re: #119 non obama mama

The primary reason NYC lost the 2012 bid was that Bloomberg’s pet project and centerpiece of the bid - the West Side Stadium - was killed a month before the IOC voted. Without the stadium, no Games. It was that simple. Throw in the fact that anti-US sentiment was rising over Iraq, and you had a double whammy on why NYC didn’t win. Mind you, the NYC bid was pretty good, and if I had my chance, I’d have tried to get a job working in some capacity for the 2012 efforts, but that didnt’ come to pass. It would have meant several thousand new housing units in Queens, a new football stadium for the Jets in Manhattan, new sports venues, etc., and improved infrastructure.

I hazard that if NYC got the 2012 bid, they might even have gotten the money to make the 2d avenue line actually functional by then (instead of maybe 2017 at the earliest for the stump line) or the extension of the 7 line to the West Side.