Poll: Most New Yorkers don't want West Side stadium

Subject: [New] Poll: Most New Yorkers don't want West Side stadium
Date: 1/20/2005 12:56:35 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: kitchen@hellskitchen.net
Sent from the Internet (Details)


Poll: Most New Yorkers don't want West Side stadium

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/state/ny-bc-ny--westsidestadium-p0120jan20,0,5031567,print.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork


Newsday
January 20, 2005, 10:09 AM EST

NEW YORK -- Mayor Michael Bloomberg may be gaining ground in his quest for
re-election, but voters remain opposed to one of his pet projects: a $1.4
billion stadium to host the New York Jets and attract the 2012 Olympics.

More than half _ 58 percent _ of New York City voters don't want the
stadium, while 34 percent are in favor, according to a Quinnipiac
University poll. The new statistics were released Thursday, a day after
results from the same survey showed Bloomberg in a statistical tie with
former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer, a Democratic challenger.

Some respondents (26 percent) even said the mayor's support of the plan
would dissuade them from voting for his re-election in November, though 69
percent said it wouldn't make a difference.

Fifty-three percent said they would support the project if it were true
that the stadium would generate enough income to repay the money the city
and state would borrow to help build it. Matthew Higgins, vice president
for the Jets, emphasized that finding.

"The poll shows New Yorkers support the project so long as it pays for
itself, which even the independent budget office says it will," Higgins said.

Only 19 percent said they would be more likely to attend a Jets game if the
team moved to the proposed stadium, which would be located on the far West
Side of Manhattan. Nine percent said they would be less likely to attend a
game, while 70 percent said it wouldn't make a difference. The Jets
currently share the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J. with the Giants.

If the stadium were built, the poll found, 66 percent of New Yorkers would
travel there by public transit, while 15 percent would come by car. The
reliance on mass transit could hamper tailgate parties, which 64 percent of
respondents said were "very" or "somewhat" important to their enjoyment of
a game, the poll found.

While most voters (63 percent) said they want the city to host the 2012
Olympics, only 36 percent said they believe Bloomberg's claim that the
stadium is necessary to bring the games to New York, the poll said.

The poll surveyed 1,027 New York City registered voters from Jan. 11-17. It
has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

___

On the Net:

http://www.quinnipiac.edu