Bloomberg Unloads A Whopper About "Privately-Funded" NYC Ballparks

The Yankees and Mets are enjoying their brand new ballparks as the 09' season gears up. Unfortunately it is has become a lot harder for the fans to see their games as ticket prices have skyrocketed.

Don't tell that to Mayor Bloomberg though, he could care less about who is able to pay and who is not. As he says, baseball is a business and that's that. Although that is a cold assessment, I agree that professional sports is a business, it is just a shame that the Yankees and Mets business model doesn't include their less-than-wealthy fans. Bloomberg couldn't stop there though and he decided to at the very least, seriously mislead the public about how much taxpayer funds paid for those fancy new ballparks.

From The NY Daily News:

Yankees' principal owner George Steinbrenner and the Wilpon family for the Mets should be praised for their willingness to "go and make those investments" in the new parks, Bloomberg added.

"We put next to nothing into these two stadiums," Bloomberg said of public funding to support the ballparks, even though tax-free bonds paid for most of the construction costs.

Critics have charged that city spent hundreds of millions for neighborhood and transportation improvements around the ballparks. Bloomberg said "they fundamentally were done with private money."

The only investment Steinbrenner and the Wilpon's made was cajoling city officials into giving them hundreds of millions of dollars in municipal bonds and tax breaks. With a combination of schmoozing and threats to move to New Jersey. Bloomberg is either lying to us with those remarks, or he has no clue about our city's finances. Which one is it Mr. Mayor?

Comptroller Cracks Down On Rent Cheating Yankees

Comptroller and mayoral candidate Bill Thompson is out to get the Yankees for $3.7 million dollars in rent that his office says the team cheated the city on. The Bronx bombers have plenty of money, especially with consistently ranking #1 as the team with the highest salary in the Majors. Yet over the last eight years, they've been skimming a little too much off the top.

From NY1:

The Yankees owe the city more than $65,000 in rent payments for the first quarter of last year, according to an audit released Monday by the city comptroller's office. Comptroller Bill Thompson says the team has consistently overstated their rent deductions by more than $3.7 million since 2000.

He says the Yankees have a pattern of not paying the city what is owed until it has been audited.

The Yankees are not disputing the audit and plan to pay. Yankees President Randy Levine says that the audit was a routine part of the team's compliance with a complicated lease.

While I applaud the recovery of $3.7 million, it is still only pennies on the dollar from what the team should not be taking from the city in the form of tax free bonds and other means to have New Yorkers pay for the construction of the new Yankee Stadium. It was nice to see city officials give back the stadium suite, but those hundreds of millions of dollars should be given back to the city, heavens knows Steinbrenner could have financed that stadium if he had to.

Could The Yankees Be Bloomberg's Undoing?

There are a lot of things that get me going about Mayor Bloomberg. Being out of touch with people who make less than a billion dollars a year, his undemocratic means of extending term limits, how he's gone about raising property taxes and a whole host of other things. I would like nothing better than to see him lose his re-election bid this year. Despite all those grievances, it might just be the storied New York Yankees that bring him down in the end.

From The Gothamist:

It appears that various members of local and state government have lost their cool with the Yankees and their struggles to finance their soon to open new stadium without the additional financial assistance. City Comptroller William Thompson came out swinging with the harshest rhetoric yesterday when discussing the ongoing state of the project stating, "Costs don't go up that dramatically in that period of time. Either someone did that intentionally or it is the worst job of management that I have ever seen." [...]

The Times questions whether the city's dealings with the Yankees could become an Achilles heel for the mayor's reelection campaign. They compare the situation to the mayor's attempts push for a West Side stadium before the '05 campaign, but with higher stakes given the current economic state. One Quinnipiac pollster speculates that close ties with the Yankees might do more harm than good just due to the fact that "people are being told we’ve got to economize, we’ve got to tighten our belts, and the Yankees are blowing money by the carload for players.”

