Building Of The West Side Stadium example essay topic
The debate will long continue until a winner is awarded the land. Until then people will debate what should be built over the west side rail yards. I want a stadium because I am sick and tired of traveling to New Jersey to watch football game when I live in the biggest city in the world. If the stadium is build it will create an economic boom and the entire city will prosper with people becoming joined in one major cause and that is to get the 2012 Summer Olympic games here in New York City. The building of the west side stadium holds our financial future in its hands and hopefully the future is bright for all of us. One thing that people in favor of the stadium have going for them is the fact that many prominent athletes and politicians have come out in favor of building the stadium.
The most recent of the famous athletes to endorse the building of the stadium was former New York Jet quarterback Joe Namath. On May 10th, Namath met with lawmakers for 2.2 billion dollars in aide from the state to help funding for the building of the stadium. "Sports celebrities, in particular, have been a key part of their arsenal, from Dallas Cowboys Coach Bill Parcells to NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, who has promised the 2010 Super Bowl if New York builds the 75,000-seat stadium on Manhattan's West Side". Mayor Bloomberg has long been in favor of building the stadium. His constant pushing for the stadium has made him a popular person among people of the construction industry, helping his chances for victory in the next mayoral election. Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki remain the two most prominent politicians in favor of building the stadium.
They have also met much opposition from people and certain groups. "While it has support from Gov. George Pataki, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg - two Republicans - the $2.2 billion stadium has met an icy reception from the leaders of the two houses in Albany: Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Manhattan Democrat, and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, a Brunswick Republican". Many groups are also out to stop the building of the stadium. Rally's and petitions have been circulating trying to gather enough wind and steam to stop the construction of the stadium. They activists have made certain points that the validity of is in question.
"The City will sacrifice $450 million in tax revenue by allowing the Jets to count their Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILOTS) as part of their so-called $800 million contribution". This statement could just be all negative propaganda against the stadium with little truth to it, nonetheless it has garnered the attention of many and caused many people to question the integrity of the winning bid. "The Jets struck a deal with the MTA to pay just $250 million for rail yards that the MTA's own appraisal estimates to be worth $923 million. The missing $700 million is coming directly from straphangers' pockets, even while the MTA raises fares and the subway system falls apart". The last statement is the only red flag I see with the stadium so far.
If in fact the Jets did win the bid with the actual price of the land being 700 million dollars higher than that, we the people will be the ones responsible for filling in the gap, with higher fares and worse service on a subway that's already hard to rely on.