Go Greg Bell!

A nice little article in the Daily News today (click title to read it) announcing the town hall meeting tomorrow:

"Carrión and local Community Board 4 are sponsoring the meeting, at 6 p.m. at the High School of Law, Government and Justice, at 244 E. 163rd St. In addition to the public, they've invited representatives from the Parks Department, the city's Economic Development Corp. and the Yankees organization."

Again, we hear about what will happen to the old stadium site:

"The plan unveiled this year by Yankees owner George Steinbrenner envisions a new stadium just north of the present one, with fewer seats but more luxury boxes, surrounded by a shopping complex. The landmarked original Yankee Stadium would be preserved and converted to public use.

"Carrión hopes to create a Yankees Hall of Fame and museum in the historic stadium, as well as a high-rise hotel and convention center overlooking the ballfield."

Well, the original stadium isn't landmarked. But if it is considered replacement parkland according to the DEIS, why would Carrión "hope" to put so many structures on it? We have already been told that we won't have access to the old field, but to waste so much of our replacement parkland on a Hall of Fame, museum, hotel, and convention center is outrageous! What they are saying is they are taking Macomb's Dam and part of John Mullaly parks for the new stadium, and the "replacement parks" will also be taken as part of their development.

We are so going to court!

And check this out:

"The Parks Department, the lead agency on the project, will make a presentation at the meeting, as will the Yankees organization. After that, the public will be invited to ask questions for the rest of the two-hour meeting."

We only get two hours for the entire meeting? And the bulk of it will be given to the bad guys to spin their happy little stories. How much time will the COMMUNITY get to speak out? "The rest of the two-hour meeting." I'm betting we get a total of 30 minutes. Any takers?

But kudos to Greg Bell:

""It's not a fair exchange," said Greg Bell, chairman of Bronx Voices for Equal Inclusion, a subcommittee of the Mid-Bronx Neighborhood Advisory Council. "It's not parkland, and it's not in our community."

"Bell stressed that his group was not opposed to a new stadium, but would rather see it placed on underused land southwest of the current stadium rather than on top of a heavily used park in a community with extremely high asthma rates.

"The tourists will come wherever the new Yankee Stadium is," said Bell. "It doesn't have to be in our backyard."

We are lucky to have him in our corner!