Earlier this week, another Bloomberg opponent in the mayoral race Anthony Weiner took a jab at the Yankees fundraising efforts saying, “Maybe CC Sabathia can buy the big-screen TVs.” Comments like that have made it easier for Bloomberg aides to brush off the criticisms as nothing more than "political theater." Yankees President Randy Levine added, “Surprise, surprise — Billy Thompson is running for mayor. Billy voted for this deal in the beginning, I continually briefed him, and only after the term-limits law does he now decide to criticize the deal. What a coincidence.”

Bloomberg and his people may think that this is all merely theater and they are entitled to that. However, this botched public funding of a deal that only benefits the players involved at the expense of the taxpayers is indicative of the Mayor's entire Administration. He's been touted as this economic guru because of his wealth, but for the last eight years middle class New Yorkers have fared worse while the rich have done very well thanks to zoning policies, eminent domain issues, property tax rates and those that have a stake in Citi Field and the new Yankee Stadium.

His supporters in and out of the Council during the battle for term limits extensions were eager to say what a great financial manager he has been, but really, voters should be asking who's fiscal solvency does he have at heart?

Mayor Pressured Out Of Suite-Heart Deal At New Stadiums

Mayor Bloomberg was looking forward to having a free luxury box at Yankee Stadium and Citi Field this year, but that is just not in the cards for him and his staff anymore. Approximately $2 billion dollars has been shelled out or asked for from the city (meaning us, the taxpayers) to finance both new ballparks. Of course that is a lot of money, especially when it could have been used to save programs needed by the poor and to curtail rising property tax rates. So the Mayor wanted to paid in the some fashion. Now that enough pressure has been applied, he is shying away from that pricey perk.

From NewsDay:

NEW YORK - Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration will forgo luxury boxes at the new Yankees and Mets ballparks, the city said Tuesday after months of criticism about its handling of the stadium projects.

The administration has worked out a new deal with the Yankees to get extra money, instead of a luxury box. A separate and similar agreement is being worked out with the Mets for their new park, a Bloomberg spokesman said.

Senior Bloomberg aides had fought hard to get the luxury boxes, describing the perk in internal e-mails as "a big issue to the mayor" during negotiations with the teams in 2006.

That battle for the boxes only recently came to light as state and federal lawmakers launched investigations into how the teams and the administration went about making those deals.

Of course, Bloomberg is only doing this because he is running for re-election. He doesn't want New Yorkers to see him for who he really is, an out-of-touch plutocrat that cares nothing for the average New Yorker. To him, it is all about image and nothing in terms of actual substance. He'd rather see the ballparks built with our money than people getting real economic relief. As Assemblyman Brodsky says, "This whole thing has been an embarrassment."

Yankee Stadium And Citi Field Still Drawing Ire

Yankee Stadium may not have a corporate name, but the deed to the ballpark should be split up among the taxpayers. That goes for Citi Field out in Queens as well, along with a new name. Citibank may only be spending $20 million a year for twenty years for the naming rights, but with their bailout, that name needs to change. Perhaps we can make a deal and call it Irresponsible Corporate Banking Field....or just City Field for short. As Gothamist points out, both teams need to give back.

The Yankees have opened their wallets and committed $243.5 million to two players this week. That’s nothing new for the club, who routinely lead the league in payroll by a wide margin. Coincidentally, the team also went to New York City this week and asked for $259 million in tax-exempt bonds to finish their new Stadium in the Bronx. This is on top of original financing of the $1.3 billion deal, which was also done almost entirely with tax-exempt bonds.

Meanwhile in Queens, the Mets, whose payroll is modest in comparison to the Yankees but still among the highest in baseball, have also received plenty of tax-exempt financing for their new stadium. On top of that, they will receive $20 million a year from Citigroup, an entity that U.S. taxpayers had to bail out a few weeks ago, for the naming rights to the new building.

In this current economic climate, the actions of both teams are offensive. It is bad enough that they have raised ticket prices to levels that ordinary fans can’t afford. But with huge deficits on the federal, state and local levels, their use of tax-exempt financing deprives the public of desperately needed revenue.

Gothamist wants them to stop asking for more money out of city coffers and I whole-heartedly agree. Moreover, I think they should give back ALL the money they have taken since the thought of new ballparks in NYC began. Don't worry though, there is something in it for them as well. With the money returned, the Mets and Yankees can make it up by taking away the free luxury boxes for city officials and sell them at market price.

