As expected, a proposed $1.4 billion stadium for the New York Jets football team and a major component in New York’s bid for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games moved one step closer as the Empire State Development Corp., the state’s economic development agency, approved a general plan for the project.
New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been counting on the proposal as a centrepiece in New York’s bid for the 2012 Games. But opponents to the plan, including the New York Association for Better Choices – a coalition of elected officials, community leaders, residents and businesses – say the stadium would create unnecessary traffic and parking problems and that the land could be better used for other needs.
The project is going through final environmental reviews, and public hearings will also be held. The city council also needs to sanction the plan.
Meanwhile, New York Governor George Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg will join hundreds of New Yorkers, Olympians and Paralympians Thursday at a ceremony on the Brooklyn Bridge to help the city send off New York’s 600-page bid book to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
