Mayor Bloomberg stuck up for Jon Corzine yesterday after reports surfaced that aides to Gov. Pataki said the New Jersey governor was “nickel and diming” the city on the deal for the World Trade Center site.
“To blame Corzine, who didn’t even take office until three months ago, is an outrage,” said Bloomberg.
Sources told The Post over the weekend that aides to Pataki were “outraged that while New Jersey is nickel and diming New York over the most important development project in the world, at the same time they’ve managed to come up with $100 million in funding to keep New York’s teams in New Jersey.”
The state is putting up $120 million for an $800 million stadium that’s being built for both the Jets and the Giants.
Sources said the reason that a deal on how to redevelop the WTC site is being stalled is because Corzine is holding out for help on a $6 million Hudson River commuter rail tunnel.
Bloomberg called the report “unhelpful.”
“This is not helpful – all of this criticism of Corzine,” the mayor said. “He’s never once, in all of the conversations I’ve had with him, and all the conversations I’ve heard he’s had with others, he’s never mentioned anything other than what’s right for the World Trade Center site and for the memorial.
“That’s exactly what he’s supposed to do as a governor that has half of the appointees on the board of the Port Authority,” he added.
Bloomberg said that it’s hard enough to come to an agreement without bickering in the press.
“This constant criticism by a handful of people who should know better, I think, is just wrong,” he said. “You’re making George Pataki’s job so much more difficult by trying to undercut him all the time and demand a deal right away and then later on, you know the same people are going to come back and say, ‘Oh, it wasn’t a good deal.’
“It’s totally off the charts to blame him and say he should not represent New Jersey,” Bloomberg said. “They have half of the Port Authority. They have half of the responsibility. They get half of the benefits.”