City Sends Off Its Final Olympics Plan
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
New York is giving a ceremonial send-off today to its 600-page Olympic bid book.
For the ceremony, Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki are to stand at the center of the bridge, and a 2004 Olympic gold medalist, Justin Gatlin, is to help transport the hefty book from one side of the bridge to the other in a bid book relay race.
On the Brooklyn side of the bridge, the book is to be delivered to a DHL delivery person, who is to take the package to the airport, to be flown to Lausanne, Switzerland, and into the hands of the International Olympic Committee.
The book, which is formally known as “the candidature file” and is half in French and half in English, is the final formal communication between New York City and the committee that will decide whether New York will be host of the summer games in eight years.
It is due November 15.
Although New York is not supposed to reveal details of the bid until November 17, sources say the contents will be familiar to anyone who has been paying attention to the evolution of the city’s “Olympic X Plan.”
The city wants to place most Olympic venues along two intersecting transportation routes, one water and one rail, that run through the five boroughs. The Olympic Village falls at the center of the “X” in Queens. The stadium would be located on the far West Side of Manhattan. The swimming pool would be at the Astoria Aquatic Center in Queens. Water polo and the modern pentathlon would be at Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx. This week, Mr. Bloomberg announced that mountain biking would be at the Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island.
The bid book addresses 17 topics, including security, politics, customs, and transportation.
The International Olympic Committee is sending a 12-member evaluation committee to New York in February to visit the venues and meet with the people behind the bid. That group would then give a presentation to the full 117-member committee, which is to make a decision by next July 6.
New York City is up against Paris, London, Madrid, and Moscow.