Yankees have bona fide boondoggle with parking price increase

Think parking is too expensive now at Yankee Stadium? You ain't seen nothing yet. The parking garages closest to the ballpark are planning on raising their rates next season from $23 to $35! This is to close a budget shortfall due in part to...wait for it...not enough fans using the parking garages. Yes, because the easiest way to get more people to use the parking is to jack up the prices!

New York Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez has the scoop:

Even at those rates, the garages will still fall into a technical default unless two-thirds of bondholders agree to waive some requirements in the original construction bonds.


Bronx Parking barely managed to make a $6.8 million bond payment that was due Oct. 1 and will likely not have enough cash to make its next $6.8 million due in April. Without the waiver, the company warned, it will be forced to charge a minimum of $55 per car next year to avoid a default.

I haven't driven to a game at the Stadium in years, because it makes no economic sense for me personally. I can take the Staten Island Ferry into Manhattan and pay $4.50 round trip on the subway, or I can drive in, battle tons of traffic, and spend money on gas, bridge tolls, and parking, with current expenses coming in at around $35 or so. Not exactly a tough decision. Now, if I lived much further away, with no public transportation options, I would have to drive. But for fans who live closer, using public transportation makes the most economic sense.

Apparently, building these parking garages cost hundreds of millions of dollars:

The firm, which is independent of the Yankees, is a three-year-old subsidiary of a little-known Hudson County nonprofit, Community Initiatives Development Corp.


The city Economic Development Corp. selected Bronx Parking to build and run the parking system. In addition to getting the right to raise $237 million with tax-free bonds, the firm received $100 million from the city and state for the project. This generosity despite the fact that its parent firm had defaulted on two previous tax-exempt industrial development bonds in upstate New York.

Given how much parking costs at Yankee Stadium, most fans are either 1) taking public transportation to and from the game, or 2) parking at lots further away from the Stadium that cost significantly less money, like at the Gateway Shopping Center.The article says that the Stadium lots are operating at around 60% capacity. Not exactly a shock.

And raising the rates will only discourage people from using the garages. I mean, really, how does this make any logical sense? What's next -- forcing people to drive and park instead of taking public transportation?

I also want to know why it costs so much money to build these parking garages. Is that typical?

I don't know the answer to that. But I do know what the Texas Rangers charge to park in their lots -- $10. And this in an area where most people drive to the games. And get this -- unlike Yankee Stadium, where the parking garages charged $40 for playoff games, the Rangers even charged the same rate for the ALCS as they did in the regular season! Imagine that!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Should Ian O'Connor disclose in his columns that he's writing a book on Derek Jeter?

I wrote something for The Faster Times about how ESPN NY columnist Ian O'Connor is writing a book that promises "unique access" to Derek Jeter and his camp. Nothing wrong with that. But my issue is that O'Connor has also written several recent columns defending Jeter, without disclosing in those articles that he's writing a book about him.

One of O'Connor's columns suggested that Jeter needed a pay raise in his new contract, bumping him up to $23 million (!) a year for four years. Another tied Joe Girardi's fortunes with the team to Jeter, saying that if Girardi didn't shape up, "he is not going to be the manager of the New York Yankees long enough to do to a declining Derek Jeter what Casey Stengel did to a declining Joe DiMaggio." It's a very harsh take on Girardi, even for the New York media. What does Jeter think on this? Did he have something to do with the article?

That same article also claimed that the Yankee players basically quit on Girardi in the ALCS, an extremely damning allegation that I haven't read anywhere else. In that article, O'Connor talks about the players' perspective on Girardi, which makes one wonder if he heard those opinions from his book subject.

I'm not arguing that O'Connor shouldn't write about Jeter. He's a New York sportswriter, and not writing about Jeter would be like a Miami writer not being able to talk about LeBron James. But when O'Connor does, he really should put a disclosure in every column, explaining the book deal. Read my Faster Times article to see what else I had to say on this issue.


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Jon celebrates the Yankees and Phillies losses, and I agree with Wally Matthews on something

Squawker Jon must be exhausted from doing the Snoopy Dance this weekend. First, he got to see the Yankees get humiliated by the Rangers. Then, the Giants beat the Phillies, thanks in no small part to Bruce Bochy's great work. He was a manager who was unafraid to pull out all the stops, taking out his starter in the second, and using his best bullpen arms, including Tim Lincecum, in the game.

