Big A, VLTs and NYRA win trifecta

From late October to early May, five-days-a-week, Aqueduct Racetrack is a hotbed of activity.
Though it is generally “dark” Mondays and Tuesdays, the track will continue to light up the other days of the week thanks to a deal announced February 13 between the state and the New York Racing Association (NYRA).
Governor Spitzer, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and NYRA announced an agreement that firmly establishes state ownership of the Ozone Park racetrack as well as Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course.
While the 1,300 hundred NYRA employees who travel between the three tracks will keep their jobs, the communities surrounding the tracks are also celebrating.
“I am proud that we were able to protect the community and mandate that the newly created Aqueduct Advisory Board will be comprised of a majority of [Community Board 10’s] designees,” said Assemblymember Audrey Pheffer of the committee that will ensure local involvement in Aqueduct operations.
Pheffer and State Senator Serphin Maltese, cosponsors of the measure, said that under the new plan, NYRA will continue leasing land to the Ozone-Howard Little League.
“We figured everyone wants to have a good neighbor and have the Little League with them and not against them,” said Ralph Wallace, Vice President of the Ozone-Howard Little League and lifelong Ozone Park resident.
“You just can’t move the Little League and say ‘get outta here,’” said Wallace, who praised Pheffer and Maltese for their hard work.
On the state level, a Franchise Oversight Board will assess NYRA’s economic performance every four years, increasing transparency and accountability within the organization.
One of the more significant elements of the bill is the $105 million that the State will hand to NYRA to help it emerge from its bankruptcy proceedings. The assistance will be recouped by the installation of a Video Lottery Terminal (VLT) facility at Aqueduct, which is expected to generate $300 million annually in State education funding.
The state is currently negotiating with private parties that would build and operate Aqueduct’s VLT facility.
According to Bill Larkin, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Racing, Gaming and Wagering, the agreement “lays the foundation for the future of racing in New York State and establishes a framework for gaming opportunities that will generate critical funding for education and local governments.”
Larkin noted that thoroughbred racing has an annual impact of $1.4 billion on New York State’s economy.
The reconstructed NYRA will have a 25-member board, of which 14 members will be appointed by the existing NYRA Board of Directors, and the other 11 by Spitzer, Bruno and Silver.
One of Spitzer’s appointees would have been someone associated with New York City’s Off-Track Betting (OTB) Corporation. But, at the urging of Mayor Bloomberg, the OTB board decided February 19 to shut down the business. Bloomberg had expressed disappointment that the new NYRA bill did not directly address the funding issues surrounding New York’s OTB organization, which, according to Bloomberg, would have caused New York City OTB “to run a cash deficit by the end of June.” OTB Operations would cease on June 15, and around 1,500 people would lose their jobs.
Maltese and Pheffer were pleased that their “united front” of opposition to any plan that would have led to the sale of Aqueduct Racetrack had paid off.
“For the residents of my district, our concerns about maintaining our amenities and strong sense of community have been addressed through this agreement,” Pheffer said.
Wallace, for one, was delighted.
“We’re very happy. For the next 25 years while NYRA has their lease, we get to have baseball here,” he said.