Uphill struggle for mayor's Olympic dream.

New York's Olympic dreams may go up in smoke before the competition for host status has even started. On September 12, speaking at this season's first Jets game, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that if the plans for the new Jets Stadium on Manhattan's West Side are not finalized by 2005, New York's bid for the 2012 summer games will be withdrawn.

"If you don't have it, I've got to call the IOC and say, 'Don't come," Bloomberg has been quoted as saying.

Getting the deal done in such a short time could prove quite difficult, considering the negative publicity the stadium has received and opposition by local community groups, who filed a lawsuit against the City's Planning Commission and the Department of City Planning earlier this month. There is still hope for the stadium itself, but if Bloomberg enforces his deadline, the Olympics may never happen.

"The stadium is central to our Olympic plan. It creates an extremely strong plan that meets all IOC requirements and, we believe, well positions New York City to win," reads a response statement from NYC2012, which hopes to use the stadium as the centerpiece of its bid when the International Olympics Committee comes to New York next summer. "We are optimistic that it will be approved and will be built."

Members of the construction industry are not quite so optimistic, however. "I think right now we are swimming uphill," said Lou Colletti, president of the Building Trades Employers Association. "The campaign financed by Cablevision has misled New Yorkers about the facts surrounding this project.

"We have the worst looking waterfront in the world--this project is one element of an overall plan that will improve the waterfront, as well as providing additional exhibition and convention space for the Javitz Center and creating thousands of new jobs and money from tax revenues. I am confident that at the end of the day this project will be approved--it's really in the City's interest to do so, ultimately people will come to that conclusion--but we have our work cut out for us."

According to Richard Anderson, president of the New York Building Congress, the real estate and construction industries are capable of delivering the Stadium in time for the 2012 Games--all they are waiting for is the go-ahead from the City.

"Will the Stadium deal be completed in time? Well, that's the 64 dollar question," he said. "The prospects for the overall Hudson Yards plan remain very good because it's a comprehensive development plan where the many different pieces fit together very well. What's unfortunate is that so much attention has been focused on the Stadium as a separate project. What the Mayor needs to do is lay out for everyone a more precise timetable, so that we all know exactly what decisions need to be made when. This is a doable project from a timing standpoint, if all the issues on the table can be resolved."

At the same time, Colletti said he understands the Mayor's frustration with the delays.

"It's just common sense," he said. "The Stadium is a key element in terms of the 2012 Olympic proposal--that's where the opening and closing ceremonies would take place."