Gotta have some give and take here, right?

NYC Worked Hard For Perks At New Yankee Stadium

Ah damn. I've been out of town for only a few days (relaxing days that they were in a warm clime) and missed so much. Granted it was hard not to watch the terrible tragedy unfold in Mumbai but for the most part I steered clear of politics, opting to read a few books and remembering to be grateful for all that I have in my life. Nevertheless, back here in NYC there is plenty to be outraged over and one instance is continually provoking ire in the Bronx. That would be Yankee Stadium and the Bloomberg Administration's involvement with it.

From The NY Times:

The Bloomberg administration was so intent on obtaining a free luxury suite for its own use at the new Yankee Stadium, newly released e-mail messages show, that the mayor’s aides pushed for a larger suite and free food, and eventually gave the Yankees 250 additional parking spaces in exchange.

The parking spaces were given to the team for the private use of Yankees officials, players and others; the spaces were originally planned for public parking. The city also turned over the rights to three new billboards along the Major Deegan Expressway, and whatever revenue they generate, as part of the deal.

The e-mail messages between the aides to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Yankees executives were obtained and released by Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky, Democrat of Westchester, who questions whether taxpayers were adequately protected in the city’s deal with the team.

Obviously that sense of entitlement doesn't simply stop with the Mayor, the attitude is commonplace throughout his side of City Hall. To make deals like this and work so hard to ensure your piece of the pie while the city has many more pressing matters in front of it is a travesty. They're so busy hammering out perks for themselves at Gracie Mansion that the financial toll on the taxpayers of New York that are helping to subsidize the project are but a mere afterthought, if that.

The whole affair stinks to high hell and instead of being ashamed of their actions, Bloomberg's aides try to push the matter aside by saying that every city official gets perks like these established for the Mayor's office. I really don't care if there are benefits for city officials in Cairo, Kansas City or Brussels, here in New York City we must be able to trust our government to do the right thing. Not by always looking out for the few in the office but for the city they have been hired to work for.

Yankees Cheated NYC Out Of $11 Million

Eleven million dollars isn't really that much when you consider the billion dollar plus public financing of the new Yankee Stadium. Still, it was discovered that they improperly deducted expenses from their rent and are finally paying it back. I know most New Yorkers love the team, but the management of the ballclub is absolutely despicable.

From NY1:

The city comptroller's office said today that the Yankees improperly deducted more than $11 million from its annual rent bill for Yankee Stadium between 2003 and 2006.

An audit by Comptroller Bill Thompson finds the Bronx Bombers overstated expenses by more than $24 million, allowing the team to underpay its rent.

Thompson also says the Yanks deducted nearly $10 million in 2006 for planning costs for the new stadium, after claiming those deductions in previous years.

The comptroller says the team has agreed to pay it all back with interest.

How sad that even with all the perks they get from the city, the front office feels that they can abuse the taxpayers that come to watch their games (for ridiculous ticket prices too). It is nice that they are paying it back with interest, but only because Thompson's office audited them. It isn't like the fessed' up to it or anything. Now I'm waiting for Bloomberg to address the issue and punish Steinbrenner's crew, but I won't hold my breath.

Brodsky Blasts Yankees And The City

The Yankees are about to be eliminated from making the playoffs any day now, but that is not what has Westchester State Assemblyman Richard Brodsky so upset. What is at stake is the new Yankee Stadium and what it is costing New York City's taxpayers. Supposedly the Yankees threatened to leave the city if they didn't get hundreds of millions in tax breaks (where the hell they would go, I don't know). Then city officials "caved" to their demands and in return got a sweet luxury box. That wasn't enough for Steinbrenner's organization, so when they asked for an additional $250 million, people like Assemblyman Brodsky and Congressman Kucinich started to get involved.

From The NY Times:

New York City and the Yankees may have violated federal tax regulations and state laws in using $943 million in tax-exempt bonds to build the baseball team’s new stadium, according to a report issued on Tuesday by Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky.

