It'll be interesting to see whether the tennis stars and their corporate sponsors succeed in getting New York City taxpayers to fund a $200 million roof over Arthur Ashe Stadium. This would prevent rain delays, which are apparently bad for television ratings. The Wall Street Journal has the details. Since New York has already put tax dollars into stadiums for the Yankees and the Mets, backed a proposal that didn't end up working for the Jets in connection with an Olympics bid, and supported the construction of a Brooklyn arena for the Nets basketball team, if the mayor and governor suddenly find principles on which to stand against a tennis stadium subsidy it will be news. The Journal quotes a spokesman for Mayor Bloomberg as saying, "The City's budget issues are well-known."
In Queens, where the tennis stadium is situated, the public library system has reportedly responded to the city's budget troubles by putting a halt to buying new books.
