The new Yankee Stadium, opened in 2009, is located in the South Bronx of New York City. The stadium cost an estimated $1.5 billion to build, with taxpayer subsidies accounting for about $854 million, according to the Independent Budget Office. The stadium is home to the New York Yankees, valued at $2.3 billion and owned by Hal and Hank Steinbrenner. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
There was no significant community input into how our neighborhood could co-exist with the new stadium. Our voices were silenced by elected officials who accused us of not wanting any development.
As a resident I have witnessed and indeed lived in the snarling traffic that consumes our neighborhood. As a taxpayer I strongly object to subsidizing garages to bring more traffic to an area that is trying to rebound as a good place to bring up children.
We were told the new stadium would bring economic development and a resurgence to our community.
I invite you to take a walk around the neighborhood and see for yourself if that has happened. Businesses have closed and the remaining ones are hurting as the Yankee organization has moved many of the services inside the stadium.
Joyce Hogi
The sanitation trucks circle all day, emptying trash (this would be a wonderful service for residents!). The community is host to numerous parking garages and lots that are open only on game day and of no use to us otherwise.
The community has received new public parks by law, as the alienation of parkland had to have all acreage replaced. The parks are lovely but there is no sustained maintenance for them, which was the same problem with the old parks, due to budget cuts.
The bottom line is that the Yankees never have been – and still are not – good neighbors.
Joyce E. Hogi has lived in the South Bronx since 1978. She is a 70-year-old widow who had raised three children. Hogi was a member of Save Our Parks, a group that fought against the construction of the new Yankee stadium. She works as an administrative assistant in a high school.
