Vote On Proposed New York 2012 Stadium Could Come Friday

There may be a vote Friday on the West Side stadium, which would be the Olympic Stadium should New York host the 2012 Summer Olympic Games.

The NY 1 Web site says that after two delayed votes, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced on his radio show Friday that Governor George Pataki has scheduled a special session of the state’s Public Authorities Control Board on June 3 to finally vote on the controversial project.

Because of pending lawsuits surrounding the stadium plan the vote has already been called off twice in the past two weeks, once by Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and once by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. They control two of the three seats on the board and each gets to postpone the vote once.

Mayor Bloomberg said, “the site selection committee puts out their report on the 6th of June…and rumour has it that the report will be very complimentary on New York, with the one caveat that is the question about the stadium”.

Meanwhile, the New York Daily News reports that Bruno privately told union leaders he intended to support the stadium because it would be an economic boon for New York when he met with more than a dozen union leaders from the construction trades in a Manhattan hotel earlier this month.

Lou Colletti, director of the New York Building Trades Employers Association, who attended the meeting, said, “we left there confident there was acceptance on the merits, on the economic benefits of the project, but there were other political issues – hurdles that had to be overcome”.

Bruno spokesman John McCardle confirmed that Bruno had suggested he “could be supportive”, but said his position is not so clear-cut now, reports the newspaper.

“At the time, we understood the public commitment to be $300 million to $600 million. But that public commitment has doubled based on the information we have received since then”.

New Jersey Jets vice president Matt Higgins reportedly disputes McCardle’s assertion. He said, “the public investment remains the same at $600 million. The only thing that’s changed is the Jet’s investment, which now approaches $1.6 billion.

But in the middle of this New York’s 2012 bid is still getting more support. This time from 28 Hockey Olympians who are endorsing New York’s 2012 bid and its seven-year Sport Development Partnership for Hockey. They announced their support during this weekend’s Big Apple Hockey tournament in New York.

The tournament’s organizer Nigel Traverso said, “a New York Games would elevate the sport of Hockey to new levels both in New York and the United States. Big Apple Hockey looks forward to helping to promote the sport of Hockey through New York’s seven year Sport Development Program”.

Players from 32 clubs will compete in four divisions: men, women, U-16 and U-19 girls. Write or read comments about this article

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