NYC Mayor Rudolph Giuliani "proposed a way to help
finance new stadiums" for the Yankees and Mets "without
raising taxes or deepening the city's debt," but the plan
"left unanswered the more explosive question of where a new
Yankee ballpark would be built," according to Dan Barry of
the N.Y. TIMES. Giuliani's proposal, made public yesterday,
calls for the creation of a public corporation that would
receive the revenues from the commercial rent tax paid by
large Manhattan businesses. Giuliani had intended to
eliminate the tax by June 2001, but now says the tax "could
be scaled back at a slower rate" and eliminated "possibly in
2004." Giuliani's proposal, which he "boasted was unlike
any other stadium-financing plan in the country," could
raise nearly $600M by 2002, and could also be used to build
football and soccer stadiums. The tax is paid by companies
located south of 96th Street in Manhattan that pay more than
$100,000 a year in rent (N.Y. TIMES, 4/21). But Bronx
Borough President Fernando Ferrer criticized the concept.
Ferrer, on the plan: "It's a retreat from a campaign
promise. He promised to eliminate the commercial rent tax.
This is not a plan" (N.Y. POST, 4/21).
COULD IT WORK? Sportscorp Ltd. President Marc Ganis:
"It's a less-broad tax than other taxes, but the risk is
whether people will say, 'If the money is available, why not
spend it on things that are more worthwhile?'" (N.Y. TIMES,
4/21). Dean Bonham, President of The Bonham Group: "It
sounds to me that if you can hold your nose long enough to
get past the fact that it's a tax, it sounds like a creative
and appropriate tax to use" (N.Y. TIMES, 4/21). In N.Y.,
Dave Anderson calls the plan "just another way to bite
taxpayers" (N.Y. TIMES, 4/21). Mets CEO Fred Wilpon called
the proposal "brilliant" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 4/21).
TOP TEN: Among David Letterman's Top 10 New Yankee
Slogans: 10) We're crushing the competition -- and the fans.
6) 'Cause it's One! Two! Three tons of falling concrete! 5)
The team itself won't start collapsing until September. 4)
Come to the house that shoddy contractors built, 3) Yankee
Stadium -- where every day is helmet day! (CBS, 4/20).
