good nyc news

Whoo-hoo! A moving object called the West Side stadium plan has hit the immovable force called Albany. The stadium is dead in the water, thanks to State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, the second most powerful man in that crazy state capital of ours.

Silver, who held veto power over the stadium, said yesterday that he could not support the project on the West Side, along with the large commercial redevelopment plan the mayor has proposed, because it would undermine the redevelopment of Lower Manhattan, his district.

"Am I supposed to turn my back on Lower Manhattan as it struggles to recover?" Mr. Silver asked at an Albany news conference. "For what? A stadium? For the hope of bringing the Olympics to New York City?"

Even Silver's evil twin Joseph Bruno, Senate majority leader, voted no. Bruno promoted a plan that would authorize the stadium only if NYC got the Olympics. Albany wasn't buying.

This is great. Bloomberg won't get his stadium, and he probably won't keep his job, either. A crowd of angry construction workers were chanting for Silver's head, but they'll have to get their jobs (and their graft) elsewhere.

Story here, some background here and here.