NY Olympic bid hits funding snag

New York's stadium proposals have been bedevilled by problems

New York's bid for the 2012 Olympics has been dealt a blow by a decision to deny public funding for a $2bn stadium.

The stadium in Manhattan would be the main venue for the Games as well as the new home of the NFL's New York Jets.

But the three-man New York State Public Authorities Control Board has vetoed $300m in public funding - just a month before the host for 2012 is announced.

New York's mayor Michael Bloomberg said: "If we don't have a stadium, we cannot get the Olympics."

The PACB vote came after NY State assembly speaker Sheldon Silver came out against the plan.

The board - whose vote must be unanimous - could reconsider the issue again later.

But without Silver's support, state funding cannot move forward.

"This plan is at best, premature," Silver said, indicating he was willing to continue talking about the issue.

Bloomberg has lobbied Silver but admitted: "I have not been able to persuade him."

Silver said the West Side stadium project and its related commercial development would hamper efforts to redevelop lower Manhattan, which he represents, in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

"Am I to sell out the community I have fought for?" Silver said at a State Capitol news conference.

The speaker renewed his call for bid officials to consider putting the stadium in the city's eastern borough of Queens.

Silver, State Governor George Pataki and State Senate majority leader Joseph Bruno each have a voting representative the PACB.

Only Pataki's representative voted for the funding - the other two abstained.