To top it all off, Ryan Howard pulled a Carlos Beltran, leaving his bat on his shoulder with the bases loaded, striking out to end the game, and the series. (Yeah, yeah, I know the same thing happened with A-Rod Friday, but he had nobody on base, and a 6-1 deficit to overcome -- what was he going to do, hit a six run homer)?

At any rate, two of the Mets biggest rivals ended their season this year, while the Braves' season ended in the NLDS. Jon as I were arguing on the phone last night over what team was the Mets' biggest rival these days -- the Yankees or the Phillies? He said Yankees, I said Phillies, telling him that right now, the rivalry between the Yankees and Mets is like the rivalry between the hammer and the nail. For some strange reason, Jon hung up on me over that. Touchy!

As for myself, a strange thing happened yesterday. I was reading Wally Matthews' analysis of Joe Girardi's bullpen mistakes in the Yankees' loss, and instead of muttering and cursing to myself, as I often do when reading his work, I found myself agreeing with nearly much everything he wrote. I hate it when that happens!

It gets better -- or worse, depending on how you look at it. I wrote words to that effect to him, and he wrote me a funny, self-deprecating response. Matthews came across as a likeable guy. I hate it when that happens, too!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Did Squawker Jon and I jinx A-Rod and the Yankees?

Road trip! Squawker Jon and I are in Baltimore right now. We saw the Yankees lose for the first time in eons to the Orioles last night, and we'll be in the house at Camden Yards tonight to see the Mets go up against Baltimore.

Oriole Park at Camden Yards should really be called "Yankee Park at Camden Yards" when the Bombers are in town. I've never seen a game where the home crowd is in the minority. I knew a lot of Yankees fans came down for the games, but it really is Yankee Stadium South here. And what I didn't know is how the vendors outside cater to the Yankee fans, with tons of Yankee hats, t-shirts, and other memorabilia items outside the park. Even in the ballpark you can buy a Yankee hat and a Derek Jeter t-shirt. (You can't buy any Nationals gear, though. Forget getting a Stephen Strasburg shirt)

We're staying at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront (got a sweet deal on Priceline!) and many of our fellow hotel guests are rocking the Yankee gear.

Squawker Jon was obviously more excited than I was that Baltimore rookie Jake Arrieta was making his major league debut, and the pitcher's victory put a smile on Jon's face.

We both really enjoyed the look and feel of the ballpark. But the game - not so much for me, especially with A-Rod being taken out before his first at-bat due to what we later learned was a groin injury.When you see Rodriguez being pinch-hit for by Ramiro Pena, it's not good. (I see that Wally Matthews is having a field day with the whole thing, with this practically gleeful column on it. Good grief.)

Only downfall on the trip so far was me hitting into the pothole from hell on I-95 - it was like a crater from the moon or something, right in the middle of the highway. Did my best to avoid it, but still destroyed a tire - and a rim! So, after we got a spare tire "donut" put on the car, we had to spend a bunch of time trying to find a replacement tire and rim. Fortunately, everything is all fixed now.

More details later about our trip - I want to go swim in the hotel pool before we go sightseeing today! But in the meantime, please enter our contests to win Subway Series tickets courtesy of Blimpie and a Strat-O-Matic game!

Columnist blames lack of amphetamines for lack of power in baseball

New York Daily News columnist Bill Madden has a theory for why there has been great pitching - and some lackluster hitting this year. He blames it on the greenies - or, more to their point, their absence from baseball.

I'm not buying that theory at all. It's been five years since MLB banned amphetamines from the game. Talk about a delayed reaction!

Anyhow, I wrote a piece for The Faster Times giving my opinion on the issue. Check it out.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

I saw the end of the Dave Trembley era at Yankee Stadium

I was at my first Yankee game of the season this year yesterday. This was thanks to Squawker reader Barbra getting tickets for us from Jennie, another Squawker reader and partial season ticket holder. We had great seats - upper deck, right behind home plate, last row. The overhang protected us from the sun, and we felt a breeze from the AC compressor thingy.

As for the game itself, it was great to see CC Sabathia get his first win in a month. And to see A-Rod hit a homer. And to see the Yankees win. (And yes, it does count, even it was against the Orioles!)

It also was O's manager Dave Trembley's last game - he was fired today. Wonder what the value is in having a ticket stub is for that historic occasion!

We had a great time at the game except for one thing, which I will write about later today.

What do you think? Tell us about it!