Now the CEO of Bloomberg LP, Mr. Doctoroff is back at it with a plan to organize a bid for the 2024 games, centered this time on the Sunnyside yards area of Queens. The Doctoroff playbook is at work again. He would put a deck over the rail yards and presumably build his Olympics stadium there as well as thousands of housing units needed for the athletes. Most important, he would construct the world-class convention center New York has always lacked to replace the cramped, money-losing and economically-hamstrung Jacob Javits Convention Center on the West Side, which in turn would free up that key parcel on the West Side for other development.
What could be more compelling? Create new land in a city starved for space, create much needed housing and solve the convention center problem that has bedeviled the city's business community for 30 years. And generate hundreds of millions of dollars for the city or state from the West Side site.
Mr. Doctoroff has had his eye on the rail yards for some time. He had raised the issue of decking over rail yards like Sunnyside in his ambitious NYCPlan 2030 released in 2007, which tried to chart a way to accommodate a growing population while protecting the environment. Almost two years ago, he made moving Javits to Sunnyside the centerpiece of a 2012 speech that seemed to mark a return to public policy.
27 comments:
This fellow is delusional. No one is going to want to host events at a convention center in the middle of Queens. Manhattan is where it's at. The reason the Javits Center loses money is because it's cheaper to host conventions in every other city in the country.
As for the Olympics, no one that actually lives in Queens wanted it the first time, and this is a much worse idea.
Sir, Please take your Olympics elsewhere. Thanks.
I for one think it's not such a bad idea.
I guess he's never been to Queens. It's way too overcrowded as it is. The last thing Queens needs is more housing - we need fewer people!!!
This is sounding like Brazil and the World Cup - people are living in poverty but let's piss away a fortune on a new stadium for an event that will benefit a tiny minority!
I love how the 1% of the 1% know what's best for everyone. What a lunatic!
He's nuts! Clean up some of the brown fields around the other boroughs and have your Olympics there.
So where are our politicians on this - are they fighting for us?
of course not. just think of all the honest graft from this stunt.
roofing over the natural earth at the yards is environmentally disastrous.
No!!!!!
Queens needs permanent jobs not gimmicks.
For this post (and hundreds of other posts here) - Why create housing in Queens when jobs are not in Queens (or nearby) for residents?
Why create housing in Queens without also at the same time increasing the transportation, utility, and education infrastructure which is stagnant, and the health-care infrastructure which is shrinking?
Olympics, Schmolympics. A buncha peeps runnin' around in their underwear.
(And you...if you cant be an athlete, you can always be an athletic supporter.)
Oh wow! Olympics in Queens?
Now we know where and how a soccer stadium will be built for billionaire owners.
I hear the 100m relay is slated to be held in the new greenway under the 7 train.
This guy is a big dope! Really like NYC needs the Olympics to take place here. There is already enough traffic and confusion, now let's plop the Olympics in Queens. Where the hell does this guy live, probably not from NYC. All these idiots usually live somewhere else or grew up somewhere else and they just don't get it, money is the only thing they understand.
And of course a plot like this would not seriously disrupt LIRR train service for years on end, not to mention screw up subway service of queens subway lines even more.
I hope the oligarchs are not able to force this down people's throats they way they got the Queensboro Bridge's name changed despite the overwhelming objections by the residents of Queens.
'roofing over the natural earth at the yards is environmentally disastrous.'
What?
'This guy is a big dope! Really like NYC needs the Olympics to take place here.'
The idea is that the city hasn't been able to get a lot of important projects done because of a vocal minority opposed to said projects. The Olympics would be cover to push a few of them through.
'And of course a plot like this would not seriously disrupt LIRR train service for years on end, not to mention screw up subway service of queens subway lines even more.'
How do you figure? LIRR still gets 37 trains in per hour at peak with all the construction going on in Sunnyside today. They're losing some of the utility in the West Side yards for the next two years but riders likely won't notice a thing. The bigger issue is what happened in Brooklyn over Atlantic Yards. After the deal was signed and the economy crashed they amended it to make construction cheaper, unfortunately this meant the permanent reduction in the size of the yard there. Probably doesn't matter all that much if LIRR follows through with the plan to kill through service to Brooklyn and just turn it into a shuttle run, but they can't afford the permanent reduction in Sunnyside or West side yards.
How would it affect subway service adversely?
'I hope the oligarchs are not able to force this down people's throats they way they got the Queensboro Bridge's name changed despite the overwhelming objections by the residents of Queens.'
I live in Queens. I was surprised they renamed the bridge after someone who wasn't dead. I didn't care that they renamed it. I still say Queensboro or 59th street. I usually still say interboro parkway. What's the big deal?
Excellent idea. We don't compete with Chicago's McCormick because of lack of space. I'm tired of going to Chicago for that.
Russia lost $20 billion on their Olympics, London lost $8 billion; Atlanta lost $5 billion. Should I go on?
How $ much would his commission be?
Aside from Doctoroff, does anyone else really want the Olympics here?
Seriously, what are these guys thinking about??
'Seriously, what are these guys thinking about??'
How the Olympics is a way to push through development and infrastructure projects that they couldn't otherwise push through because of a very vocal minority opposition.
Minority opposition? HA HA HA HA
I thought there was supposed to be a convention center at Willets Point? And at Aqueduct?
Sunnyside Yards? That would be ridiculously expensive.
'Sunnyside Yards? That would be ridiculously expensive.'
But probably worth the cost since it frees up prime Manhattan real estate. Sunnyside is a lot faster to get to from Manhattan than Willets Point or Aqueduct.
They should build the NYC FC stadium over the rails.
Worth the cost because it frees up prime Manhattan real estate? A convention center in the other locations was supposed to do that as well. It doesn't have to be at the rail yards. I'm sure Sunnyside is also happy with its not chock full of hotels status as well.
Known for his backstabbing--will Councilman Van Bramer support this measure?
Being submissive to political power--Councilman Jimmy will, most likely, do Doctoroff's bidding--if he wants (of course he does) decide to run for mayor some day in the future.
Just follow the money trail--from developers hands to Van Bramers pockets.
Why didn't Doctoroff and Bloomberg propose a stadium at Sunnyside Yards for their failed 2012 bid? Because back then they insisted on the West Side.
Now, they are hoping to build it somewhere, anywhere.
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