This was a no-brainer. It was all about the governor getting rights to $1 BILLION dollars worth of land. Now you can pretty much kiss Aqueduct goodbye. It will be sold to a Spitzer friend for real estate development. Spitzer's family made it's fortune in the real estate game.

NYRA does a good job but the reality is that taxpayers made a loan to them and NYRA is basically defaulting on the loan. So the governor's friends get rich, NYRA once again has no accountability, and the taxpayer gets screwed.

Gotta love NY.

NYRA vice chairman Jim Heffernan said the end of the land-claims dispute with the state means NYRA is relinquishing its ownership in about $1-billion worth of property at the three tracks. In return, the state is forgiving about $130 million NYRA owes it, including about $30 million provided over the past year.