Staten Island Track?

kat2220

kat2220

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STATEN IS. GEARS UP
By RICH CALDER

April 27, 2006 -- Staten Islanders are revving up their engines in anticipation of what is expected to be a contentious first public hearing tonight on a plan to build a NASCAR racetrack near the Goethals Bridge. International Speedway Corporation - which plans to build an 82,500-seat raceway and 620,000-square-foot retail center along a 675-acre site in the Bloomfield section - hopes to make NASCAR stars like Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon as popular in the Big Apple as Pedro Martinez and Derek Jeter. ISC purchased the contaminated, undeveloped industrial site near the West Shore Expressway for $110 million in December 2004. The Daytona Beach, Fla.-based company, which owns and operates 12 racetracks nationwide, will have its application debated by interested parties during the first of at least two public hearings overseen by the city's Planning Department.

Tonight's meeting - scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Petrides Educational Complex - is expected to be one of the most contentious gatherings on Staten Island in years, since residents are passionately split over the estimated $600 million plan, local officials say. Project manager Michael Printup said it makes all the sense in the world to bring stock-car racing to New York, considering NASCAR is the No. 1 spectator sport in the country, and the Big Apple is one of the sport's top television markets.

"Our goal is to put NASCAR on the front page of every New York City newspaper," Printup said. "New York is the place to be; everyone knows that." He said the track would bring in big tourism bucks for the borough, noting that a majority of race fans are expected to flock to Staten Island from out of state. If approved, the track would immediately become the city's largest sports facility. It would host stock-car races only three weekends a year but could be used for other events at the city's discretion. International Speedway is hoping to open the track by 2010.

To help alleviate traffic concerns, ISC is creating only 8,400 parking spots for the track and is offering private ferry and bus service to the site but City Council Minority Leader James Oddo (R-S.I.) said 8,400 more cars coming into a borough that lacks adequate transportation infrastructure is too much to bear.

"As far as I'm concerned, this plan is dead on arrival unless ISC is willing to revise its traffic plan. Staten Island is a whole different animal than what they are used to," said Oddo.

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Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww, just one comment.
Putting a track on Staten Island would be akin to putting a track at Hollywood and Vine in Los Angeles. Who; in their right mind would want to buck the traffic???????? How are they gonna finagle them big rigs around NYC traffic????? Oh......I know; some will say, they'll handle it. Prolly so. But it ain't gonna be a piece of cake!!!!!!!
 
Sounds like a nightmare to me, best bet would to locate it outside of the city. What size are they talking about, i once heard it was supposed to be a short track?
 
yea, i heard something like another richmond or maybe a tick shorter.

I say put it just outside the city but still on a major expressway.

oh and notice the land is contaminated. Just what we need at a public facility.
 
Better a track thats going to be used only a few times a year than some developer putting up condos. Land don't stay empty for long.
 
If that land IS contaminated, they can't build living quarters on it.
The EPA won't allow it. Could you just see all the lawsuits from people getting sick????? We've had that here in Cali.
 
April 28, 2006 -- The first public meeting on the plan to bring a NASCAR track to Staten Island crashed and burned last night after the discussion turned into a raucous shouting match. The city's Planning Department put the brakes on the meeting early based on advice from police after overheated advocates on both sides of the issue screamed obscenities, threats and insults.

Councilman Andrew Lanza (R-S.I.) had a microphone snatched from his hands by three speedway supporters who rushed the podium.

"This was no democracy tonight," said Lanza. "This was a mob. This is not what we had hoped for. We had hoped that people would come out and discuss the issues. NASCAR created this environment tonight. If this is their strategy, they should go home."

The 6:30 p.m. debate was supposed to last at least a few hours, but cops shut it down at 7:15. About 1,000 people - split about equally between supporters and opponents - packed the auditorium of the Petrides educational complex. Supporters wore hats and T-shirts reading, "I support the speedway" and "Back the track."

They argued that the plan will bring much needed commerce and tourism to the city's oft-forgotten borough. Many of the pro-racetrack crowd were union members looking forward to the jobs the project would create. Opponents wore stickers on their sleeves saying "Stop the track." One of their major concerns is that Staten Island traffic, already a nightmare, will only get worse if the raceway and associated shopping complex is built.

Daytona, Fla.-based International Speedway Corp. wants to build an 82,500-seat raceway and a 620,000-square-foot retail center along a 675-acre site in Bloomfield, near the Goethals Bridge. ISC hopes to have approval for the Staten Island project by 2007 and the track running by 2010. The firm's project manager, Michael Printup, said no effort was made to intimidate the opposition but acknowledged some union people were "very vocal."

"There were a lot of supporters out here tonight and there were a lot of opponents," he said.

He was hopeful city officials would "keep an open mind about the project after the parties cool off."

No plans have been made to reschedule the meeting. Lanza had initially received applause when he called NASCAR "a world-class venue," but that quickly turned to boos when he mentioned the traffic problem.

