"50M on deck for Bronx if stadium OKd" in NY Daily News 03/22/06

Extra unnecessary garages built with taxpayer money in area with record asthma rates. Destroying our national sports arena , The House That Ruth Built, for the new Steinbrenner Stadium. Insulting neighborhood residents for decades, stealing our public parkland and now sprinkling some payola - no doubt with our taxpayer money. Hey, Randy Levine, can you spell "BLOOD MONEY?"

50M on deck for Bronx if stadium OKd

BY DAVID SALTONSTALL
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF

The Yankees are getting ready to swing their heavy-hitting checkbook in the Bronx - and to thwack out about $50 million over 40 years.

With the Bombers seeking City Council approval for a new stadium, the team is pledging to donate some $800,000 to Bronx parks and charities every year of their 40-year lease, according to a draft copy of the agreement obtained by the Daily News yesterday.

In addition to the cash, the Yanks would give away $100,000 in equipment and 15,000 tickets every year to needy Bronx groups.

The team would also work to assure that at least half the construction jobs on the planned $800 million stadium go toward minority-, women- and Bronx-owned firms.

"We are negotiating an agreement," was all Yankees President Randy Levine would say yesterday. "We think it will be very significant, but it would be inappropriate to comment until it is concluded."

The Bombers are negotiating the terms of the so-called community benefits agreement with a committee of Bronx elected leaders, among them Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión and City Councilwoman Maria Baez.

Both politicians yesterday emphasized that no deal had been finalized on the stadium.

"It is a work in progress," Baez (D-West Bronx) of the deal. "When all is said and done, I am committed to making sure that the people of the Bronx are going to benefit."

The stadium plans are due to come before the Council for final approval next month.

In addition to the cash grants and donated materials, the current plan would obligate the Yankees to:

# Hire a "program administrator" with a budget of $450,000 per year to help minority- and female-owned and borough businesses win construction and other contracts on the stadium.

# Create a not-for-profit corporation - to be headed by an unnamed "individual of prominence" - to distribute the $800,000 in cash and other freebies every year.

The new 53,000-seat stadium would be built on 22 acres now occupied by John Mullaly and Macombs Dam parks. New replacement parks and playgrounds are to be created nearby.