Thursday, April 27, 2006

The New York City Council approved the sale of bonds worth $1.56 billion to finance the two most expensive baseball stadiums in U.S. history -- one each for the Yankees and Mets -- after each team agreed to neighborhood improvement programs.

The vote, conditioned upon the Internal Revenue Service's acceptance of the city's plan to use tax-exempt bonds to provide low-cost financing for each team, clears the way for ballparks that city officials say will anchor economic development in the Bronx, where the Yankees will play, and in Queens, home to the Mets. The council voted 46 to 3 for the Yankees' plan and 48 to 1 for the Mets' new ballpark, with one abstention on each roll call.

The financing approval came on the same day that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority executive board voted unanimously to create a new $45 million train station at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx on its Metro-North commuter railroad, which would link the South Bronx neighborhood to Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan and to northern suburbs.

The stadiums are scheduled to be completed in 2009. The overall cost, including infrastructure improvements and the train station, will exceed $2 billion.

· AND IN MINNESOTA: The Minnesota House gave the Twins' stadium hopes a big lift, voting 76 to 55 in favor of an open-air ballpark that would be paid for mostly by taxpayers.

The focus now shifts to the state Senate, where the proposed increase in the county's sales tax could run into some early trouble. The Senate Taxes Committee, headed by a lawmaker opposed to the plan, will begin its deliberations today.

The downtown Minneapolis stadium project would cost $522 million -- three-fourths of that sum coming from a higher Hennepin County sales tax.

· MINORS MELTDOWN: Durham Bulls OF Delmon Young threw a bat into the chest of the home plate umpire after being called out on strikes in the first inning of last night's game at Pawtucket.

Young argued with the umpire after taking a third strike on a 1-and-2 pitch. The umpire ejected Young, who then threw his bat and hit the umpire in the chest.

Young, 20, is the younger brother of Tigers OF Dmitri Young . He was voted the Tampa Bay Devil Rays' minor league player of the year last season and the 2005 minor league player of the year by Baseball America.

-- From News Services