[Photo courtesy of rastariza/flickr]
Woah. This whole Yankee Stadium thing is getting nasty. At least, that's a fair conclusion after reading four or five articles this morning about the humongous cost overruns at the stadium, subpoenas from an Assembly committee to Bloomberg Administration officials and charges of "financial incompetence" from the City Comptroller. (This is not to be confused with LuxurySuiteGate, wherein city officials applied heavy pressure for a free city luxury suite with surf & turf dinners.) The reason for the publicity is an unrelenting campaign by a state Assemblyman who is really pissed off about the stadium financing mess and an upcoming vote on Friday on whether to provide $372 million in additional tax-free financing. There's an emergency hearing in Albany today and City Comptroller William Thompson (who originally voted for the stadium and is running for Mayor) says Friday's vote should be postponed until the mess is sorted out. He is quoted in the Times saying that cost overruns, extras and "financial incompetence" have turned the House That A-Rod Built into "simply a bad deal for New York...at a time when we can least afford it." A mayoral spokesperson calls it "political theater." The question is, will anyone remember when they throw the first pitch on opening day?
· Yankee Stadium Burdens Mayor's Campaign [NYT]
· Yankees' stadium a money pit [NYDN]
· Pols turn up rhetoric over Yankee funding [Metro]
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