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| 等 级：资深长老 |
| 经 验 值：5855 |
| 魅 力 值：3513 |
| 龙 币：12359 |
| 积 分：7806.2 |
| 注册日期：2002-04-15 |
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６月１１日阅读，纽约时报
Suozzi: 'Great Idea' to Buy Nets
But says no discussions so far
By Monte R. Young
Staff Writer
June 11, 2003
Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi said Tuesday that while it's a "great idea" to try to bring the New Jersey Nets to Nassau, there have been no formal discussions about the proposal.
"I'm supportive of the idea of bringing the Nets or any professional basketball team to Long Island," Suozzi said. "Is it a great idea? Yes. But that's all it is, an idea."
Computer Associates founder Charles Wang said Monday that he is in discussions with Nets officials to bring the team to play at the Nassau County Veteran's Memorial Coliseum, where they played before moving to New Jersey in 1977.
But Suozzi said that while he met with Wang a week ago for a general discussion about transportation concerns and other plans for the Hub area around the coliseum, the administration has not been in formal talks about bringing the team here.
"It's not like we've negotiated terms on a lease or what financially the county is willing to do," Suozzi said. "We have not been involved in any negotiations. There is absolutely nothing in the works."
Suozzi added that he favored the construction of a new arena, but "we don't have any money and we don't have a concrete plan."
Suozzi said he has brought in Wang and other political, civic and environmental group leaders to talk informally about the Nassau Hub and a study to look at congested roads and the growing traffic problems in the area.
"He's a major player in the future of the Nassau Hub," Suozzi said. "Why wouldn't we talk? All we have is what we had six months ago, theoretical concepts."
Suozzi said the county received $500,000 from the federal government to study traffic patterns in the Hub area.
Suozzi said a public meeting held at Hofstra University Tuesday night was the first step in a "long process" for developing the Hub. The Hub stretches from the EAB Plaza on the southeast to Roosevelt Field on the northwest and includes the Nassau Coliseum, Mitchel Field, Hofstra University and The Source Mall.
County officials say that even before the Hub area can be turned into a state-of-the-art sports complex, they also must resolve the lease agreement with SMG, the company that manages the coliseum.
For months, Peter Sylver, deputy county executive for economic development, has been in talks with SMG, a Philadelphia-based company, trying to negotiate a new agreement.
The current lease gives SMG the right to manage the Coliseum and its surrounding property. The agreement runs until 2015 and gives the company the bulk of the revenues from concession stands and luxury boxes as well as the right to manage any development on the 70-acre parcel around the coliseum.
The Suozzi administration threatened to condemn the lease if SMG didn't agree to a new management contract that would give the county the sole rights to develop the surrounding property.
Both SMG officials and county officials said recently that talks continue, but that there has been no agreement.
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long arm of coincidence here~
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2003-06-11 11:19:56
