Mike Stalls Stadium Plan

By MICHAEL O'KEEFFE and DAVE SALTONSTALL
Daily News Staff Writers

Putting a damper on a cherished dream of Rudy Giuliani's, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday the city could not afford to build new baseball stadiums for the Mets and Yankees this year.

"I'd like to see great stadiums like anybody else," Bloomberg told reporters. "But you have to set priorities, and the priorities at the moment do not this year allow for the construction of new sports stadiums."

Bloomberg's comments - although he had never expressed much enthusiasm for the projects - marked the most explicit turnaround of a Giuliani initiative since he took office on Jan. 1.

Representatives from both teams tried to downplay any change in attitude, arguing that so much planning remained that neither stadium would likely be built for years.

They said that while they were surprised by Bloomberg's comments - made in response to a reporter's question - planning would go forward.

In one of his last acts as mayor, Giuliani signed tentative deals to build new $800 million stadiums for both the Yankees and the Mets, with the city paying half the cost.

The deals included provisions that the city pay each team $5million a year for the next five years for design and other planning costs - payments that Bloomberg indicated yesterday he would honor.

But the new mayor made it clear that the stadiums, once squarely on the front burner under Giuliani, had now fallen into the wait-and-see category, dependent mainly on the city's future economy.

As he did in his inaugural address, Bloomberg said he'd rather sink city money into affordable housing and new schools, as well as closing a $4 billion hole in the city's budget next year.

"It is just not practical this year to go and to build new stadiums," he said, adding that the new stadiums would only be built "down the road if the economy improves."

Both the Mets and Yankees expressed optimism that the stadium projects wouldn't be derailed.

"The Yankees are sensitive to Mayor Bloomberg's and the city's fiscal concerns," said Yankees President Randy Levine, a former Giuliani deputy mayor. "We look forward to working with Mayor Bloomberg in continuing the planning process for a new stadium."

Mets Vice President Dave Howard said: "As New Yorkers, we fully understand and respect Mayor Bloomberg's position on the new stadium project. We will await further direction from the mayor and will be ready to resume discussions when he deems it appropriate."

Added a high-placed Mets source, "Bloomberg's comments don't change anything. ... We'll continue with all the preliminary studies in anticipation of a project going forward down the road if the economy improves."

Giuliani could not be reached for comment, but one former administration official with knowledge of the deal said it was too early to tell what Bloomberg's long-term intentions were.

"There is still planning that needs to be done," said the former official. "Call me in a year."

The agreement negotiated by Giuliani calls for the city to issue $1.6 billion in tax-exempt construction bonds to pay for building the retractable roof stadiums. The teams and the city would split the $50 million-a-year debt service.

The plan for a 45,000-seat Mets stadium has been making its way through city environmental reviews. The stadium, which would be built adjacent to Shea Stadium with a possible completion date of 2006, is designed to evoke Ebbets Field, the one-time Brooklyn home of the Dodgers.

The Yankees plan is more complicated because the 47,000-seat field would be constructed in Macombs Dam Park, next door to the current stadium. The Legislature would have to make the parkland available for the new stadium, which could be ready by 2007.

With Luke Cyphers