Sheldon Silver dies in prison

[usapaw]

On 1/26/2022 at 12:58 PM, Warfish said:

1. Majority of Local area residents didn't want it.

2. Majority of Local area elected officials didn't want it.

3. Majority of NY'ers as a whole didn't want it, or the Olympics to which it was being tied/linked.

4. Most residents/local politicians didn't want to pay for it publicly or give away the land.

5. What Silver (and Bruno) vetoed, via the Public Authorities Control Board, was specifically the public funding aspect and the land transfer from MTA (i.e. ~$300M in public funding and land that was exceedingly valuable). 

2 of 3 votes killed it, with only Pataki's rep. voting yes.

Of course MSG/Cablevision was against it, and Woody should have known that from the start, and sorted that out from before the start.  Again, another example of his ineptitude, he had to know his plan would have that opposition, and the political clout that opposition carried.

 

It was the Dolan's paying Bruno and Shelly. It would have killed MSG. But your list is impressive. 

[usapaw]

On 1/26/2022 at 12:57 PM, Biggs said:

There were 2 out of 3 no votes.  It wasn't just Silver or Dolan.   It was dead when NYC didn't get the Olympic bid.  

Bruno and Shelly. Sometimes it is good to see people get what's coming to them; bye bye shelly. I hope prison stripped him of any sliver of dignity left, but probably not. Shelly the rat. 

[Sperm Edwards]

3 hours ago, long suffering jets fan said:

New York State loses the stadium to New Jersey and New Jersey gets the tax revenue.  It was a middle finger to New York State and their corrupt politicians.  Splitting costs had something to do with it as well.

Yeah I had a post that got wiped before submitting about all those things.

I'm no fan of public stadium financing, but it's not a bunch of nonsense that the city/state would've reaped benefits (instead of what was just a parking lot for trains for decades). I doubt the added revenue to NYS/NYC is everything they claim, but it's not nothing.

Jets $ alone: all the players' signing/other bonuses, home game checks, visitor away game checks, probably coaches, too. Plus keep in mind it's not just the state but the city has an additional ~4% marginal income tax rate on all those high earners. Then all the sales tax & resulting income tax from west end parking in lots that'd be mostly empty on those Sunday afternoons, and the concessions & other things bought at the games.

Then all the added revenue from using the venue for concerts & more, which would hold 4x as many spectators as MSG. Would all that have just gone to Yankee Stadium or Citi Field? Maybe some, but not most. 

And even though they got shot down at that time, there was always the possibility - however unexpected - of hosting a future olympics once it was built.

I know they always bring them up, but imo forget about the other employees who live there, unless the presumption is all of them would've been otherwise unemployed. Maybe if they were NJ residents who'd otherwise work in NJ but because of the WSS are earning their paychecks (and paying taxes) in NYC instead. Then again doesn't NY & NJ have that special relationship where they just assume it's even and they don't make these people file in 2 states? Well the point is even if there's even a formula calculating the increase, I'll bet it's spotty at best to make it seem more favorable (generate more net $ to the city/state) than it'd really be. 

[Jet Life]

He was a piece of trash, see ya 

[Maynard13]

8 hours ago, Peace Frog said:

Oh geez, when we were kids my older sisters used to torture me and my brothers telling us we weren’t going to heaven, we were going to Limbo. 

LOL Froggie. Hey if we keep wearing these uniforms we should be called The NY Limbos until they are changed back to the classic look.

[Charlie Brown]

On 1/25/2022 at 1:21 AM, Sperm Edwards said:

I don’t have a link handy, but my recollection was he spent something on the order of $75MM in planning, lobbying, and more - including pushing the venue as a future olympics site - to get a WSS done. There was so much pressure from so many well-connected residents about having the WSS there (oh, the horror of 10 home games a year!) and I loosely knew a couple of them at one time. In the end, it wasn’t happening. He didn’t have the pull, and the right people who were grease-able were already in Dolan’s pocket. 

I don’t know that a Nassau County stadium was ever in the cards or even though of or proposed to him with any seriousness.

He could’ve done Queens, but he never really showed interest in that, whatever his reasons. Maybe it didn’t have the cachet of Manhattan; maybe it was getting called on his bluff of saying in NYC he’d do the WSS or he’s not doing NY. I know he’s got a huge farm-estate in NJ but don’t know if he already had that when the WSS fell through, and figured if he couldn’t have the premiere NYC stadium then he may as well live in NJ and split the construction costs with the Giants. Who knows.

But he clearly wanted a WSS. Nobody sinks that much money and effort into a project but secretly doesn’t really want it. Jumping in to the current stadium was a last-minute thing because Mara/Tisch were fine doing this with or without him, and they weren’t waiting any longer for him, so he hopped on board.

I will just say this, I worked behind the scenes to influence this project for free. It would have been an AMAZING stadium and it would have been a huge win for the city, community and Jets fans.  

All I can say here is the legal team for the Jets was arrogant and ignorant and they were in part largely responsible for the projects demise. 

[Charlie Brown]

On 1/25/2022 at 11:02 AM, Peace Frog said:

Yes, absolutely clueless. It had absolutely zero to do with Woody. He could have put in $750 million and STILL would have gotten shot down. 

Sheldon Silver was the NY State Assembly Speaker and as such had veto rights on the project. Silver was in the pocket of the Dolan Family who owns MSG. The WSS project also planned to expand the Jacob Javits Center- and the combo of the WSS and the JJC would have posed an entertainment competition threat to MSG so Silver did Dolan’s bidding and shot it down. 

It was Silver’s corruption and veto right that killed it, not Woody’s unwillingness. Woody wanted it very badly. 

That’s just ignorance from folks that didn’t live through it.  

Hmmmmm you are more right than you know but the stadium could have been built there was a way…

[Peace Frog]

2 hours ago, Charlie Brown said:

Hmmmmm you are more right than you know but the stadium could have been built there was a way…

Not when the NY State Assembly Speaker had veto rights on the development of public land. 

[Charlie Brown]

9 hours ago, Peace Frog said:

Not when the NY State Assembly Speaker had veto rights on the development of public land. 

Peace, the key was to get the job certified as a Union job and trust me there are certain forces that even Silver is concerned with.....   

[Peace Frog]

8 minutes ago, Charlie Brown said:

Peace, the key was to get the job certified as a Union job and trust me there are certain forces that even Silver is concerned with.....   

ahhh yeah nevermind