NJ Mayors To Withhold Emergency Services For 2014 Super Bowl

[Fishooked]

Five New Jersey Mayors Are Threatening To Withhold Police And Emergency Services From Next Year’s Super Bowl


http://deadspin.com/5983041/five-new...ars-super-bowl

Many a lame observation has been made about the likelihood that next year's Super Bowl at MetLife Stadium will be ruined by bad weather like the stuff we've got now. It's silly. Rare is the storm that dumps a foot of snow on the New York metropolitan area, and rarer still is the football fan that would be turned off by a winner-take-all Ice Bowl. Still, there is one thing that could make Giants Stadium a cluster**** to rival the Superdome last Sunday, and that's a complete lack of police and emergency services:

A faction of Meadowlands District mayors is threatening to withhold police and other emergency services for next year's Super Bowl at MetLife Stadium, saying they've been little compensated for the mounting cost of municipal services at past stadium events.

The decision by some mayors, announced this week in a news release, is in response to overtime expenses local governments say they've incurred and have had to absorb in providing emergency services for events at the stadium complex in East Rutherford.

"The stadium … has done little to help offset any costs for the surrounding communities when larger events occur at the stadium," Secaucus Mayor Michael Gonnelli said in the release. "With one of [the] world's largest sporting events coming to the East Rutherford venue, there is little doubt that the mayors will be expecting a call that their services are needed.

"The answer will be clear," Gonnelli said: "Don't ask."

Gonnelli promised to make a "concerted effort to make sure the region's towns do not participate in any Super Bowl planning or activity that will require the towns to pick up any costs."

The Giants say they are willing discuss the mayors' concerns, but the mayors are talking pretty tough: East Rutherford's James Cassella said the Jets and Giants have been getting away with robbery on their $6 million annual rent, while Carlstadt Mayor William Roseman said, "The teams have never been good corporate neighbors to the region," and complained, "While we are forced to lay off police officers, the owners of the Jets and Giants are filling their pockets at taxpayers' expense."

Pretty standard football team behavior, but also a conflict that might presage an interesting scenario: If the mayors really do make good on their threat to withhold police and emergency services, could the NFL, an organization with $9 billion in annual revenue, bring in enough private security, EMTs and medical personnel to make the event safe?

Teams and cities exist in a constant, strained detente, and the NFL has been throwing its weight around in its fights with municipalities for some time, usually with good results. The league may not decide that Super Bowl XLVIII is the time to nudge public services out of its operations, but it's not outlandish to think that the league could provide much of what the Meadowlands District can provide, without the fuss. They'd be cutting off local input, but the NFL hasn't been shy about that in the past.

I for one applaud the effort. The municipalities didn't ask for this headache.
Not that I'm adverse to a cold weather Super Bowl, but we all know the NFL threw the Maras a bone on this one.

[DDNYjets]

There will much more political grandstanding before this game is played.

Worst case scenario they will hire private security.

[Kentucky Jet]

Originally Posted by DDNYjets

There will much more political grandstanding before this game is played.

Worst case scenario they will hire private security.

I do not see private security being allowed or responsible for traffic conditions on public roads. nor can it protect anyone. The role of private security is to OBSERVE and REPORT! Who do they report to? The cops! They have no police powers and can only make a citizens arrest.

Bonafide law enforcement is mandatory for crowd control!

[124]

So glad that New Jersey has decided to try to stick it to the NFL for the one and only ever Super Bowl here instead of offering their services.

Tools.

Give me a break. Politicians can suck it.

[sec.101row23]

It is actually a pretty valid argument by the Mayors. East Rutherford and the surrounding towns do not have big city type police departments and EMT services. The NFL is going to argue that the Super Bowl brings hundreds of millions of dollars to the area, but since a lot of that will be in NYC and not necessarily East Rutherford and Carlstadt, the mayors have valid complaints.

[Nike]

no problem at all metlife will just hire alot of private security slackers and rely on the nj state police like they do already.

[Traitor Jay & the Woodies]

Read: the mayors were told they were not getting tickets and will withhold emergency services until the NFL reverses course.

[Nike]

Originally Posted by Traitor Jay & the Woodies

Read: the mayors were told they were not getting tickets and will withhold emergency services until the NFL reverses course.

corrupt politicians in nj no way.

[Dunnie]

New Jersey ... corrupt politics as always.

[Mathis81]

Stay tuned. Clown mayor twitter booker will jump in and save the day. He just has to make sure CNN is on scene to make his big announcement.

