"Yankees accused of misusing city money" Crain's 10/3/7

"Advocacy group Good Jobs New York accused the New York Yankees of using “stadium planning” subsidies to finance nearly $60,000 in frivolous expenses, and called on city Comptroller William Thompson to conduct an audit.

"The money in question was provided to the Yankees in 2001, when former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani authorized the team to deduct up to $5 million of stadium planning costs per year from its rent for five years.

"Under an April 2006 Freedom of Information Request to the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation, Good Jobs received copies of Yankees receipts for the years in question and discovered charges that included $31,364 in food and bar tabs for two nights of the 2005 post season. In addition, approximately $28,000 was spent on novelties that included a dozen crystal baseballs ($1,978), “rivalry” wool caps for home games against Boston and Toronto ($8,600), 500 logo baseballs for an annual sales meeting ($1,037) and $2,037 in gifts for corporate clients like Sony, Ford and Continental Airlines.

“Everybody from local council members to the Comptroller to the mayor needs to make sure the Yankees don’t take advantage of the taxpayers’ dollars,” said Good Jobs project director Bettina Damiani."

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