Bloomberg stadium Gives Decent Chance

[djaparz]

I'd say thats a a lot of $$$ for just a decent chance.

Bloomberg in Olympics fix

Stadium stuck in Albany

By MICHAEL SAUL

DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU

Mayor Bloomberg raised the humiliating specter of withdrawing the city's bid for the 2012 Olympic Games yesterday as Albany's top lawmakers drag their feet on approving the proposed West Side stadium.

"I don't know whether we drop out or just say to them, 'Thank you very much for your consideration,'" a clearly frustrated Bloomberg said. "But I don't know why we'd want to embarrass the country and ourselves. If we don't have the stadium, we have no chance at the Olympics. If we have the stadium, we have a decent chance."

The proposed $1.9 billion stadium needs the approval of the Public Authorities Control Board, a state panel controlled by Gov. Pataki, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno.

Pataki supports the stadium, while Silver (D-Manhattan) and Bruno (R-Rensselaer) are officially neutral.

Both men have questioned whether they'll be willing to vote on the stadium before the International Olympic Committee selects the 2012 host city on July 6.

Yesterday, Silver said it was "unlikely" there would be a stadium vote before July 6. Pataki plans to put the project on the panel's May 18 agenda. Silver and Bruno each has the power to table an agenda item once.

If the stadium isn't approved prior to July 6, Bloomberg has argued, the city has no chance of winning the Games.

That would please foes like John Fisher, who heads a West Side group opposed to the stadium and the Games. "If Bloomberg wants to call the IOC in Switzerland to drop out of the race, I'll pay for the phone call," Fisher said.