Taxpayers' running tab: Cost for parkland at Yankee Stadium up 67%
By Greg B. Smith
| DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER |
Jan 28, 2009 | 1:17 AM
Taxpayers will get socked for nearly $194 million to replace parkland gobbled up by the new Yankee Stadium - almost 70% more than first estimates, a new report says.
Between add-ons and upgrades, the cost has grown 67% over what Mayor Bloomberg promised when he agreed to subsidize the new stadium for America's richest team in 2005, the Independent Budget Office announced Tuesday.
"It's outrageous," said Geoffrey Croft, president of NYC Parks Advocates. "The taxpayer should not be bearing any of these expenses. The New York Yankees should. They were allowed to take this parkland and the elected officials handed this over to them."
Responding to the new numbers, the mayor said he regretted the rising costs, but insisted that increased spending on the parks around the stadium would benefit more than the Yankees.
"These are parks for the public," he said. "This has nothing to do with the wealthiest team in baseball."
Bettina Damiani of Goodjobs New York, a group that has regularly criticized the stadium deal, called the mayor's contention "laughable."
The new ballpark and garages are being built on 22 acres of parks that must be replaced by law.
When the stadium was first proposed, the city figured replacing parkland would cost $116million.
That has jumped to $194.7 million, the IBO report says, noting that costs rose all around the new stadium:
Demolishing the old stadium and replacing it with Heritage Field and a walk-through called Ruppert Plaza has jumped 125% to $72.2 million.
Waterfront Park, which will include a beach and pier on the Harlem River, has spiked 86% to $63.9 million.
Macombs Dam Park, displaced by the stadium, will sit atop a new garage. Its cost has risen 20% to $35.3 million.
The city also blames "unforeseen" environmental issues for the increases.
Croft said the city knew or should have known about both issues before estimating costs: "They knew about it ... [or] they didn't do due diligence."
gsmith@nydailynews.com
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