House That Ruth Built Has One Foot In The Grave
6th April 2006
There is always death and taxes; however, death doesn’t get worse every year. ~ Author Unknown
Yesterday, The House That Ruth Built came one step closer to death, while plans for the New Yankee Stadium came one step closer to life. The New York City Council voted 44-2 vote, with 2 abstentions in favor of the $1.2 billion project that is comprised of the $800 million new facility for the Yankees. As my SABR colleague, Neil DeMause reported today, “This morning, as an overflow throng of Bronx residents and construction workers sat waiting in a City Hall hearing room, staring out the windows at a freak spring snowstorm, the New York city council huddled behind closed doors for two hours to decide beforehand how the vote would go on the Yankees’ $1.2 billion stadium project.”
The outcome sets the final hurdle as a vote on the bonds, scheduled for April 28th. The vote is now seen as a mere formality given the outcome of yesterday’s vote.
The Yankees plan to pay for the construction of the stadium through the use of $930 million in bonds issued by New York City. Of that total, $860 million will be tax exempt.
As the title of this article implies, the House That Ruth Built will become no more — a casualty of the wrecking ball. As the NY Times reports today, $138 million would be spent by the city to demolish the hallowed grounds first opened in 1923 to create new parkland to replace Macomb’s Dam and John Mullaly Parks where the New Yankee Stadium would reside. As the NY Times further reports, “The state’s share would be $70 million of the $320 million cost of building four new parking garages that could be used by local residents throughout the year; the remainder would come from private developers.”
For those that wish to see the current Yankee Stadium remain in place have one last hope… The National Park Service.
Since the National Park Service owns the Macomb’s Dam Park, of which part of the New Yankee Stadium would be built, they could rule that the replacement park space does not meet federal requirements.
So get some games in while you can at the House That Ruth Built. In New York it seems you can’t fight City Hall, or the NY Yankees.