metirish

Newsday is working overtime on this story. ] In Willets Point, change is coming, like it or not So many city officials across the nation have made the mistake of believing that a new sports stadium alone will revitalize a rundown area of town. It's almost as if they believe a new home for their beloved team will result in the onetime eyesores residing next door automatically getting a new coat of paint. Comerica Field in Detroit is really nice, but walk outside an hour after the game and the area is barren. PNC Park in Pittsburgh looks great, but where are all the people before and after games? They're certainly not by the stadium. We feel bad for the people who live in Willets Point and make a living working in those auto salvage shops that line the streets next to Shea Stadium. But in order to make Citi Field a success, to make it a place for families to want to come back to without second thoughts, this area needs to be cleaned up. Anyone who has taken in a Mets game at Shea Stadium has seen firsthand all those beat-up automobile salvage shops that line the parking lot. It's not too pretty of a sight today, and it wasn't too attractive 20 years ago, either. A cleanup is long overdue, and now it's going to happen. Earlier this morning at the Queens Muesum of Art, which is just down the block from Shea Stadium, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg officially announced the city's master plan to redevelop Willets Point. As Bloomberg spoke behind a podium, surrounding him were pictures and renderings of what they envision the area to look like. But in the back of the room stood a handful of men wearing t-shirts that condemned the plan. They quietly listened to Bloomberg speak, then pleaded to reporters to spread their story, ask the public to feel bad for them, get the city to get off their backs. They don't want to move, not themselves or their businesses. Newsday's Wallace Matthews wrote in today's newspaper about a man who insists he won't leave, no matter what happens. But when that story was mentioned to Bloomberg, the mayor didn't even blink before responding. "There will always be one person who objects to everything," Bloomberg said. There's actually more than one, in this case. A group of people from Willets Point is planning to meet at 3 this afternoon at the nearby Queens Public Library as a sign of protest, to see if they can figure out what they can do. It's OK to feel bad for them. The sorrow and fear was evident on their faces this morning as Bloomberg and his fellow politicians spoke so glowingly about what they have in store for the land these people currently live and work. There will be parks, apartments, business, convention centers, hotels and more. You knew what was going through these people's minds. Their businesses, and in some cases, homes, are being going to be taken away from them, and they've had no say in the matter. Life really does stink sometimes. But you know what? Sometimes change is necessary. City officials said they were talking about redoing Willets Point long before Citi Field entered the picture. But we're fooling ourselves if we think this plan would have happened without Citi Field becoming a reality. It only makes sense for the city to piggyback on the project and make the area a better place. Bloomberg and his people insisted they will see that these businesses are found places to be relocated, which is all good and well but we understand why they are skeptical. "We're very cognizant they have rights as well," he said. Where they will go, we have no clue. But, at the risk of sounding insensitive, we agree with the city that they no longer belong there. "We have to build for the people who are coming here," Bloomberg said, "and we have to clean our environment for the people who live here and for our children." Email: jim.baumbach@newsday.com

Johnny Dickshot wrote: I don't see why the MFYs couldn't win 10 in a row. Their lineup is capable of 8 runs a night. . That's true,I just don't think they have the starting pitching right now,and the pen is shot.

Thanks for the info 83,I firmly believe that Torre will be fired soon,for the next two weeks they play Texas and Seattle,if the losing keeps up against those teams he's fucked.

City outlines plan for the area. ] Mayor details Willets Point plan By Karla Schuster, Newsday Staff Writer karla.schuster@newsday.com As the Mets' new stadium rises nearby, Mayor Michael Bloomberg Tuesday unveiled a proposed master plan for Willets Point that would transform the 60-acre swath of car repair shops and junkyards near CitiField into a mixed-used development that officials envision becoming New York's version of the neighborhoods flanking Fenway Park in Boston or Camden Yards in Baltimore. The single largest feature of the plan, outlined Tuesday at a news conference at the Queens Museum in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, is 1.7 million square feet of retail and entertainment space that would be built across the street from the new CitiField ballpark. There would be few, if any, interior walkways and no big box stores -- a street-oriented design aimed at drawing fans before and after games, similar to Landsdowne Street outside Fenway Park or Baltimore's Inner Harbor neighborhood surrounding Camden Yards, according to officials from the city's Economic Development Corporation. The plan also includes 5,500 units of mixed-income housing, some townhouses and some mid-rise apartment buildings of no more than eight stories; a 700-room hotel, a convention center, 500,000-square-feet of office space, a two-acre park and a new bridge into Flushing over Flushing Creek. Designers have also included plans for so-called "green roofs" on many of the buildings to create additional recreational space. While the city has outlined its plans for redeveloping what is called the Iron Triangle before, Tuesday's announcement offers the most detailed vision for the site yet and kicks off the formal land-use review process necessary to rezone the area, acquire the property and re-locate the estimated 250 businesses there. The area has no sidewalks or sewers, and is pockmarked by potholes and deep puddles. City officials acknowledge that an expensive environmental clean-up is necessary before the site can be developed. The city expects to choose a developer by next summer. The plan, called bold and ambitious by some and criticized as needlessly uprooting viable businesses by others, must be approved by the city Planning Commission and the City Council. A public hearing on an upcoming environmental study of the site will be held Tuesday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Flushing library. Businesses and property owners from the area have decried the city's plans, which include seizing the property through eminent domain if owners are unwilling to sell. Approximately 1,300 workers would be displaced if the city's plans for redevelopment are approved. The city estimates the construction would generate 20,000 jobs, while the the project would create 6,100 permanent jobs at full build-out.

