Don’t blame the Yankees for City Hall’s inability to build a park on time.
The new Yankee Stadium will open in three short months – but it may be another two years before all eight promised city parks near the new ballfield open.
Moreover, the Independent Budget Office says the cost of the new parks will be at least $195 million – $79 million over budget and counting.
There’s really no excuse for it.
Though the city claims to have a few: Mayor Bloomberg’s office cites higher construction costs. (Would that’ve been a problem if the city hadn’t redesigned the project?)
In any event, there’s no reason the full renovation should be two years late. But the Parks Department ho-hummed the IBO report: “It’s consistent with what we’ve been saying all along,” a spokeswoman said.
With that attitude, the parks won’t be done until a third Yankee Stadium is built another century from now.
All this brings to mind the Wollman Skating Rink fiasco of the 1980s: Spending $12 million, the city couldn’t get the rink built in six years. (Donald Trump stepped in, spent $2.25 million of his own money, and built it in six months.)
Then there are the Sixth Avenue and 14th Street reconstruction projects – which were years late and millions over budget.
But, as Mayor Rudy Giuliani proved, properly managed projects can be done in a cost- and time-efficient manner.
Shortly after taking office in 1994, the Giuliani administration launched a major reconstruction of Columbus Avenue that was completed under budget and ahead of schedule. How did that happen?
Giuliani & Co. made it clear from Day One that there would be no lollygaging: Department of Investigation staff oversaw progress – and if a particular job wasn’t proceeding in a timely manner, the construction crew was replaced. In short, City Hall made Columbus Avenue a priority – and kept its eye on the ball.
Similarly, in the spring of 1995, mob-connected arson at the Fulton Fish Market seriously damaged one of its oldest buildings.
Within days, the city had the co-op that operated in the building re-opened in a temporary space, with full electricity and running water.
Meanwhile, the original building – city-owned property, at that – was gutted and fully rebuilt within months.
The lesson: If City Hall deems a project important enough, it has resources needed to cut through the bureaucratic red tape – and get things done.
Bronx residents around Yankee Stadium have every right to ask why their neighborhood isn’t deemed important enough for this to happen.