The battle over the new Yankee Stadium produced more drama yesterday than a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth.
Club President Randy Levine, speaking at a state Assembly hearing in Manhattan, called the project’s main critic “disgraceful.”
And the city’s economic-development chief, Seth Pinsky, accused the critic, Westchester Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, of “deliberately misrepresenting the facts.”
Brodsky, in turn, lashed out at Levine and Pinsky, challenging both to a “civil, in-your-face fistfight” over public financing of the stadium.
The angry club president replied, “In these tough times, you should be encouraging us to create jobs, instead of engaging in political grandstanding that discourages it. Your behavior in trying to hurt the people of this city is disgraceful.”
The Yankees are seeking another $259 million in tax-exempt bonds and $111 million in taxable bonds to build the new ballpark.
They’ve already gotten $904 million in tax-exempt bonds and $25 million in taxable bonds.
Brodsky argued during the heated, five-hour hearing in that the team and city are costing taxpayers nearly $4 billion through the sale of the tax-exempt bonds, other tax abatements and cost overruns.
“I think a rich corporation like the Yankees has no God-given right to be free of [tax payments],” he said.
“This is taxpayer money going to pay for the Yankees.”
Brodsky called the hearing to criticize the project before a vote tomorrow by the Industrial Development Authority on the team’s plea for the additional tax-exempt bonds.
“It is quite remarkable to me that a state representative from wealthy Westchester County is actively trying to insert himself into The Bronx to destroy jobs and stop the revitalization of the poorest congressional district in the nation,” Levine fumed.
Levine and Pinsky insisted the team has been upfront and honest in its dealings and accused Brodsky of using inaccurate figures to justify his position.
Pinsky also defended the project as a $1 billion-plus investment that will bring jobs to a poor area.
Levine told Brodsky, “Your only goal here is to insert yourself into a legitimate government procedure that you want to delay in order to afford yourself more airtime.”
Brodsky brushed off the criticism.
“I was surprised by the name calling. I don’t know that we’re ever advanced as a society by that and I’ve wrestled with 800-pound gorillas,” he said.
“Four-hundred-pound gorillas don’t scare me.”
Mayor Bloomberg also defended the deal.
“We’ve negotiated as hard as we could to get the best deals for the city,” he said.
“The only city monies we put in are the normal infrastructure things which we would do for any building or facility built in the city.
“I think it’s unfortunate that people for a variety of reasons confuse whether it’s deliberate or they just don’t understand.”