New York Times headlines in my Feedly this morning

A contrast that prompts questions.

Michael Bloomberg is a saint

"I venture to say that the Bloomberg administration has had more impact on the health of the citizens of this city than all of his predecessors combined, with the possible exception of whoever invented the sewage system."

-- Dr. Andrew Racine of Montefiore Medical Center, at an event where Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed a new law raising the legal age for buying cigarettes from 18 to 21 years old.

What makes a sports team's home? -- Creamy Middles Sports Podcast, Episode 107

What makes a sports team's home?: The Atlanta Braves' decision to abandon Turner Field for a new place in the suburbs sparks discussion about what responsibilities pro teams have to local municipalities, and vice-versa.



Download MP3 (23:20)

Deadspin cited the $300 million figure for Cobb County's share of the ballpark cost. That comes out to more than $9 million per year for the next 30 years.

Field of Schemes questions whether the Braves' math makes sense, especially given what the team says its projected revenue will be, and what it most likely is right now.

Spencer Hall illustrated the surface absurdity of the Braves leaving a ballpark that's younger than 20 years old.

For what it's worth, Atlanta has just agreed to help pay for the Falcons' new stadium, which the Atlanta Business Chronicle said is expected to cost about $1.2 billion, total. (Permanent disclosure: David works for American City Business Journals, of which the Chronicle is a part.)

In July, the Madison Square Garden Co. was given a 10-year extension to its permit to operate its namesake arena in Midtown Manhattan. The company had asked for a, more or less, permanent permit, and had just completed a billion-dollar renovation.

Current Manhattan Borough President and, now, city Comptroller-elect Scott Stringer released a statement earlier this year explaining why he is in favor of moving the arena off of Penn Station.

The Creamy Middles Podcast is a weekly discussion attacking the belly issues of sports -- ideas that go beyond wins and losses. Jay Cowit usually produces it, though David may occasionally step in. Music is either royalty-free, by J. Cowit and the Ruthless Orchestra, or 29 Sunset. Subscribe in iTunes or in another podcatcher with this RSS feed.

I was in New York for a wedding this weekend and took this photo from (I believe) the G train, on our way from Park Slope to Williamsburg, in Brooklyn. I first went to New York for college in 2001, have visited occasionally since graduating, and the changed cityscape was particularly striking from that vantage point.

Of course, I got home and saw multiple links on my Twitter feed to this amazing New York Times feature about that precise topic, that the city has undergone a rapid physical transformation in just the past decade.