Yanks take spotlight as Building Congress honors pair.

Since taking the subway to the World Series, Sen. Alfonse D'Amato believes the Yankees should stay in the Bronx rather than creating more traffic on Manhattan's West Side. He made his remarks to the Building Congress as it held its industry recognition dinner at the Grand Hyatt the night of the infamous ticker tape parade.

All the speakers, from Mayor Rudolph Giuliani to Economic Development Chairman Charles Gargano and D'Amato, invoked the team as a reminder of the greatness of New York.

But even as the city and state officials wait with baited breath to hear George Steinbrenner's demands, the consensus is starting to form to keep the Yankees in the Bronx.

That spells harmony to Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer, who listened as the Senator told the Building Congress of trying to get to the series clincher of Game 6 and ending up in a big Manhattan traffic jam. He and Gargano simply hopped on the 59th Street subway and arrived at Yankee Stadium in eleven minutes. "You build something on the West Side, you're not going anyplace," D'Amato added.

He recalled trying for 12 years to get funds for the West Side Highway, and said of a West Side Stadium, "You think they'll build it? Not in your lifetime."

D'Amato concluded, "Let's not build things for the sake of building, but use taxpayer's dollars wisely."

Richard T. Anderson, president of the Building Congress, told PEW later, "We shouldn't have to sacrifice the Yankee Stadium area for something to happen on the West Side."

He is also concerned the West Side of Manhattan will be developed piecemeal without an overall strategy.

"The city, state and private sector should create a master planning group to oversee the development of the West Side parcel," Anderson advised, worried the stadium might be "shoehorned" into the area near the Javits Center without enough study. "First, let's get the Javits Center expansion going."

Gargano told REW after the dinner that while it's a "great stadium," there is a need for improvements to the parking and other renovations. "It's the home of the Yankees," he added.

The dinner brought out 900 construction and real estate leaders as well as invited politicians like Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger, Rep. Jerry Nadler, Public Advocate Mark Green, and Council Members Walter McCaffrey and Archie Spigner.

Council Member McCaffrey says there is no support in the Council for spending the money needed to move the Yankees to the West Side area near the Javits Center.

The honorees were saluted by singer Caroline Durham, backed by the Jerry Scott Trio, who sang some popular tunes with appropriate new lyrics. Good sport D'Amato, for instance, roared with laughter as she sang, "Don't cry for us Al D'Amato, you fixed our potholes..."

Developer John Tishman, chairman of Tishman Realty and Construction, and New York State AFL-CIO President Edward Cleary, were honored by the Congress with the group's First Lifetime Achievement Awards. They were presented with Tiffany gifts by Mayor Giuliani.

The Mayor called John Tishman's name "synonymous with building technology and building techniques," and ticked off city projects that include the World Trade Center, the restoration and reclamation of Carnegie Hall and the upcoming Times Square E Walk project.

Giuliani referred to Cleary's long career in fighting for working people in the past and present, noting "It was his strong advocacy that assured many of the labor standards that are proposed in the Environmental Bond Act."

Wearing a Yankees tie, the Mayor showed off his new cowboy boots won in a bet with the Mayor of Arlington, Texas aftex the Yanks took the American League Pennant.

Perky after the morning ticker tape parade and afternoon ceremonies at City Hall - as well as having the World Series Trophy in his bedroom at Gracie Mansion while a box is being constructed to display it at City Hall - the mayor relayed his story of growing up in Brooklyn as a Yankee fan as his "mother's revenge on his father."

He also talked about receiving nasty letters from mayors of other cities who wanted to know how he was able to claim New York City's rights to the title of the "Capital of the World," and who wondered if the legislature or the United Nations had made the designation.

To his great relief, Giuliani said, when the Pope came to New York to speak at the Great Lawn of Central Park, the pontiff said - and here the Mayor changed to a gruff voice - "New York City is the Capital of the World," a fact he was delighted to report back to the other mayors.