RSS Feed for this Blog

Friday, March 19, 2010

No Quick Fix

Community leaders are calling for a quick pick from the losing Aqueduct bidders.

“Given that no new bidders have entered into the Aqueduct selection process for over a year and that the state has all the financial and background information on the remaining bidders, it is conceivable that a quick, efficient and valid selection of an Aqueduct operator can be made,” said state Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr. (D-Howard Beach). [Queens Chronicle]
The Senate Democratic leader Senator John Sampson is also reportedly in favor of a quick resolution, ostensibly because, he says, the state needs the money, but probably mostly to get it all over with before the Inspector General's report comes out and exposes the fact that it was he and his cronies who stubbornly held out for AEG, wearing down the governor until he went along.

But Paterson, whose statements and explanations are becoming increasingly bizarre and of questionable veracity, said the other day that he is hopeful that they'll come up with a procedure in a month!! And Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver apparently will not press the issue as long as the investigation is going on.

So this thing is obviously going to go on for awhile. Longer. At some point, NYRA will run out of money, and the state will, despite an unimaginable budget deficit that's almost five times the one that Albany couldn't quite deal with late last year, will figure out a way to step in and keep racing going. I suspect that I'm in the stark minority of those who still believe the latter. We'll see.

Interesting to note that the governor wants to scrap Sheldon Silver's condition that every single investor, down to the last speck and drop, be eligible for licensing by the state.
"We're going to have to have something in there that goes to the spirit of what the speaker wants, but it's got to be one that's actually practical and feasible," the aides said. [Daily News]
Of course it was exactly that which ultimately led to the DQ of AEG. You can bet that they're just going to love that.

8 Comments:

ballyfager said...

OTOH, there's a $750,000 allowance race in Fla. tomorrow. Looks wide open to me. Rule will be overbet, although the fact that the track is an out and out speedway may save him.

alan said...

Well put, $750K allowance race indeed, and Rule won't be the only one overbet. Lentenor and Radiohead too. Looking forward to taking a look at the race later on.

Anonymous said...

Aqueduct Workers Urge State To Move Quickly On New VLT Deal

watch the video

http://www.ny1.com/8-queens-news-content/top_stories/115467/aqueduct-workers-urge-state-to-move-quickly-on-new-vlt-deal

ljk said...

What in the world is Lentenor doing in the FL Derby? Matz is usually so conservative. I guess it's a sign of just how light the race came up. Nice though that he will take some money.

I watched Miner's Reserve's replay. You can't tell from his PP line but I think he rated pretty nicely and pulled away from 6-5 Bushwacked in the stretch. Mineshaft on top and Forty Niner on the bottom. Hmmm.

Anonymous said...

Miners Reserve will be on my ticket, may follow rule all the way around the track.

So much for Zito's comments that would place him conservatively, then again this is pretty much an alw.

ballyfager said...

Ljk,

Do you happen to know what was the 6f split in that race? Doesn't show in the DRF.

alan said...

>>Doesn't show in the DRF.

Hmmm, doesn't seem to be any splits for that race, even in Formulator.

Anonymous said...

Gulfstream timer error....there never were any fractions.

They don't sweat the important stuff at Gulfstream.