By Alex Ginsberg
Leaders of NYC 2012 took the next major step in bringing the 2012 Summer Olympics to New York City, opening the organization’s new offices on Monday at One Liberty Plaza in Manhattan.
But amid the festivities — attended by about 350 business leaders, public officials and athletes — the group’s founder, Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff, said the construction of an Olympic stadium in Willets Point was not even under consideration. He was certain, he said, that his first-choice site on Manhattan’s West Side would be approved.
According to the plan put together by NYC 2012, sporting events would take place in each of the five boroughs, plus New Jersey and Long Island. Queens would host more than any other borough except Manhattan, with badminton and track cycling slated for Long Island City, swimming and diving planned for Astoria and tennis and rowing events scheduled for the USTA National Tennis Center and Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
But major track and field events would be held at a new Olympic stadium on Manhattan’s West Side, a plan that has raised the ire of some residents there.
“I think it is going to happen,” Doctoroff said, but declined to characterize that likelihood with a percentage. He said NYC 2012 was in continual dialogue with community groups on the West Side and progress was being made.
The objections of West Side residents had raised the possibility of redeveloping the junkyards of Willets Point as an alternate site.
But when asked if a Queens option was even being considered, Doctoroff answered only, “No.”
The plan devised by NYC 2012 also calls for the merging of two lakes in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, a concept some activists have labeled as environmentally unsound.
Tom Auth, a 34-year-old Olympian who regularly rows on those lakes with area high school students, dismissed those claims. He said the lakes were designed to catch runoff from the highways and as a result were dirty in their present form. Proposed changes, he said, would render them better able to support fish and plants.
Queens Borough President Helen Marshall did not attend the opening of NYC 2012’s offices, although Doctoroff said an invitation had been sent to her office and that she was “totally supportive” of the organization’s efforts.
Dan Andrews, a spokesman for the borough president, said she was unable to attend because of a heavy schedule Monday.
According to Andrews, Marshall supports the effort to bring the games to New York provided the ecosystem in Flushing Meadows Corona Park is not harmed and the proposed Olympic Village in Hunter’s Point can be easily converted into neighborhood housing.
The NYC 2012 plan envisions the Hunter’s Point residential complex at the center of the “Olympic X” — a cross formed by a north-south ferry line and an east-west rail line that would whisk athletes to the competition sites without putting stress on the city’s streets, subways and buses.
Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields also strongly supported the effort to bring the games to New York, and not only because her borough stands to host the lion’s share of the events.
“It will mean something for every neighborhood throughout this city,” she told the guests at One Liberty Plaza.
The opening of the new office — with space donated by Goldman Sachs and equipment provided gratis by Xerox, Gateway and Cisco Systems — was a testament to the support NYC 2012 has received from New Yorkers, Doctoroff said.
“In a city in which if you gather four people on a street corner you’re likely to get about six opinions on any subject, [it is amazing] how universal the approval and enthusiasm for this notion of bringing the Olympics to New York is.”
Athletes are behind the effort as well. Auth said competing in the city where he attended college and now lives would be a dream come true.
“It would be an unbelievable experience to have the hometown crowd at a rowing event, 80,000 strong,” said Auth, who will be 41 if and when the games come to New York. “It would be an incredible thing to see.”
The International Olympic Committee will make its final decision in July 2005. New York, which is the only remaining United States candidate city, is competing against several other cities, including London, Paris and Madrid.
Reach reporter Alex Ginsberg by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 157.
