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From Fernanda Santos (hat tip to River Ave. Blues):
After intense criticism, the Bloomberg administration has given up a perk it worked fervently to secure: a free luxury suite at the new Yankee Stadium.
The city will relinquish use of the 12-seat box in exchange for whatever revenue the Yankees generate by selling the seats, minus the cost of marketing them. Although neither the city nor the Yankees have publicly disclosed the market value of the suite, similar suites at the new stadium are being sold for as much as $600,000 a year.
The city’s acquisition of the Yankees suite had drawn scrutiny, especially after e-mail messages surfaced in November showing that aides to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg had zealously pursued the luxury box, as well as free food and access to post-season games.
Representative Anthony D. Weiner, a Queens Democrat who publicly demanded that the city give up the suite, said, “This is something that they never should have negotiated in the first place.”
“And,” he added, “it was only after the public found out about it that they did the right thing.”
Under the new arrangement with the city, the Yankees will be allowed to keep the parking spaces and use of the billboards, and the city will be guaranteed at least $100,000 for each baseball season, even if no one buys the suite. The deal was formalized last month in a letter from Mr. Pinsky to the Yankees president, Randy Levine, that was made public on Tuesday. A similar arrangement is being negotiated with the Mets, which also gave the city free use of a suite in its new ballpark, Citi Field.
2 Comments:
While all the "shady dealings" are certainly something you aren't proud of, the simple fact of the matter is that there's much more of that to politics that we realize. It's not just the construction of Yankee Stadium that's involved in these sort of "perks." Every large city construction project or big business has it's share of shady dealings, illegal perks, and legal loopholes that they use to help both parties.
While that doesn't make it right, we fans shouldn't feel at all bad or embarassed about it. It's almost a fact of life when it comes to big construction projects and political involvement.
You're right, this is not only a Yankee Stadium thing. It goes on all the time.
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