Posted on 01/02/2005 1:38:00 AM PST by nickcarraway
NASCAR promoters hoping to build a huge racetrack on Staten Island say they can manage traffic, but critics wonder if they're just going around in circles.
The 80,000-seat, $550 million stadium would be built in the northwest corner of the borough, between two chronically choked highways and near the notoriously slow two-lane Goethals Bridge.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Now if we could only get the City to issue hunting licenses for central Park, they'd pass out.
If you want to mess with them, tell them president Bush signed an executive order that only country music and blue grass can be performed at Lincoln center and Carnegie Hall. Or that Gracie Mansion is going to fly a Confederate flag.
ping
wait a sec... will this be taxpayer funded? cuz if the NY'ers don't buy tickets, that could bankrupt NASCAR
I thought Staten Island was in NJ.
They do perform blue grass at carnegie hall. it is one of the few venues of note that can be rented out by anyone with the cash.
You would think so, but no, Staten Island is one of the five Boroughs of New York City (Richmond County).
But not exclusively.
Personally, I am not a fan, but I will say, they annoy the right people.
Build the track on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
They have their own program -- recitals, etc. -- but they also attract the oddest events. If you recall, that's where Andy Kaufman did his famous show where he loaded everyone into school buses. It's also where George Plimpton did his now infamous stand-up set.
For promoters willing to risk it, the pay can be huge.
Don't forget staged productions of Hee Haw on Broadway!
We already have Mississippi Day in Central Park, where natives of the State gather to cook catfish and eat cornbread.
What are natives of the state of Mississippi doing in NYC?
I was actually invited one year. It started small, about fifty alums from Ole Miss and then grew to several thousand. It's a strange mix of people, cab drivers, television producers, documentary film makers, janitors, Wall Street types, musicians, city employees, teachers, subway conductors and like that...One guy I talked to actually had relatives back home fedex catfish in, because he claimed the cat fish from his hometown tasted better than what he could find in NYC.
p.s.
Where do you think Bob Pittman, the guy who created MTV, came from? So, we know what he was doing in NYC.
You gotta remember that catfish are bottom feeders, and it's hard telling what they are eating in NYC.
Speaking of bottom feeders, it just dawned on me. I'll bet Hillary is behind this move, especially since she is trying to re-invent herself as a evangelical, values-oriented, near redneck. Why, it'll be in her backyard!
Actually, you have to build the track first (or at least, show intent that a track will be built), then hope and pray that NASCAR will actually use the facilities. If you can commit NASCAR to run a race there, you've got a huge money maker.
If things don't work out, NASCAR will simply skip the track, but they won't be out any money.
Mark
I actually got something of a dissertation on catfish from this guy. Apparently most catfish sold in NYC are "farm raised." For cat fish lovers, this isn't good, because the flavor comes from the food they eat and the food is regional. So, catfish raised on commercial feed don't taste as good as catfish caught on a trapline in the wild.
Frankly, I tasted both kinds prepared pretty much the same way, but couldn't tell the difference. But then again, I'm not anything approaching a gourmet.
Many of the old Marlboro commericals which appeared to be in Bush country were actually made in Clove Lakes park on Staten Island.
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