City Comptroller Emerges as Foe of Jets Stadium
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Comptroller William Thompson Jr. emerged yesterday as a foe of Mayor Bloomberg’s favored development project, calling the administration’s proposal for developing the Hudson Yards on the West Side of Manhattan “extremely risky.”
Mr. Thompson, who is considering a run against the mayor next year, sent him a letter outlining his concerns about Mr. Bloomberg’s decision to set up a quasi-independent financing authority to jump-start financing of the $2.7 billion infrastructure project. The centerpiece of the Hudson Yards development would be a domed football stadium for the New York Jets.
“Your proposal calls for an unprecedented use of the Transitional Finance Authority to commit to what has been deemed an investment in a project that could yield little return to City taxpayers and may in fact cost them billions of dollars,” Mr. Thompson wrote. “The Hudson Yards financing mechanism creates a troubling and inappropriate precedent with potential impact beyond this project.”
Mr. Thompson expresses concern that, for a roster of projects in the future, the city could establish authorities that have no accountability. While technically the authorities would be independent from the city, in reality because they are working on city projects, and so, Mr. Thompson worries, the city would be responsible for making sure that any debt they issue is honored.
The West Side project would involve building a platform over the rail tracks of the Hudson Yards and then expanding the Javits Convention Center and building a new Jets stadium, to be called the New York Sports and Convention Center. The scope of the project is such that to pay for it the city would need to issue about $2.8 billion in long-term bonds and $900 million in commercial paper, a form of short-term borrowing.
Opponents of the project, who include the owners of Madison Square Garden, many elected officials in Manhattan, and many people in the Clinton neighborhood, have long groused about its financing and the possibility that it could hobble other city development plans. Mr. Bloomberg has tried to quell the criticism by saying the project will end up financing itself and will create jobs for New Yorkers.
In a more direct response to the comptroller’s concerns yesterday, Mr. Bloomberg said the Transitional Finance Authority will be responsible for only a small amount of the financing and, for that reason, shouldn’t raise undue concern.
“The comptroller is talking about a very small amount of money, the TFA money, a very small amount of the financing for the Hudson Yards,” the mayor said. “Most of the monies that would be used for the Hudson Yards are dependent on revenue that would be generated.”
In his letter Mr. Thompson also voiced broader concerns about how the mayor has developed the plan more generally.
“You chose not to include this project in the capital budget, avoiding City Council approval,” the comptroller said. “In doing so, you removed the public’s only opportunity for meaningful and serious review of the merits of your plan against other priorities, such as the construction of new schools or senior centers.”
Mr. Bloomberg said there will be plenty of opportunities for the public to express opinions about the plan. “In terms of public review there is probably no project in the history of the world that has had as extensive public review and as many as different legislative and public bodies that have to approve what goes on,” Mr. Bloomberg told reporters at City Hall yesterday.
The plan will need state approval, a nod from the Assembly speaker and Senate majority leader in Albany, a green light from the governor, approval from the City Council for zoning changes, and a roster of other local approvals, Mr. Bloomberg said.
“Anyone who says we don’t have lots of opportunities for the public to find out what is going on and make their views known and have input just hasn’t looked at all the different requirements to get this going,” the mayor said.
The stadium proposed in the project would also be the key venue for the 2012 Olympic Games, should New York win its bid to be host city for that summer’s Olympics.