west side stadium dead?

I don’t know how much people outside the city have been following this whole proposal to build a West Side Stadium in Manhattan, but the plan appears to be dead.

BC-APNewsAlert,0048 Eds: Also moving on general news wires.
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A New York state board has rejected a plan for a
$2 billion stadium in New York, endangering the city’s hopes of hosting
the 2012 Olympics.
AP-ES-06-06-05 1748EDT

It’s been a really, really interesting fight, I think. The stadium would have been right across the street from the News, on top of these barren railyards that certainly need some redevelopment. Stadium opponents said site would be better developed as a mixed-use project, with a hotel and apartments. Backers contended the arena would bring to New York events like the Final Four, major concerts and the Super Bowl.

Taxpayers would have contributed at least $600 million to build the stadium, with the New York Jets kicking $800 million. It would have been their home field. (Owner Robert Johnson is a major Republican donor).

But Cablevision — which owns Madison Square Garden, just a few blocks away — saw the site as competition. In the last few months city airwaves and billboards have been blanketed by dueling pro- and anti-stadium ads by Cablevision and the Jets.

But ultimately I think the New York Sports and Convention Center was stopped by the stubborness of one man — Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Democrat who represents lower Manhattan and who controls a crucial vote on state board that rejected the project today.

“Am I supposed to sell out the community I have fought for and represented for more than a quarter of a century?” Mr. Silver told reporters before the vote. “Am I supposed to turn my back on Lower Manhattan as it struggles for recovery? For what? The stadium? For the hope of bringing the Olympics to New York City?”

Like I said — it’s been an interesting battle.

(Here’s the Jets pro-stadium site. “No West Side Stadium” can be found here. My colleague Juan Gonzalez has written numerous anti-stadium columns; one of his latest is here, while the paper endorsed the stadium here. Other NYC bloggers have posts about this here, here, here and here.)