From Velonews:
New York mayor Michael Bloomberg has voiced support for a private plan
to commit more than $21 million to create cross-country mountain-bike
trails and BMX courses as part of the city's bid for the 2012
Olympics.
The plan is part of a much large proposal to convert the former Staten
Island landfill - known as Fresh Kills - into a large public park with
an extensive trail network.
On Wednesday, Bloomberg and other city officials held a news
conference on the Fresh Kills site, asking reporters and others
assembled to imagine the one-time-garbage dump as hub around which a
large portion of the 2012 Summer Games' cycling events will revolve.
According to the New York Times the Bloomberg administration is hoping
to rework the 2200-acre landfill, which closed in 2001, into a large
park featuring 30 miles of bike trails and more than 20 miles of
walking paths.
The city said acceptance of its Olympics bid would speed up the
project, partly because the private committee sponsoring the bid,
NYC2012, has pledged $21 million to create the mountain bike trails
and an elaborate BMX facility.
"Should we be awarded the 2012 Olympic Games, a deadline will be in
place," said Mr. Bloomberg, calling the project "a spectacular example
of how existing city initiatives will benefit from the focus and
deadlines imposed by the bid."
In choosing the Fresh Kills site, the administration abandoned an
earlier plan to stage the two cycling events at another Staten Island
site known as the "Greenbelt." Environmentalists and other community
activists opposed that idea.