To the Editor,
The following is an open letter run at the author’s request.
The 161st Street Business Improvement District needs help. It is asking Mayor Adams to convene a “Soccer Stadium Summit” to end the deadlock that has prevented a stadium from being built in the South Bronx.
The BID’s ask will take the form of an open letter to Mayor Adams in the Bronx Times.
“We have been promised a stadium for eight years. We’ve held town hall meetings, conducted surveys and urged the local pro team to meet with us and develop a plan. But our efforts to work with NYCFC towards a stadium have been ignored. So, we are calling on His Honor to convene a summit where the city, the team and the community can develop a plan that would benefit everyone,” said Dr. Cary Goodman, the BID’s executive director.
Goodman noted that soccer is the No. 1 sport globally, and that New York City, a global capital, does not have a stadium dedicated to the sport.
“We have tennis stadia, basketball and hockey arenas as well as Citifield and Yankee Stadium,” said Goodman. “We need a soccer stadium that would appeal to the international community that is New York City.”
The BID’s three surveys over eight years show significant local support for a stadium that pays taxes, includes a female team, has a dome and which is partially owned by the people who live in, work in, own businesses in, own property in and serve the neighborhood.
Dr. Cary Goodman
