Thursday, April 25, 2024
Writing Common Sense to Power
D. R. ZUKERMAN, proprietor
WWW.NYC2012.COM

FEBRUARY 6, 2005 --

Here's hoping the Evaluationn Committee of the International Olympics Committee (IOC) won't wonder, while it's in New York City, February 20 to 24, why the 23 miles of Central Park paths are covered with
gold fabric, and not slogans supporting New York City as the site of the 2012 Olympics.

The gold fabric -- the Christo/Jeanne-Claude public space artwork -- is to be
unfurled February 12, and will be on display while the Evaluation Committee is in town.

Still, signs promoting NYC2012 will be just about everywhere to greet the IOC.

(LPR first noticed the NYC2012 logo at a booth in Riverside Park, last August, overlooking the dragon boat races on the
Hudson River.)

LPR snapped this photo of the NYC 2012 banner last August in Riverside Park -- the Dragon Boat races
weekend.

On February 2, Mayor Bloomberg
announced a massive NYC2012 ad campaign -- signs on New York's 4,000 subway bars, 7,000 buses and 13,000
cabs, plus billboards, street banners, media advertising, an NYC2012 press release noted -- to mark the visit of the IOC's Evaluation Committee.

The Mayor … speaking … Feb 2 at City Hall Plaza.

The Mayor … waiting …
The mayor was joined, in City Hall Plaza, by Olympians Gail A. Marquis and Scott Donie, and Paralympian Tahl Leibovitz. Also on hand was Jay Kriegel, 2012
executive director.

Jay Kriegel, Executive Director of
NYC2012.
LPR was informed by Laz Benitez, NYC2012 media relations manager,
that Mr. Kriegel, with Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff, organized the NYC2012 board, made up of more than 250 top people in New York, including Rocco Landesman,
president of Jujamcyn Productions, here pictured after last year's Tonys.

Rocco Landesman … After the Tony Awards last June.


 

 

(Mr. Landesman was also the winning
pitcher for The Producers in last season's Broadway Show League softball championship.)

Rocco Landesman … Pitching for
The Producers against 42nd Street, last August.
If you want to know who New York's leaders are -- most of them, anyway, click the NYC2012 website, which includes a list of the major donors to the privately-financed $50 million NYC2012 campaign. ($45 million raised so far.)

NYC2012 is non-profit; contributions are tax-deductible.

The ad campaign announcement gathering.

Volunteers, picking up their ad campaign T-shirts.

Volunteers wearing their T-shirts.
LPR is not opposed to New York City as the 2012 Olympics venue (a new stadium is another matter), but suggests that the mayor exaggerated when he indicated
that it would be "a great tragedy" if the Games were not held in NYC 2012.

(City Hall Plaza is just a few blocks from Ground Zero.)

Responding to a question about a recent fire in the subway system -- service was
restored in days, not years or months, as originally predicted -- the mayor said that needed investment in maintaining mass transit has not been made.

LPR wonders if this will be a concern to beraised by the IOC's Evaluation Committee.

Will the committee travel on roads that do not have potholes? (Are there any in NYC without potholes?)

LPR assumes that the committee will be assured none of its vehicles will be subject to PVB summonses, much less PVB tows.

This edition of LPR includes a photo taken on September 25, 2001 when Mr. Bloomberg was just a mayoral candidate -- and an enormously successful businessman.

The photo was snapped on Park Avenue,
the afternoon of the mayoral primary, which was originally to be held September 11.

LPR recently unearthed this photo of Bloomberg on Park Avenue, snapped September 25, 2001, on primary day for Mayor. He was on the GOP ballot and was not noticed by anyone walking by him -- so far as LPR could tell.

Given the term limits law for NYC mayors, Mr. Bloomberg will likely attend the 2012 Games as a private citizen. LPR does
not, however, rule out the possibility that Mr. Bloomberg might hold some other political office -- governor? senator?? ...president??? - -in 2012.

The NYC2012 February ad campaign will feature 14 ad lines. Alas, none of them is: "The Parking Violations Bureau will show a human face."

The other cities competing for the 2012 Games are London, Madrid, Moscow, and Paris. The IOC will pick the site of the 2012 Games on July 6.