Seems like every week I skim through the Sunday papers (yeah I wrote this yesterday, busted!) and find something else offensive about the new stadiums. Below are some excerpts – basically the city wanted to own a luxury box (why does the city need Yankee tickets?) and the Yankees got more parking spaces (instead of a private garage owning them) – and the city wanted free food in the box. Another example of the rich elite helping themselves.
So you may ask, what’s the harm here? It’s the mindset:
“We can’t find the money for the M.T.A., or schools, or hospitals, and these folks are used to the perks and good things of life, and expect them.†(Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky, Democrat of Westchester, who questions whether taxpayers were adequately protected in the city’s deal with the team.)
The Bloomberg administration was so intent on obtaining a free luxury suite for its own use at the new Yankee Stadium, newly released e-mail messages show, that the mayor’s aides pushed for a larger suite and free food, and eventually gave the Yankees 250 additional parking spaces in exchange.
The project required permission from the Internal Revenue Service because of the team’s desire to use tax-exempt bonds to finance construction. In one heated exchange, city lawyers threatened they would not make the request to the I.R.S. for the use of the tax-exempt financing unless the Yankees would consider providing the luxury suite.
Lonn Trust, the Yankees chief operating officer, wrote to the city on Jan. 26, 2006: “For clarity, no seats, no suites, no tickets, and as they say in Brooklyn ‘No nothin’.’ â€
In response, a lawyer for the city, Joseph Gunn, warned that “No nothin’ can go both ways,†adding that if the luxury suite was not included, “We do not submit the letter ruling request.â€