Edgy DC wrote: That's a good idea. I came up with an idea a while back that ballparks should stop playing "Rock and Roll, Part II." It amazes me that a convicted pedophiles music gets played anywhere.

Wally has written several articles championing the cause of the few left at Willet's Point. ] On the west side of 126th Street, the Mets are building themselves a new home, while three blocks away, in the rutted exhibit of planned urban neglect known as the Iron Triangle, Joe Ardizzone is just trying to save his old one. The higher the concrete towers and steel framework of Citi Field rise, the lower the hopes of Ardizzone sink. But while Bruce Ratner has been successful in displacing - or, to use the preferred term of the real estate vulture, "relocating" - thousands of city residents to make way for the future home of the Brooklyn Nets, Ardizzone says there is no way the city or the Mets or any combination of the two will evict the one and only resident of Willets Point, N.Y. "They'll have to kill me and drag me out of here first," he said. "This is my home. This is not democracy. This is not American. Why should I have to leave the place where I've lived my whole life so some billionaires can get richer?" No one has yet told Ardizzone, who is 74 and more energetic than any man his age has any right to be, that he has to leave his two-story stucco and brick house, wedged between an ironworks and an auto parts dealer on Willets Point Boulevard, today, tomorrow or ever. But then, no one has told Ardizzone or any of the 100 or so business owners in The Triangle anything. "We don't know what they're going to do," Ardizzone said, although he has a pretty good idea. "Their goal is to take all this away from us, come hell or high water." The high water already has come. In fact, it never leaves an area in which the only storm drain is used by Shea Stadium and where, although the area businesses pay as much as $75,000 a year in taxes, the city has never seen fit to install sewers or provide basic services such as snow removal or road repair. (By the way, the Mets don't pay a nickel in real estate taxes now, nor will they on their new ballpark.) But now that Citi Field is rising, it suddenly has dawned on a lot of powerful people that Willets Point, for a half-century the most neglected sliver of land in the city, soon could be a slice of real estate as valuable as Sutter's Mill, circa 1849. And whatever "they" are doing, the fear is that they are doing it in secret, the way they always do when there is a land grab of this magnitude in the works. At first, the Willets Point community thought it needed to fear only the city, which would seek to condemn the land they live and work on as an environmental hazard, seize it under eminent domain and then sell it off to a real estate developer. Now they realize their enemy is not only the city but the Mets. "Since 1994, Fred Wilpon told us, 'We've co-existed with you for 40 years and we can continue to co-exist with you,' " said Richard Musick, the spokesman for the Willets Point Business Association. "But about two years ago, he stopped returning our phone calls." Yesterday, the other shoe dropped. At a meeting with politicians at Tully Construction on Northern Boulevard, city councilman Thomas White Jr. passed along the bad news: Wilpon had changed his mind. "He said, 'The junkyards gotta go,' " White told the group. The stereotype angered Ardizzone even more than the death sentence it carried. "People from the outside, they come here and all they see is junkyards," he said. "This is a community, with hard-working people trying to make a living. These are human beings here." It is a point that seems to be lost on the politicians, who see only dollar signs, and on sports fans, who don't care whom the bulldozers flatten in the rush to build their heroes a stadium, and by a lot of sportswriters, who become willing shills for the team just thinking about what a dump the Shea Stadium pressbox is. None of them seems to realize that the only ones who will truly benefit from Citi Field are the Wilpons and the privileged few who are well-heeled or well-connected enough to score one of its 42,000 high-priced seats. The Mets did not return a phone call seeking comment yesterday. Ardizzone, who never married and has lived in the house alone for the past 40 years, considers the people of Willets Point his family. One after another, they came up to him yesterday, most uttering a single word: "Tomorrow." "Tomorrow" is today, when every man and woman working in Willets Point, along with as many family members, friends and supporters as they can rustle up, will gather at the Flushing branch of the Queens Public Library on Main Street to demonstrate against what they see as an invasion of their turf by the people who are supposed to protect it. They seem to know it is a doomed battle - David hasn't beaten Goliath since the Old Testament - but one worth fighting nonetheless. "Just because the big guy always wins," Joe Ardizzone said, "doesn't mean you have to roll over for him. What am I supposed to do, lay down and die?" Wally

Wright is starting to hear boos now,probably be squeezing the bat a little tighter up there. Lee Maz was saying last night that Wright needs to be going to the plate with the mentality that he's one of the best third basemen in the game,it's a confidence thing....

Not a bad article from Andriola on D Wright,I think most Mets know that Wright is still getting on base,it's just that he's been terrible everywhere else,hitting with RISP he has been especially brutal.

