West Side . . . War Of Words!

The Mayor is sounding a little defensive:

A war of words erupted yesterday as Mayor Bloomberg reacted angrily to comments made by Sen. Charles Schumer suggesting the city has its priorities wrong in turning Manhattan’s far West Side into a business district.

“The city’s priorities are clear,” the mayor said. “We set the city’s priorities. They don’t come out of Washington, and the city’s priorities are the West Side, getting it going and getting the rail line going there.”

He was reacting to a speech Schumer gave earlier in the day, when he said the city should shift its focus from building office and apartment towers above the MTA rail yards west of 10th Avenue and instead concentrate on constructing a new train station named after the late Sen. Daniel Moynihan.

“I appreciate all the senator’s views on Moynihan Station. His part of the job is to bring us the money,” Bloomberg snipped.

Bloomberg also rejected Schumer’s call to put the Port Authority in charge of building Moynihan Station inside the Farley Post Office building, calling it a “terrible idea” based on the agency’s difficulty rebuilding Ground Zero.

Schumer said he has every right to make suggestions about West Side development, since he’s helped secure more than $100 million from Washington for Moynihan Station.

“It is equally important for a responsible senator to watchdog how that money is spent,” he said.