The Jets’ plan to build a West Side stadium confronted its first public pass rush yesterday as members of a key City Council committee questioned whether $600 million in public funds should be spent on the project.
“There’s a lot of priorities that the city has, and what we have to do is make sure that before we put public dollars into a facility of this sort that we’re sure that first we’re getting a decent return,” said Council Speaker Gifford Miller.
“I’m not opposed to the existence of a stadium there per se. My concern is about the use of taxpayer dollars to subsidize this process.”
The stadium plan dominated public business at City Hall yesterday, where opponents of the $1.4 billion project held a press conference that was followed by a rally by labor unions backing the project.
The Jets have committed $800 million toward the project, with the balance split by the city and state.
Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff and Empire State Development Corp. president Charles Gargano repeatedly assured council members the combined city and state investment in the stadium would be recouped in new tax revenues.