Saying the taxpayers are footing the bill for the $1.3 billion Yankee Stadium in the Bronx and are getting little in return other than higher ticket prices and the loss of parkland, Mr. Brodsky, a frequent critic of the deal, said that the report stems from a review of thousands of pages of previously unreleased documents.

Although city officials and the Yankees hotly disputed many of the findings, the report concluded that the city and the state invested as much as $850 million in cash and tax breaks in the new stadium, which sits across 161st Street from the team’s historic home in the South Bronx.

“This stadium is being built by the people of the city and the state of New York,” Mr. Brodsky said during a press conference at the north end of the new stadium, at 164th Street and Jerome Avenue. “In return, they’re getting almost nothing. This deal does not serve the public’s interest. It serves the Yankees’ interest.”

Of course the Yankees protested the lengthy and damning report, but that is to be expected (one excuse is that they employed people to build it, as if the stadium would have magically appeared by itself). The facts are that the team and those that helped them to acquire taxpayer funds with little to no benefit to the community.

Brodsky is taking his report to Washington in order to bolster Kucinich's mission to make it tougher for corporate entities to take such advantage of public dollars and eminent domain laws. Hopefully we'll see some reform on this issue soon. Though until we have a President that isn't a former baseball team owner who took advantage of these tax breaks himself, President Obama will have to be the one to sign the bill into law.

Kucinich Gets Tough On Dubious NYC Eminent Domain Projects

Say what you want about Dennis Kucinich, but one thing you may not deny is that he is a fighter. His latest quest focuses on publicly funded stadiums and the illegalities that surround them. New York is at the center of this investigation, as both the new Yankee Stadium and the Mets' Citi Field are costing taxpayers over $2 billion together. Also, the proposed and extremely controversial Atlantic Yards Arena hasn't even started going up yet costs Brooklyn dearly every single day that Ratner occupys that land. Kucinich wants to look at the details of these projects and see what we can do to put an end to the corruption that inevitably clings to these gargantuan 'public' facilities.

From The Atlantic Yards Report:

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), who chairs Domestic Policy Subcommittee of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, yesterday announced a hearing to be held September 18. It follows up on two public hearings the subcommittee held last year (3/29/07 and 10/10/07) that looked more broadly at some of the policy issues.

No witness list has been announced, but I assume someone from the New York City Industrial Development Authority, whose Seth Pinsky was on the hot seat July 2, will be among those present.

While no legislation has been proposed yet, the Subcommittee's concern may put pressure on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to clarify and finalize a proposed rule regarding PILOTs (payments in lieu of taxes) to finance sports facilities. That rule could stymie tax-exempt funding for the Atlantic Yards arena--or the city and state could succeed in getting the arena grandfathered in under the ruling that allowed funding for the two baseball stadiums.

AY goes into more details about PILOT plans and ways of getting rid of them. If Kucinich can make small amendments to the tax code so that the rich robber barons of major league sports will have to pay for their own stadiums, then he gets major props from me. It is long past the time when city funding for sports arenas is put to an end and Kucinich is the man for the job to get it done. Sure, he's not the most likeable guy in the Democratic caucus (especially when it comes to running for President), but he sure is a fighter for the little guy...and that is what counts.

Man Thrown Out Of Yankee Stadium For Going To Bathroom During "God Bless America"

At this moment the story is sourced to the inbox at the Gothamist, but as the comments over there suggest, it could very well be true. A man claims to have been forced out of Yankee Stadium for the terrible offense of trying to use the bathroom during "God Bless America." Apparently somewhere on the fine print of your ticket, it says you must respect the song or face the consequences.

From The Gothamist:

"I attempted to get up to use the restroom, rather urgently, during the 7th inning stretch as God Bless America was beginning. As I attempted to walk down the aisle and exit my section into the tunnel, I was stopped by a police officer. He informed me that I had to wait until the song was over. I responded that I had to use the restroom and that I did not care about God Bless America.

"As soon as the latter came out of my mouth, my right arm was twisted violently behind my back and I was informed that I was being escorted out of the stadium. A second officer then joined in and twisted my left arm, also in an excessively forceful manner, behind my back. I informed them they were violating my First Amendment rights and that I had done nothing wrong, with no response from them.

