In Fight Against Stadium, Cablevision is One of Many

To the editors:

I was disappointed to see The Crimson characterize Professor Alex Krieger’s battle against a football stadium in Manhattan as a fight between the city and the professor’s employer, media giant Cablevision (“Prof. in Middle of NYC Land Battle,” News, Apr. 28).

Since I graduated from Harvard College in 2003, I have been working as a community organizer for a neighborhood group in Manhattan that is adamantly opposed to the stadium. West Side residents, all of our local elected officials, and more than 60 percent of New Yorkers oppose the stadium, which would overwhelm our community and require an initial taxpayer subsidy of more than $1 billion.

Cablevision is often the most visible opponent of the stadium because it can afford to run television ads and hire high-powered consultants, but opposition among neighborhood residents and ordinary New Yorkers runs deep as well. After all, I’ve been organizing around the issue for more than a year; if we haven’t made some progress, I might begin doubting the real-world effectiveness of my degree in social studies.

JOHN E. RASKIN ’03

New York, N.Y.

April 29, 2005