Staten Island Screwed

International Speedway Corp. scrapped plans Monday to build a track on Staten Island, stalling NASCAR's dream to bring a race to the New York area.
"While we are disappointed that we could not complete the speedway development on Staten Island, our enthusiasm for the metropolitan New York market is in no way dampened," ISC president Lesa France Kennedy said. "We continue to view the region as a prime location for a major motorsports facility."
They badly want to expand NASCAR into the New York metropolitan area, and moved toward that goal in 2004 when a subsidiary of ISC paid about $100 million for a 440-acre former oil tank farm on Staten Island. The company later bought another 236 acres to gain the necessary land for a race track.
The goal was to build a .8-mile state-of-the-art track that would have accommodated 80,000 fans and had the New York City skyline as its backdrop.
But the proposal has been met by severe resistance, including a a hotly contested April public meeting in which tempers reached dangerous levels -- forcing police to end the meeting over safety concerns.
Residents complained of traffic tie-ups and argued that the two major roads leading into the property would likely need major renovations to handle the increased loads.
Environmental concerns were also cited by opponents of the plan.
ISC cited an "inability to secure the critical local political support that is necessary to secure the required land-use change approvals" in ending the Staten Island project. In all, the company said spent about $150 million on the project.
ISC said it may now sell the land, which it believes will be worth more than $100 million and described as the largest undeveloped acreage in the five boroughs of New York City.

I'm very disappointed. I was looking forward to going to my first NASCAR race. And because I believe that New York should be the center for everything good, I regret that this huge sport will still have no presence here. Maybe I'll visit Pizza Parlor Derek and hit the race in Loudon.