"I was sitting in the Tier Level, and of course this is the highest level of the stadium and I was escorted in this painful manner down the entire length of the stadium. About halfway down, I informed them that they were hurting me, repeated that I had done nothing wrong, and that I was not resisting nor talking back to them. One of them said something to the effect that if I continued to speak, he would find a way to hurt me more.

"When we reached the exit of the stadium, they confiscated my ticket and the first officer shoved me through the turnstiles, saying 'Get the hell out of my country if you don't like it.'

"Nowhere on the Yankee Stadium ticket policy nor on any posted sign does it say that forced patriotism is a required element to attend a baseball game. Nowhere in the laws of this country would that begin to be defensible.

"Furthermore, when the two officers returned to their section, Steve who was still in the stadium overhead one of the officers say 'We got to watch ourselves. One day we're really gonna get in trouble.' They were also spreading rumors with a fan with whom they were friendly that I had said 'This country sucks.'

"I do not believe in God, nor am in support of this country to a degree of patriotic fanaticism. The fact that I wanted to use the restroom instead of standing through God Bless America should not be grounds for a forcible ejection from a baseball game."

Yikes! I always get that creepy feeling at Yankee games during the 7th inning stretch. Being a life-long Dodger fan (currently wearing one of their shirts as I type) and going to many more games at Chavez Ravine than in the Bronx, I found it odd just how religious it is up there. At Dodger games, they play "Take me out to the ballgame" twice and everyone has a good time and can go wherever they want. I guess that isn't the case at Steinbrenner's park.

Now as bad as that is that something like this can happen to a fan at a Major League Baseball game, what makes it worse is that Steinbrenner gets to have his cake (baked by the New York City taxpayers) and eat it too (thanks to exorbitant ticket prices). City officials should force him to pay for his own damn ballpark, but they apparently they are in on the scam too.

The whole thing makes me sick, I hope this guy takes everyone involved to the cleaners!

Rudy Gets Booed At Yankee Stadium

Even though I am a Dodger fan, have been for over twenty-seven years and until the day I die, I have to hand it to Yankee fans for their treatment of Rudy Giuliani the day they were booted from the playoffs. I've never thought about Steinbrenner's politics, but when I think back on the games I have been to in the Bronx certain things like singing "God Bless America" is a bit strange for the seventh inning stretch.

Anyways, Rudy was there to support his team, care of Steinbrenner's free front row tickets that are always provided. Not only does he get free seats, as a potential nominee for the Republican Presidential ticket, he was also given free TV coverage at the game, but Yankee fans were not pleased with this at all.

From DailyKos:

For years, George Steinbreener and right wing nutcases running the New York Yankees have subtly and overtly attempted to turn a nonpolitical sporting event such as watching a baseball game at Yankees stadium into a 1930s style German propaganda event to promote right wing politicians, right wing views on religion, and right wing views on Iraq. It's no longer take me out to the ballgame and as a Yankee fan, I find it disgusting.

The most frequent use of mixing politics and baseball at Yankee stadium is Steinbrenner's promotion of right wing extremist Rudy Giuliani. Giuliani gets a front row, unimpeded view of Yankee games because these seats are given to him by Steinbrenner. Then Yankee stadium officials and the networks try to plaster Rudy Giuliani's face all over the big screen and the television. This amounts to millions of dollars of free advertising, something quite beneficial when you are running for President.

But Steinbrenner overplayed his hand. Giuliani got roundly booed at Yankee Stadium and this will play out on the campaign trail.

DaveFromQueens over at DailyKos expands on how this can reverberate, but only if the other candidates (both D and R) use it to their advantage. It takes only a minuscule amount of common sense to know that if people from your own city resoundingly boo you at a baseball game, it shows a lot about the guy.

New Yorkers know how bad Giuliani is, his record as Mayor before, during and after September 11th was atrocious. We are sick of him using the terrible tragedy that happened here six years ago for his own benefit. As more people get to know the real Rudy, the less of a chance he will have.