
The Diner Finder is the Internet's best source of real diner information.Public Radio station WNYC in New York recently ran this piece about the economic spinoff yet to come to the neighborhood surrounding the new Yankee Stadium. When the Yankees and the City of New York proposed the new stadium, they argued in favor of more than $350 million in subsidies and tax breaks reasoning that the business from the fans would more than make up for the outlay. Trouble is, the new sports arenas function much like many of the new casinos we see sprouting up all over the country: Each one is designed to keep customers and their money within the building.
Now, it's no secret that I'm a Yankees hater, but I oppose spending any public money on professional sports facilities. These are private, profit-making enterprises and should be financed with private investment. Study after study show that public financing of stadiums show no positive financial return for the governments that pay for them.
As this article shows, the problem gets worse because the surrounding businesses not only do not see any additional business, the City's ill-considered actions have the opposite effect.
NEW YORK, NY — The first World Series in the new Yankee Stadium begins today. In the third part of our Main Street series, WNYC returns to the shopkeepers on 161st in the Bronx.
They’ve seen their businesses suffer in the shadow of the new stadium, and the playoffs didn’t improve matters much. Many of these shops expected to do better with the new stadium. But WNYC’s Ailsa Chang takes a look at how the new Yankee Stadium is getting Yankee fans to spend more money inside rather than outside the ballpark.
REPORTER: Eddie Morrison has been coming to Yankee Stadium for 30 years, but right now, he’s chomping on the fanciest nachos he’s ever bought at a game. He’s sitting next to Gate 6, in the brand new Hard Rock Café.
MORRISON: It should say THE BRONX Hard Rock Café, not just the Hard Rock Café. Because this is the Boogie Down Bronx, so you gotta show respect.
REPORTER: It may be the Bronx, but those nachos just set him back 13 dollars.
MORRISON: That’s just a part of the tradition. You have to uphold the tradition of buying very expensive food at the ballpark.
REPORTER: And there are more than a hundred separate spots in this stadium where you can spend lots of money to uphold that tradition. They’re mostly big chains – like Nathan’s hotdogs, Johnny Rockets and Carvel Ice Cream. Yankee fan George Figueroa says he forgets he’s at a ballpark.
FIGUEROA: You walk around and it’s like you not even in a game. You walk around and it’s like you in a mall. You have whole bunch of stuff you could do. You can buy food, you can buy merchandise – whatever. It, like, takes you away from reality. That’s a good thing. I mean, we don’t have that in the Bronx. We don’t have a big mall to walk around, so this is our mall right now.
REPORTER: But that’s the problem. Businesses just a couple blocks down 161st street didn’t think they’d be competing against a new mega-mall. Abdul Traore is managing a near-empty store called Jeans Plus. It sells Yankee souvenirs – many of them identical to the ones sold at the stadium, but about 30 percent cheaper. Traore’s been sitting on a stool by the door during the playoffs, as if waiting for customers to come in.
TRAORE: This playoff is different. Totally different. Like Saturday, I stay here until two o’clock in the morning – from the time the game start until two o’clock in the morning. I don’t even make thousand dollars.
Read the full story here.
by Kimberlee Roth (www.out-word.com) Randy and Jonelle Roest met several years ago in a small-town tavern on the west shore... Read more
We interviewed Mr. Ed from Mr. Ed's Elephant Museum in Orrtanna, Pennsylvania in May 2002. We hoped to put together... Read more

By Peter Genovese Rutgers University Press, Rutgers, 2003 $14.95, 225 pages, hardcover Genovese does it again. By combining his true reporter nature... Read more
Roadside Video exclusive Four Sisters Owl Diner owner Tom Shanahan talks to Roadside correspondent Tory Germann about the new vestibule he... Read more

Rough Draft Roadtrip, Sixth Day North of Cave City along Route 31E, you will find plenty of pleasant scenic countryside, but... Read more

Roadside is second to no one in its reverence of the idiosyncratic. I've gone well out of my way to... Read more

Rough Draft Roadtrip, Day 4 Here's the thing about GPS units. They only work if you actually listen to them. So,... Read more
Kicked off its long-time location by a greedy landlord, Charlie's Diner sat on blocks for three years as owner... Read more

The Paris of Appalachia, Pittsburgh in the Twenty-first Century by Brian O'NeillCarnegie-Mellon University PressPittsburgh, PA. $16.95 Back in 2001, right after... Read more

Every Father's Day, I like to take my daughter on a train ride. This year I had the bright idea... Read more

We had some discussion of late about the idea of creating the opposite of the Lou-Roc Award, given to an... Read more

I am married to Michigan. But I am in love with Pennsylvania. Sure, Michigan and I have had some good... Read more

Arcade Restaurant in Titusville, Pennsylvania — one of several stops on our road trip from Grand Island, New York to... Read more

I present you, dear readers, with this image of an apple pie we just purchased from the Mastoris Diner in... Read more
Rough Draft Roadtrip, Third day Gotta keep it short tonight. I got in late, and after two pints of McSorley's at... Read more