....April 15, 2:39 PM
 
 
   
Putting Queens’ Case On An International Stage

David Oats

The Queens Olympic Committee announced this week that it is taking its fight to the international community.

David Oats, the former Trib editor and the head of the Committee, sent us a copy of a letter dated April 15 that he is sending to Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee.

The letter is pleading the borough’s case to have the Olympic Stadium in Willets Point instead of on the West Side, which is NYC2012’s plan. Because Oats feels his cause has been ignored by the powers that be in the city, he is taking his committee’s case right to the International Olympic Committee.

Even though David doesn’t write as well, I’ve decided to give up my space this week for his words.

We’ll keep you posted on the results. For now, here’s an edited version of the letter:
–Michael Schenkler

By david oats
Dear Mr. Rogge:

It is with both a sense of pride and grave concern that we , the Queens Olympic Committee (QCO), are taking our issues on the New York City 2012 Olympic bid directly to the IOC in Switzerland.

The pride is in the fact that as New Yorkers we wholeheartedly support our great city’s efforts to be host to the 2012 Olympiad. New York offers unparalleled opportunities for staging one of the greatest Olympic Games of all times.

We would be honored to host the games and we are sure our city will more than do honor to the spirit and greatness of the Olympic movement. New York City is one of the only “world-class” cities to have never hosted an Olympics.

It is time for New York - home of the United Nations and the whole world’s “second home” to light the Olympic torch.

The QCO is an organization of citizens located in the Borough of Queens (New York’s largest land-area borough with a population of over two million residents) and the most ethnically diverse borough of the city of New York and the United States, but with it’s multitude of nationalities from every place on earth, it is surely the most truly international place on the planet.

Queens played host to the world as the location of New York’s two great international expositions – the 1939-40 and the 1964-65 World’s Fairs. The site of those two historic events (which combined drew over 100 million visitors including  presidents, royalty, popes and artists, industries and cultures from around the globe) also served as the first home of the United Nations (1946-50) and it was there – at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens, – where the International Declaration of Human Rights was established...

We (QOC) would be honored and proud to provide the spectacular and singularly most compelling and attractive site for the 2012 Olympic Stadium if New York is awarded the 2012 Games...

It serves as a modern day symbol of welcome to the millions arriving at Queens’ two great airports LaGuardia and JFK International, and the ethnic diversity of Queens and New York.

That is the pride we have and the expectation that the IOC will include New York in the list of finalist candidates for the 2012 Games when you meet on May 18 .We regret, however, that we must now express the part of our grave concern that the organizers of New York’s 2012 Olympic bid are making a massive – we’ll use the word “Olympian” error – with regard to the single most important and critical component of their proposal: the main Olympic Stadium.

They have chosen and are almost blindly pushing a path that will doom New York’s chances when the IOC analyzes and decides on the final choice next year...

It is with great regret that we, as New Yorkers, are being forced by the NYC2012 organizers to take this case directly to the IOC. But it is critical for you in your final judgement to do the best thing for the Olympic movement.

And as New Yorkers we at the QOC feel it is our obligation to wake up the city’s planners to the ultimate folly of their plan...

We have the perfect site, specifically an 80 acre site at Willets Point in Queens directly adjacent to Flushing Meadows, the US Open and Shea Stadium. An area encircled by a multitude of existing highways, mass transit and waterways. A site that will save New York’s Olympic bid – literally – billions of dollars.

We are coming back to Europe in May, before your meeting, to present to you a detailed and comprehensive report detailing the fatal flaws of NY’s present stadium plan.

But we will also present  the other picture. How New York still has time to reverse its present collision course to failure and turn around the 2012 dream of a New York Olympics and go with the plan that will win our city the gold.

Sincerely,
David Oats

 
 
The Days Lengthen, The Term Shortens Mayor Mike, Show New Yorkers How Much You Care

By HENRY STERN

Mayor Koch is fond of saying, “If you agree with me on nine issues out of 12, support me. If you agree with me on 12 out of 12, see a psychiatrist.”

Mayor Bloomberg is an honest, intelligent man who developed a midlife interest in public affairs. A combination of his personal wealth, the competent staff he chose, endorsements by Mayors Koch and Giuliani, and widespread distaste for the Democratic nominee (for reasons personal and political) propelled Bloomberg into becoming New York City’s 108th mayor. He is the second to be term-limited, and he must leave by Dec. 31, 2009.

The mayor has usually acted in a “nonpolitical” manner, sometimes too nonpolitical for his own good. His circle is small, and consists mainly of employees, who are loyal and able, and sometimes imaginative. The mayor’s most important initiatives — the Board of Education takeover and the ban on indoor smoking at bars and restaurants — are very worthwhile. But since no good deed goes unpunished, he has taken a lot of flak over the cigarette bill and the consequences of his education initiatives.

The mayor did not take flack; that word is a mildly pejorative reference to a press agent, now called a public relations or communications person. Flak, on the other hand, comes from the German acronym: flieger (flyer) abwehr (defense) kanonen (cannons). It means anti-aircraft fire.

It is not widely known that it was the City Council that passed the anti-smoking bill, at the mayor’s request, by a vote of 42-7 in December 2002. The Council of rookies is not made of submissives — it has overridden 15 mayoral vetoes. The clean air bill is a significant advance in public health. It protects employees of restaurants and bars from second-hand smoke, mirroring a state law to similar effect. It has a salutary effect on other diners.

Yet it is the mayor who has borne the brunt of smokers’ rage, fanned by the tabloids. That is in part because his own remarks on the subject have been less than empathetic to nicotine addicts.

There are a number of issues on which I disagree with the mayor. I am pleased that he took over the school system, but believe that Chancellor Klein is too attached to conventional (Teachers College) wisdom on matters about which neither of us has ”professional” qualifications. But his devotion to the well-traveled Diana Lam, his awareness of some of her misjudgments and his accelerated anointment of her acolyte arouse anxiety. Ending social promotion was a good move, but for the kids who are rightfully not promoted, he needs what we now call an exit strategy.

When I served as a commissioner in the dark ages of Koch and Giuliani, I felt very fortunate that I was able to make generally reliable judgments on issues before me, based on history, personal experience, common sense and mother wit, without relying on unattainable or unreliable data or self-serving studies. People who are very bright are sometimes misled by dubious or deniable documents, or misrepresentations by the credentialista. Sadly, this is one area in which testing is so far imperfect. Tests measure knowledge and reasoning skills, but not judgment, a quality that can only be proven by experience or discerned by insight.

Other problems out there include the Christo intrusion in Central Park in 2005; the MTA’s $450 million reconstruction of a reasonably adequate South Ferry subway station underneath historic Battery Park; the refusal of the city’s unions to change work rules and generate productivity savings; the apparent harassment of merchants, drivers and homeowners by newly increased fines and zealous enforcement; and our feckless City Council, which receives Zimbabwe’s dictator Mugabe (today’s Idi Amin), but cannot pass a resolution attacking anti-Semitism because that is too controversial for some of its members.

Nonetheless, for New York City the cup is half full and not half empty. Spring has sprung; the crocuses are out.

Homicides and cigarette deaths are down, employment is slightly up, we have not been attacked for 31 months, and we have a decent, honorable, relatively moderate mayor. To strengthen the case for an additional 48 months, he should make the most of the next 21.

Henry Stern was NYC Parks Commissioner for 15 years and a Councilmember for nine. He is founder and director of NYCivic, a good government group. He can be reached at starquest@nycivic.org

Not4Publication.com by Dom Nunziato
Michael Schenkler can be reached via this contact form.