Comments on: City Approves Subsidized Yankee Stadium Parking

By: Hilary

Hilary — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 13:44:26 +0000

The Mayor would be wise to pay more attention to aesthetics. The West Side Stadium would have stood a much better chance if it hadn't looked like a giant air conditioner on the Hudson, waiting to be plastered with advertising. If we calculated the additional advertising that's been added to our streetscapes on his watch - billboards, wrapped buses and ferries, subways entrances, bus stops, newspaper kiosks, telephone booths, parks, and much much more - we'd see that this has been the reign of commercialism.

By: Eric

Eric — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 13:43:45 +0000

Good, too, that the city's taxpayers are helping to subsidize new stadiums for the Yankees and Mets, since having to play in their old, outmoded ballparks meant they only could draw in excess of 8,000,000 fans between them this season while each setting individual single-season attendance records. I mean, they have to have new stadiums to be competitive, right?

By: It kills me

It kills me — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 13:37:16 +0000

I'd add Pataki to the above list.

By: Dare I Say It

Dare I Say It — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 13:35:29 +0000

I agree with you, "O." The mayor's sterling reputation is baffling (I'm a sucker as well, I admit it). But sometimes I scratch my head and wonder, did he actually go and LOOK at the places he's allowed to be destroyed? The parks, the neighborhoods?? I sense he's an abstract guy, responsive to numbers and presentations, but misses the story because he didn't see it with his own eyes. He has been generous with the arts, but that doesn't mean he has contributed to the aesthetics of the built environment. His focus has been on the institutions, the performances, events. In this regard, I think Rockefeller and even (here come the bullets!) Moses contributed more.

By: mf

mf — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 13:16:25 +0000

Another risk is that they add all kinds of parking to the Atlantic Yards project. As it is now, the developer is mandated to add a certain number of spots.

By: o

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 09:58:58 +0000

This is right out of the "Power Broker".

PlaNYC, while it has its good points (congestion pricing, trees, etc), seems to be mainly a vehicle for lining the pockets of developers friendly to Bloomberg and Doctoroff.

For some reason these guys have a reputation of being immune to cronyism, but that couldn't be further from the truth.

By: Ian D

Ian D — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 03:50:54 +0000

Yes, Bloomie has changed the direction of many city agencies (perhaps none so much as DOT) in the name of sustainability, and for this he deserves credit.

But when it comes to billionaires and billion-dollar corporations, there are no brakes on this go-kart. Trump in SoHo, Ratner in Brooklyn, Steinbrenner in the Bronx -- common sense and even city laws go out the window.

By: disgruntled

disgruntled — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 01:22:56 +0000

To "flp":
The reason the Yankees did not leave town is bcause no one else would have them.Here you have these guys (lowest of the low) sending receipts to the city to pay for things like a farewell lunch for an intern and a tow for their community vp when he had a traffic accident in New Rochelle! Who doesn't have AAA or some other auto svc to handle these things? These guys suck...

By: flp

flp — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 00:43:25 +0000

ya know, there once was a time when i sort of felt that the yankees to some minimum extent represented the bronx and the rest of the city.... yeah, just sort of. well, that definitely is over now!!!! that over-privileged fool steinbrenner and his legion of hack, overpaid minions have repeatedly shown how little they care about anything related to new york city at all!

why didn't we just let them go to jersey like the rest of the teams. none of the previous, er, "losses" had any impact on city finances, did they? oh, right, it was all rudy. argh! just another reason to that man!

By: Susan Donovan

Susan Donovan — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 00:23:27 +0000

I've been making calls and sending emails. It's so insulting to have my neighborhood treated in this way.

By: Dave H.

Dave H. — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 22:35:25 +0000

This is it: I'm almost a Mets fan now.

By: gecko

gecko — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 21:59:11 +0000

there'd be stronger economic impact if they turned them into urban farms

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 20:17:49 +0000

All else takes a back seat to Bloomberg's showering of his fellow billionaires (and near-billionaires) with our hard-earned tax dollars. Unfortunately, my comment three weeks ago in reply to the post about the IDA was sadly prescient.

By: momos

momos — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 19:41:18 +0000

PS. Not to mention common sense and economic viability.

By: momos

momos — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 19:40:38 +0000

This sham violates every precept of PlaNYC. So much for the Bloomberg administration applying principles of sustainability in all functions of city government.