[Nike]

Originally Posted by Mathis81

Stay tuned. Clown mayor twitter booker will jump in and save the day. He just has to make sure CNN is on scene to make his big announcement.

you forget clown christie he will bully anyone and everyone who tries to disrupt this.

[Astoria]

Originally Posted by Kentucky Jet

I do not see private security being allowed or responsible for traffic conditions on public roads. nor can it protect anyone. The role of private security is to OBSERVE and REPORT! Who do they report to? The cops! They have no police powers and can only make a citizens arrest.

Bonafide law enforcement is mandatory for crowd control!

Yeah, no. There's private mall security and there's private military contracted security. The NFL isn't going to hire Simon Security Associates , it's going to hire a lot closer to someone like Blackwater.

[copernicus]

Originally Posted by DDNYjets

There will much more political grandstanding before this game is played.

Worst case scenario they will hire private security.

The Super Bowl (and almost all sports) have become for the elitist. No longer can the real fans who have families attend games without it being a "once in a lifetime" event or have to take out a second mortgage to pay it off.

The Super Bowl in NY/NJ is not for NYers. Its for the Woody Johnsons and Mayor Bloombergs of the world. I hope it fails miserably.

Many years ago, I had the opportunity to go to the very first XFL game. A friend offered me a ticket to sit in the second row on the 50 yard-line. How could I pass up this opportunity? It was mid February, about 30 degrees and bright sunshine. We lasted until halftime and it wasnt even a question about leaving. Its one thing to go to an outdoor event in November or December where the cold has not set in yet. But a February event outside at night when winter has set in for a few weeks? Good luck freezing your a$$es off.

[southparkcpa]

Originally Posted by Astoria

Yeah, no. There's private mall security and there's private military contracted security. The NFL isn't going to hire Simon Security Associates , it's going to hire a lot closer to someone like Blackwater.

Blackwater??? We don't need no stinkin Blackwater.

[EM31]

Originally Posted by 124

So glad that New Jersey has decided to try to stick it to the NFL for the one and only ever Super Bowl here instead of offering their services.

Tools.

Give me a break. Politicians can suck it.

"New Jersey" as you put it could solve this with the stroke of a pen by agreeing to subsidize the cost over a larger tax base.

The Jets, Giants or even the NFL could agree to do the same thing.

There is ZERO reason that the financial burden for this should fall onto five or six very small municipalities when everyone else is expecting to make truckloads of money out of the event.

So no, the "politicians" from these towns are 100% in the right here.

[Kentucky Jet]

Originally Posted by Astoria

Yeah, no. There's private mall security and there's private military contracted security. The NFL isn't going to hire Simon Security Associates , it's going to hire a lot closer to someone like Blackwater.

The only thing mall security or any private security, for that matter, can do is call the police. They can not handle traffic on public roads. They can not investigate accidents. All they can do is OBSERVE and REPORT!

We are talking about many thousands of people to protect & control. Want to rely on private security? No matter how good the outfit is they have severe limitations imposed on them by state law.

The local politicians do have a legitimate complaint. The cost for their services will be enormous. Why should local tax payers be forced to cough up tons of money so that others can reap financial gain?

There is no simple solution to this but anyone who believes that private security can handle this is off base IMO.

[palmetto defender]

NJ policicians, in Bergen, Passaic and Essex are crooks. They want some personal assurances (read BRIBE).
BTW, the names mentioned are all Italian. Is that a coincidence? I had an Italian great grandparent, so I can say that - LOL.

[sec.101row23]

Originally Posted by palmetto defender

NJ policicians, in Bergen, Passaic and Essex are crooks. They want some personal assurances (read BRIBE).
BTW, the names mentioned are all Italian. Is that a coincidence? I had an Italian great grandparent, so I can say that - LOL.

You forgot Hudson County, probably the MOST corrupt of them all. Look no further than Sen. Menendez (not Italian) as the poster child for Hudson County corruption.

[jetssjumets]

These Mayors have no say. The Superbowl is a high-profile event and the Federal government, Department of Homeland Security, is in charge. Anyone who has attended a Superbowl in the past decade knows that the stadium, as well as certain locations in the respective downtown areas of the Superbowl city is off limits and protected by a massive Federal presence from various federal law enforcement agencies. It will be no different for NYC/NJ next year -- probably much more given NYC always being a potential target.

At least these no-name Mayors got the publicity they sought.

[Jungle Shift Jet]

Besides the state tax $ raised from player salaries, and NM commerce,
the $ spent on gamedays in local burghs on food alcohol merchandise for the games are a goldmine for nearby towns-those phonies are full of it to raise any objections - games are policed by NJ state troopers and private security