It really is kinda weird to read that he's a MFY fan,not surprising to me that he's a fan of the evil empire,all the guys from Pakistan and India I have worked with over the years are.

Beltran - 3 Reyes - 2 LoDuca - 1 Green - 1 Schoenweis - .5

Seeing Gomez would be exciting though.

Edgy DC wrote: Yeah, I think Alomar's the better callup if Lo Du goes down, and DiFelice if Castro goes down, as maybe MDF can help Pelfrey with his adjustment. Never really thought about Pelfrey,but it would not be the worst thing in the world for Mike D to be here with him. "If Billy Wagner goes down, I activate Adkins and give his role/at-bats/innings to Smith ." I've thought about this and I would have no problems in giving Joe a shot at closing games.

"If Alou goes down, I activate Ben Johnson and give his role/at-bats/innings to Chavez/Johnson. I'm thinking here that these injuries are somewhat long term. "If Castro goes down, I activate Mike DiFelice and give his role/at-bats/innings to DiFelice." Mike is having a more than decent go in NO. http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Mike%2520DiFelice&pos=C&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=113358

Has voter participation been up this early season?.

Johnny Dickshot wrote: I think somebody on UMDB points out that when Skip Lockwood came into a game Jane Jarvis played "Skip to My Lou" on the organ. It didn't make Skip any less effective. I call on closers throughout the world to turn off the shitty heavy metal and go with something unique for once. Only Piazza would see switching from Metallica to Alice in Chains as significant. I've thought about this in the past...and the song I would use The Jam's "Going Underground"...great gutair hook and great lyrics... ] Some people might get some pleasure out of hate Me, Ive enough already on my plate People might need some tension to relax [me? ] Im too busy dodging between the flak What you see is what you get Youve made your bed, you better lie in it You choose your leaders and place your trust As their lies wash you down and their promises rust Youll see kidney machines replaced by rockets and guns

I'd go with "them bones" myself...

"If Tom Glainve goes down, I activate Sosa and give his role/at-bats/innings to Sele." I'd give the start to Sele,if that goes bad then Soa is up next. The same I would apply to the other starters,although I would let Sosa go in Maine's place. "If Delgado goes down, I activate Carp and give his role/at-bats/innings to Franco" Franco couldn't start everyday so I'd give Carp the spot and also try Green at 1st with Endy playing RF. Not sure if I am doing this right?

] Boss: Losing "not acceptable" Yankees owner George Steinbrenner backed manager Joe Torre and GM Brian Cashman on Monday, challenging players and staff "to show me and the fans what they are made of" following a start he termed "clearly not acceptable." Steinbrenner previously had refused comment on his team, which went 1-5 against the Boston Red Sox the past two weekends and dropped into last place in the AL East at 9-14. "The season is still very young, but up to now the results are clearly not acceptable to me or to Yankee fans," Steinbrenner said in a statement. "However, Brian Cashman, our general manager, Joe Torre, our manager, and our players all believe that they will turn this around quickly. "I believe in them. I am here to support them in any way to help them accomplish this turnaround. It is time to put excuses and talk away. It is time to see if people are ready to step up and accept their responsibilities. It is time for all of them to show me and the fans what they are made of. "Let's get going. Let's go out and win and bring a world championship back to New York. That's what I want." I hope they get hammered in Texas.

Gwreck wrote: Adam Rubin's blog also reports that Gotay is coming up too, although it's not yet officially announced. I hope this is true,can't wait to see what he's got.

] Whether you're at work or at play, if you overuse or repetitively stress the areas around your body's joints, you may eventually develop a painful inflammation called bursitis. You have more than 150 bursae in your body. These small, fluid-filled sacs lubricate and cushion pressure points between your bones and the tendons and muscles near your joints. They help your joints move with ease. Bursitis occurs when a bursa becomes inflamed. When inflammation occurs, movement or pressure is painful. Bursitis often affects the areas around the joints in your shoulders, elbows or hips. But you can also have bursitis by your knee, heel and even in the base of your big toe. Bursitis pain usually goes away within a week or so with proper treatment, but recurrent flare-ups of bursitis are common and can be frustrating. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/bursitis/DS00032

] Associated Press NEW YORK -- Mets pitcher Orlando Hernandez was scratched from Monday night's start against Florida and placed on the disabled list with bursitis in his right shoulder. Hernandez was replaced by Chan Ho Park, who was recalled from Triple-A New Orleans. El Duque, 2-1 with a 2.53 ERA in five starts, told the Mets on Sunday in Washington that he felt pain in the shoulder and was sent to New York to see a doctor. Park was 3-1 with a 7.29 ERA in four starts with the Zephyrs, allowing 26 hits in 21 innings -- including six homers. Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press

Some reports have Girardi as the last person Steinbrenner would hire on account of his close friendship with Torre,Bowa getting mentioned because he's a Billy Martin type...

Perez - 2 Alou - 2 Reyes - 1 Wright - 1

Glavine - 3 Chavez - 1 Beltran - 1 Green - 1 Reyes - 1 Sele - 1 Easley - 1 Franco - 1

Saw this on baseball tonight,wasn't paying a lot of attention but I think they said MLB would be ruling on the game...