Silver Reserves Judgment On Spitzer West Side Plan

With the mayor and City Council speaker now pitted against the governor's plan to sell two plots of land where the expansion of the Javits Convention Center was set to take place, the position of the speaker of the state Assembly, Sheldon Silver, could prove crucial to the ultimate outcome.

In an interview with The New York Sun yesterday, Mr. Silver signaled tepid support for Governor Spitzer's plan, but he said he was reserving any decision until he had more time to deliberate.

"It may be very difficult to foreclose future expansion and use of the land by selling it," Mr. Silver, who expressed strong support for Mr. Spitzer's "affordable" housing plan, said.

Mr. Spitzer scrapped plans for the expansion, saying it did not make financial sense. He has said the proceeds from the sale of the land, which could net hundreds of millions of dollars, would be dispersed to a number of West Side development projects.

Mr. Silver is one of five members of the Public Authorities Control Board, and any land sale of that size would likely require a resolution of approval from the PACB. "He has separated the parcels, and I am very much a supporter of the affordable housing program that he has proposed. So I think that is a laudable goal. We have to find the funding for the affordable housing program, whether it's the Javits money or some other," he said. He also said "there is no requirement" that the funds come from the Javits Center.

Speaker Christine Quinn and Mayor Bloomberg both oppose the sale of the land because it effectively ends any possibility for future expansion.

State Senator John Flanagan, chairman of the Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, yesterday set a February 28 hearing on the matter, inviting Mr. Spitzer and other administration officials to testify. In a statement, Mr. Flanagan said the Spitzer administration had spent a "considerable amount of time examining the future of this center. Suddenly, they announce they are aiming to sell the land to help fund other projects, and I think that the residents of New York deserve to know why Governor Spitzer has so dramatically changed course."