangements for transportation and security, which remain in place.
The Olympic Stadium will be just 16 minutes from the Olympic Village and 24 minutes from the main hotels. In effect, we have moved the Stadium from the Olympic Square sports cluster to the west of the Olympic Village to the Olympic Park sports cluster east of the Village, so that all our detailed transportation plans remain in place. And, of course, there are existing highways and mass transit serving this site.
The cost of conversion for the Mets Stadium to the Olympic Stadium is projected at $250 million, exceeding the $142.5 million included in the Olympic budget for the Jets conversion. The State government, including the Governor, Speaker Silver and Majority Leader Bruno, have agreed to share the additional costs with the City.
In addition, the City will proceed with the development of the adjacent Willets Point area, which will include the Main Press Center and International Broadcast Center, just across the street from the Olympic Stadium.
We believe this is an outstanding plan made possible by the agreement just this week of the New York Mets to fully fund their new stadium, consistent with the Mayor's policy, then to allow it to be converted to an Olympic configuration and to play elsewhere during the 2012 baseball season.
A historical footnote: In 1946, the City's bid to host the UN fell apart. In just four days, a plan was developed to acquire the land in Turtle Bay, to pass the needed legislation and even to provide a temporary home for the UN in this very same park in Queens. Now, 59 years later, we hope that in a similar few days we have put together another remarkable plan that can again bring the world to New York in 2012.
We are enormously grateful to Fred Wilpon and the Mets, Mayor Bloomberg and Deputy Mayor Marc Shaw, who were tireless and resourceful, and so many others who have made this possible. Of course, Dan Doctoroff and his staff, especially Michael Kalt, led this whole effort, and our planning staff under Andrew Winters, was exceptional. The USOC, through Peter Ueberroth and Jim Scherr, have been enormously supportive.
We thank all of you for your encouragement and staunch support during this difficult week. The bid is strong.
Jay Kriegel
I'm going to keep my fingers crossed on this one.
posted by psychobabbler @ 5:15 PM
