New York show-business community to request presence at 2003 Academy Awards ceremony

<br>LOS ANGELES (AP) _ A consortium of show-business heavyweights and politicians plans to pressure the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to move part of the 2003 Oscar telecast to New York City.

Monday, December 30th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ A consortium of show-business heavyweights and politicians plans to pressure the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to move part of the 2003 Oscar telecast to New York City.

The move follows a similar attempt this summer to shift some of the ceremony to New York as a way to help the city rebound from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Among those supporting a partial New York offshoot are Miramax Films co-chairman Harvey Weinstein, actor and Tribeca Film Festival co-founder Robert De Niro, Brooklyn-born director Spike Lee, Cablevision chairman Jim Dolan, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov. George Pataki, the trade newspaper Variety reported Monday.

The group is expected to send a letter to Oscar officials the first week of the new year to outline proposals, which may include holding part of the Academy's special ``History of Film'' presentation in New York.

Oscar officials declined to comment on any New York proposals, but previously have noted that the organization has a 10-year contract to remain in its recently completed home at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.