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Rowdy mob shuts down NASCAR meeting
7:19 p.m. -- Tonight's public hearing for the proposed NASCAR track at the Petrides Educational Complex in Sunnyside has been abruptly canceled after 700 disorderly people mobbed the entrance to the school. An Advance reporter at the scene also observed South Shore City Councilman Andrew Lanza apparently being placed in a headlock by a disgruntled attendee.

Pandemonium closes NASCAR meeting
10 p.m. -- Hundreds of people interested in learning more about the proposed 80,000-seat NASCAR track attended a public hearing tonight in the Petrides Educational Complex, Sunnyside. However, after representatives from racetrack developer International Speedway Corp. spoke, the crowd inside the school’s auditorium turned unruly and began heckling elected officials once they took to the microphone. One man even tried to wrestle the microphone out of City Counilman Andrew Lanza’s hands by placing the official in a partial headlock. Outside, throngs of people who couldn’t get in chanted, held up placards and engaged in often boisterous debate with one another. Borough President James P. Molinaro blamed the “ruckus” on the Department of City Planning, saying the agency should have asked for a larger police presence instead of the “Keystone Cops” and that elected officials shouldn’t have been on the floor with the audience. By 7:20 p.m., the cops had officially shut down the meeting.
 
They could put a track on the south pole for all I care. As long as it's not the typical mile and a half copy cat track.
A Richmond-like track would be just fine.
 
New Yorkers complaining about traffic...wonders never cease.
 
Not sure if this is true or not , but i heard that the track was supposed to modeled after Thompson Speedway in Thompson, CT. It is a 5/8 mile 26 degree banked short track. If this is indeed the plan i think it would be great, we need a track like that on the circuit.
 
New York Set To Run NASCAR Out Of Town?
Councilman Michael McMahon announced yesterday that he would vote against the NASCAR track proposed for Staten Island, making opposition unanimous among the borough's three City Council members. This just days after foes of the NASCAR track demanded that McMahon publicly state his position on the racetrack, to which he countered that all the facts were not yet in to make a decision.

In a statement released last night, McMahon, worried about traffic jams on race weekends, blasted developer International Speedway Corp.'s proposal for an 80,000-seat track on the Island's West Shore. He also said that Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Melinda Katz, chairwoman of the Council's Land Use Committee, have joined the Island delegation in asking the Bloomberg administration to examine other zoning alternatives for the site and possibly buy the property through eminent domain.

Said McMahon (D-North Shore): "It was always clear to me that the issue of traffic that paralyzes our roadways had to be addressed by ISC. That was never accomplished. Moreover, the presence of NASCAR would only worsen our dire traffic conditions."

But yesterday in the Advance, McMahon scoffed at charges by NASCAR opponents that he was being irresponsible in not taking a position. "I look at the track proposal with a great deal of skepticism," McMahon said. "I think it's my role as a public official to allow the process to be completed."

Councilman James Oddo (R-Mid-Island/Brooklyn) said last night the track proposal doesn't stand a chance now that he, McMahon and Councilman Andrew Lanza (R-South Shore) are all opposed. "Game. Set. Match. Lanza, Oddo and now McMahon," said Oddo, whose Mid-Island district would house the track. "It's over. Now that there's a completely united front, it's over."

McMahon said yesterday in the Advance that he had planned to hold off final judgment until after the environmental review process was competed. "I don't think Staten Islanders have all the facts to make a final decision," he said. He insisted that the track developers had to "make a best and final offer" before he took a stand on the project.

Although ISC has proposed a fleet of buses and ferries to transport most race fans during its three race weekends a year, the developer plans to include 8,400 parking spots, to close two consecutive entrance ramps to the Staten Island Expressway and to send hundreds of buses down residential streets.

Last night, McMahon told the Advance, "If I were ISC, I would approach the city and try to sell the land. Get some good will out of it, and move on to the next race." But an ISC official countered that McMahon's announcement does not kill the project.

"These preemptive decisions are disappointing. Nonetheless ... we don't have any decision to just throw up our arms and go, 'Oh, well,'" said Michael Printup, ISC project manager for the Island raceway. "At this point, I think it's too early in the process to say, 'OK, well [he] doesn't like this program. We have to go do something else.'"

Former Borough President Guy Molinari, one of ISC's lobbyists, contended that McMahon and his colleagues have taken premature positions on the track, since ISC has yet to present a final plan to the city. As recently as last weekend, McMahon would not commit to a pro or con position.

"Of course, I'm concerned," Molinari said. "I would like all three of them to have picked this project up. If this is rejected, it's going to be a terrible, terrible blow to Staten Island, its economy. This sport is sweeping the nation. It's not a good message for anyone else that might want to come to Staten Island and invest all kinds of money."

He and Printup insisted the track still could get approval, since each of the Council's 51 members has an equal vote. (MORE)....(Staten Island Advance)
 
I think it's cooked.
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Yeppers, Kat and Eagle.........think you got it 100% right!!!!! :)
 
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