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New York 2012 Critics Say Not In My Back Yard

Just hours before the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) selects its candidate for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, a Manhattan-based group, the Clinton Special District Coalition, called on the USOC to reject New York’s Olympic bid if a new stadium in its neighbourhood remains part of the city’s proposal.

The group released its own 38-page “contrabid” to back its proposal. According to the newspaper the contrabid is a litany of nightmares the coalition predicts will accompany the Games. It contends the Olympics would result in a $5 billion tax increase and raise the number of cars in the neighbourhood by at least 10,000 during Jets games, and displace residents and local businesses.

In a letter to the USOC, John Fisher, president of the coalition wrote, “New York City has a long history of public activism and is no stranger to controversy. We suggest NYC2012 would have a better reception if their bid was based on an altruistic concern for the overall welfare of New York City and not based on real estate machinations”.

The group says it doesn’t oppose New York’s bid but feels New York can find a better and cheaper place to put a stadium.

The stadium is expected to cost more than $1 billion and would be a possible home for the Jets after the Games are over.

New York city councilwoman Gale Brewer, whose district is north of the proposed stadium said, “I support the Olympics, I really support the Olympics but I believe that the location of the stadium has to be thought over. We have enough traffic already”. She said the bid committee should consider a different location, whether in Queens or elsewhere.

Meanwhile, the New York Post says that New York is such an odds-on favourite over San Francisco to be chosen the U.S. candidate that New York’s mayor Michael Bloomberg admitted some people are already planning celebrations.

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