Jets still getting screwed by the WESTSIDE STADIUM fiasco!

[Kentucky Jet]

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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

[Bugg]

Can't kill'em, cannot escape'em.

Why dont' they ask benevolent and kind monopolost James Dolan, who was going to build all those lovely buildings instead of the stadium, anb his piss boy pol, Sheldon Silver, to do this work. They are going to build all that great stuff, right?

Drove past there 3 or 4 times that last few weeks. Funny, but Mr. Dolan doesn't have any construction activity going on.

If Johnson and the Jets have learned anything, it's shift everything to New Jersey(the corruption state) as soon as possible.

[JetsMan57]

Can't kill'em, cannot escape'em.

Why dont' they ask benevolent and kind monopolost James Dolan, who was going to build all those lovely buildings instead of the stadium, anb his piss boy pol, Sheldon Silver, to do this work. They are going to build all that great stuff, right?

Drove past there 3 or 4 times that last few weeks. Funny, but Mr. Dolan doesn't have any construction activity going on.

If Johnson and the Jets have learned anything, it's shift everything to New Jersey(the corruption state) as soon as possible.

And wouldnt the WSS have prevented cops, fireman, and teachers from getting raises?

I have a cousin who is a cop.. hasnt received a raise yet

I have a friend who is a fireman... no raise

I have tons of friends and a cousin who are public school teachers... no raise.

Can that little weasel Mike Lupica explain why to me?

[Kentucky Jet]

And wouldnt the WSS have prevented cops, fireman, and teachers from getting raises?

I have a cousin who is a cop.. hasnt received a raise yet

I have a friend who is a fireman... no raise

I have tons of friends and a cousin who are public school teachers... no raise.

Can that little weasel Mike Lupica explain why to me?

one word: BLOOMBERG! He is holding back raises for city employees. He is giving it away elsewhere. There are only so many tax dollars available! That is why the city got screwed when the WSS fell through! Actually the WSS would have brought much additional revenue to the city. All the hotels, cabs, restaurants would benefit greatly. The cops of which I was one would have benefitted too. Much overtime. The firwmen? Ditto! Teachers would have more money via taxes to get a raise. The year round businneses would have added billions to the city tax rolls! Now Jersey benefits because of misinformed NYers and Dolan, Silver and Bruno! One SB would nearly pay for the WSS. One final 4 and major conventions would have raised billions of tax revenue! So now 57, there is no money for raises and IT WILL STAY that way! IMO it was a dumb move to block the construction of the stadium on the WEST SIDE!

[Kentucky Jet]

one word: BLOOMBERG! He is holding back raises for city employees. He is giving it away elsewhere. There are only so many tax dollars available! That is why the city got screwed when the WSS fell through! Actually the WSS would have brought much additional revenue to the city. All the hotels, cabs, restaurants would benefit greatly. The cops of which I was one would have benefitted too. Much overtime. The firwmen? Ditto! Teachers would have more money via taxes to get a raise. The year round businneses would have added billions to the city tax rolls! Now Jersey benefits because of misinformed NYers and Dolan, Silver and Bruno! One SB would nearly pay for the WSS. One final 4 and major conventions would have raised billions of tax revenue! So now 57, there is no money for raises and IT WILL STAY that way! IMO it was a dumb move to block the construction of the stadium on the WEST SIDE!

Now I know why 57!

[raffyD]

So true. All the groups that were 'protected' from the wss have actually been ignored. Maybe I missed it.

Still bothers me that they didn't get to come back to nyc, would have been nice (in a place like brooklyn/queens, not manhattan - sorry).

[Thai Jet]

I'm so friggin sick of all this WS Stadium garbage. The land obviously was never ours. Give the bill to that prick Dolan or better yet Silver should get it. How did the Daily News refer to Sheldon Silver as ? Oh yeah now I remember: Stadium plans doomed by the "jaw bones of an ass".