In Good Jobs New York’s never ending quest to draw attention to the outlandishly subsidized new Yankee Stadium, this week brings us news of pay dirt. Honest.
The plan to demolish the House that Ruth Built (and build a new stadium for the Yankees across the street) includes auctioning off everything from urinals: $1,000
,
to dirt: $25 and bricks: $300 each, according to the
New York Post
. The Post also
reports
public officials are negotiating with the Yankees on how much of the auction proceeds will go to the city. Negotiate? New York City
owns
the stadium. Last week’s city budget news revealed a gargantuan increase (reported
here
and
here
) in the cost of replacing the 22 acres of park land (with
potentially hazardous
synthetic turf) near where the new stadium is being built
.
Any proceeds from auctioning off parts of Yankee Stadium (or Shea in Queens which is also being demolished) should go to fill the gaping hole in the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation budget, thanks in part to the Yankee project.
Last year the
city reported
in its benefit analysis it would get
$10 million from salvaging parts of the stadium. Where the auction figures came from is unknown, but taxpayers should hope that it’s underestimated.
Speaking of underestimating…. The Yankees promised Bronx politicians they could allocate $800,000 a year for 40 years in exchange for using parkland for the stadium. This promise was used convincingly by the Yankees to push the deal through the city’s land use process. But none of money (ground broke on the new stadium in August 2006) has yet to be spent
,
raising the ire
of South Bronx residents.
This week, the Community Board met the folks in charge of the fund. According to
news reports,
some people still aren’t buying the process by which the fund was fashioned or
why none of the money’s been allocated.