What's The West Side Stadium Mean For Us?
It seems the West Side Stadium in Manhattan may finally be dead. All the media could talk about for the last six months, the West Side Stadium has been Mayor Bloomberg’s baby. Advocates have said they hoped it would spur the development of better subway service in the area and bring the Olympics to New York City.
Undeniably, the east coast of New Jersey would be just as affected by the stadium and the Olympics as Manhattan, and not just because the Jets would be leaving Giants Stadium.
The Stadium for instance, would only be a 25 minute PATH ride [plus an extra few minutes for a subway depending on where you get off] away from the waterfront. Already Mets and Yankees fans park on this side of the Hudson and ride the trains into the stadiums—and those stadiums are at least twice as far. Sunday afternoons in the quiet neighborhoods of Jersey City and Hoboken would likely be filled with football fans parking on the streets and riding into the game. We think it’s great that people would take mass transit to a major sporting event, but we don’t really have parking to spare.
Large conventions held at the new expanded convention center might bring more people to hotels on our side of the river, but more likely New York’s hotel industry could easily swallow up the overflow for all but the largest.
Then there is the Olympics. The death of the West Side stadium is pretty much a death blow to New York’s Olympic bid, especially after the problems in Greece during last years games. No one wants to award the city the Olympics and then not have a place to play.
Killing the Olympic bid is certainly good for our side of the River. With most of the games happening in New York, New Jersey would see very little revenue from tourists. But that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t also see day trippers driving in and parking in the neighborhoods or pay for parking lots. Hourly parking rates will almost certainly see a spike during those two weeks. As much as we’d like to see the Olympics in New York, we don’t really want to be here to witness it first hand.
The end of New York’s West Side Stadium is probably a good thing. But then again, nothing in this area is ever dead.
Undeniably, the east coast of New Jersey would be just as affected by the stadium and the Olympics as Manhattan, and not just because the Jets would be leaving Giants Stadium.
The Stadium for instance, would only be a 25 minute PATH ride [plus an extra few minutes for a subway depending on where you get off] away from the waterfront. Already Mets and Yankees fans park on this side of the Hudson and ride the trains into the stadiums—and those stadiums are at least twice as far. Sunday afternoons in the quiet neighborhoods of Jersey City and Hoboken would likely be filled with football fans parking on the streets and riding into the game. We think it’s great that people would take mass transit to a major sporting event, but we don’t really have parking to spare.
Large conventions held at the new expanded convention center might bring more people to hotels on our side of the river, but more likely New York’s hotel industry could easily swallow up the overflow for all but the largest.
Then there is the Olympics. The death of the West Side stadium is pretty much a death blow to New York’s Olympic bid, especially after the problems in Greece during last years games. No one wants to award the city the Olympics and then not have a place to play.
Killing the Olympic bid is certainly good for our side of the River. With most of the games happening in New York, New Jersey would see very little revenue from tourists. But that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t also see day trippers driving in and parking in the neighborhoods or pay for parking lots. Hourly parking rates will almost certainly see a spike during those two weeks. As much as we’d like to see the Olympics in New York, we don’t really want to be here to witness it first hand.
The end of New York’s West Side Stadium is probably a good thing. But then again, nothing in this area is ever dead.
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