NY Yankee Ripoff with their Parking Lots

Here is another NY Yankee ripoff, info from Bronx Borough President's office.  I think the Yankees may be a bigger ripoff than the NY Mets, with their Wilpon, Bernie Madoff scam.

Less than a week before Opening Day, angry bondholders have forced the nearly bankrupt operator of the Yankee Stadium garages to give up some control - and maybe even level some garages.



Parking revenues are so dismal for Bronx Parking Development Company the firm has had to dip into its debt reserves for the second time in a year just to pay the interest on the $237 million it owes in tax-exempt bonds.



On top of that, the firm - a nonprofit the Bloomberg administration selected and the state subsidized to operate the stadium garages - owes the city $17 million in back rent and taxes for the 21 acres of public land it uses.



Ever since it opened under BPDC management two years ago, the 9,000-space parking system has operated at barely 60% capacity, even on game days. Meanwhile, its operating expenses have run twice what was expected.



"The public will never see a dime of rent and taxes from this project as it now exists," said one official close to the garage company.



Company directors agreed in a meeting Monday night to a set of demands from the bondholders in exchange for a one-year "waiver" from a complete default and takeover, a board source said.



They agreed to give the bondholders a seat on the board, to pay the fees of bondholder lawyers and to fire the company's existing parking consultant, Desman Associates.



The board also agreed to furnish weekly financial reports and to refrain from spending any additional money unless approved by the bondholders' designee.



City representatives on the board from the Parks Department and from the Economic Development Corporation voted for the changes.



"The agreement will give BPDC and the bondholders time to evaluate potential remedies to the current shortfall," EDC director Seth Pinsky said.



"Over the next year we will be in discussions with all parties involved to evaluate potential alternatives, and should those parties agree, all options will be considered."



One option that Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. has been advocating is to tear down one of the big garages at 153rd St. and build a new hotel.



"That would at least bring in real jobs and development to the Bronx, not just a bunch of garages that sit empty most of the year," an official close to Diaz said.



Bronx Parking has raised the price for stadium parking this year - to $48 for valet parking and $35 for self-parking. The Yankees open the season at The Stadium Thursday against Detroit.



That will obviously lead more Yankees fans to abandon its lots - especially since Gateway Mall Shopping Center a few blocks from the stadium will be charging $23 on game days for parking.



No one should forget that this boondoggle came about because the Yankees - who have no involvement in the garages - put a gun to the city's head. They demanded a 9,000-space parking system from the city and the state as part of agreeing to build a new stadium.



Now, those garages have become a financial swamp for taxpayers.



And right next door, Yankee Stadium raked in $396 million in its first year of operation in 2009 - just from the sale of tickets and luxury suites.



That's more than double the old stadium's revenues in 2007. And it's $140 million more than the Yankees projected.



Yankees Win! City Loses! Again.