-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.nypost.com/seven/0624200...ne_boniello.htm MTA BLITZES JETS WITH WEST SIDE 'SPILL' BILL By KATHIANNE BONIELLO June 24, 2007 -- The Jets, still smarting from their bitter losing battle to build a stadium on the West Side, now face a final insult - an MTA demand that the team clean up an oil spill on the very land they were not allowed to acquire. The MTA says it will charge the Jets for the cleanup if the team refuses to do the work, according to a lawsuit the football team filed June 14 against the MTA and the LIRR. "The rest of the city has moved on from the West Side, but they're still trying to hold us on the hook," said Jets lawyer Andrew Lee. "It is not our problem." An MTA spokesman said the situation was complicated but declined further comment because the issues are part of litigation. As part of the Jets $1.4 billion plan to build a platform and stadium over the western side of the rail yards, between 11th and 12th avenues, it signed an "access agreement" with the MTA and LIRR in August 2004, court documents filed in Manhattan Supreme Court show. The deal gave the Jets access to the rail yards and permission to do environmental testing. To get access to the site, The Jets had to post a $20 million letter of credit, with the MTA named as the beneficiary. The letter of credit was "financial security for [the Jets'] obligations to the MTA under the Access Agreement," according to the lawsuit. The stadium plan led to a political slugfest, with critics slamming the MTA for giving the Jets too good a price on the vast and valuable property, and neighborhood groups and Madison Square Garden lining up against the stadium. The mayor, governor and labor groups supported it. A state panel officially nixed the project on June 6, 2005. By March 2006 the Jets and the MTA were tying up loose ends on the failed deal - except for the oil spill at 12th Avenue and West 33rd Street, which the Jets discovered during their tests. In July 2006, the MTA began negotiating with New York City to develop the rail yards as a huge residential and retail complex. That move, the Jets argue, effectively ended the team's responsibilities at the site. If the MTA negotiated with anyone else about the rail yards, the access agreement required that the Jets' responsibilities at the site "shall terminate immediately," the Jets state in their lawsuit. Yet, in a letter dated March 8, 2007, the MTA told the Jets they were obligated to "perform certain work relating to the Western Yard Spill," the lawsuit says. The team's lawsuit also claims the MTA refuses to release its letter of credit, despite what they cite as MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow's promise to Jets president Jay Cross in an Aug. 3, 2006, phone conversation that the team would be "off the hook" for the oil spill and the letter of credit once negotiations with the city began. Kalikow declined to comment, citing the pending litigation. Even an MTA source close to the negotiations couldn't understand why the agency has not released the Jets' letter of credit and continues to press the team on the spill cleanup. The Jets also refused to comment on the spill's specifics or the estimated cost of cleaning it up, citing the looming court battle. kboniello@nypost.com
Yea, and all that tax revenue from not only Jets games but all the other events that would have taken place there in addition to the surrounding tax revenue from stadium associated restaurants, shops, etc would have really screwed the city and state tax payers too, huh?
Yes it would have, it was a complete give away payed for by the taxpayers of the city and state. The pay back was there for Woody, not the City and State. The stadium has a shelf life of 20 to 30 years. A good development will be paid by private funds and pay back much more money with much less investment without having to be completely rebuilt before the bonds are even paid for.
What JetFighter said!! As for anyone EVER stepping up to the plate and making an offer of that magnitude for the property like our JETS did, that will provide an economic boost like the WSS would have, is not happening. F Silver.
All you NY'ers should be ashamed to live in NY. The politicians screwed the Jets, the Jets did not screw you. I say charge all NY'ers $8.00 to enter the meadowlands like your boy Blomberg is going to do for midtown. Hey, I got an idea, stay home all together NY whinners. Get over it, the Jets are in Jersey. Its over.
What economic boost? You act as if it's going to bring in Hotel and resturant trade, you can't get a hotel room in Manhattan now, it was simply a complete ripoff. Once the Olympics were out of the equation nobody wanted it.
It would have brought a ton of hotels and restaurants to the area, not to mention a huge shot in the arm for trade show business at Javitz all year long, which sorely needs it. People dong shows at Javitz now have to waste time getting back and forth to Midtown, it's a drag and causes a lot of show to go elsewhere. NYC is filled with crooks and they're still trying to extort money from an organization (the Jets) who tried to spend their money there and god forbid actually develop something in the city. Fuck them. Me and my tailgate grill will be happy to stay in NJ for the games. Fuck the $6 tunnel, too.
The said the same about the Javits center when it was being proposed, this would have been Javits times 10 except the city would have been on the hook for more money. Look at what the Meadowlands is now costing, the under budget on the WSS project was sick. It was a total cluster F waiting to happen. The shared stadium is a win for the area. It's sensible which in todays world of urban planning is already a huge win. Two stadiums for the Jets and Giants is basically like taking two giant craps on the urban landscape instead of one.
