Millionaires play while taxpayers pay
Al’s Loupe
Millionaires play while taxpayers pay
County commissioners
to decide on subsidizing new
baseball stadium
By Alvaro F.
Fernandez Read Spanish Version
alfernandez@the-beach.net
If
all was fair in
taxpayers) would get a chance to vote on whether a majority of us want to spend
489 million dollars to build a baseball stadium for the Florida Marlins. The
ballpark is slated to cost $609 million. The team will spend $120 million; we
put up the rest (the bulk of the cash) and, oh! lest I forget, we (the
taxpayers again) throw in the land — the site where the old Orange Bowl used
to stand.
What
are we promised in return? The county receives rent payments of about $2.3
million a year (with 2% increases a year) and a commitment from the team to
play here for the next 35 years. Also, the team gets all (that’s right, I wrote
ALL) the revenue from the stadium (every penny) including the naming rights
which at today’s rates mean an extra $2 million a year.
Let’s
go over this one more time. We (the taxpayers of
put up more than 80% of the money to build a stadium for a multi-millionaire
owner of a baseball team. We spend almost half a billion dollars so that
spoiled millionaire athletes, whose greatest talent is their ability to hit,
throw and catch a little white ball, get to play in a brand new shiny stadium
in Little Havana and all we get in return, over a period of 35 years, is
approximately $100 million. Tell me if I’m wrong, but something just does not
add up here.
There’s
more though. Touting the project these days is County Mayor Carlos Alvarez. He
is running around
telling all who will listen that the stadium project will create “thousands of
jobs.” Miami Herald columnist Fred Grimm debunks the claim by citing Brad
Humphreys, author of the book The
Business of Sport. In it, Humphreys looks over 30 years of independent
studies of stadium economics and this is what he concludes: “There is
absolutely no evidence that stadiums create good long-term jobs.”
And
how do you counter that Mr. Mayor? I really haven’t had the chance to ask him.
But I think it’s telling that the mayor and most every commissioner refuses to
put the stadium plan before a vote of the people. Hmmmm… Then again, there will be a vote, and it’s supposed to
take place February 13th, in the county commission chambers. Our 13
county commissioners, those pillars of everything that’s right (or do I mean
wrong) in this county — like the airport which is billions over what it
was supposed to cost, still not finished and has brand new corridors that often
lead to nowhere. There’s also the case of the half-cent sales tax they were
supposed to keep an eye on for us so that we might improve that mess we call
our public transportation system. Money they did not look after and, as a Miami
Herald investigative piece demonstrated, was diverted from buses and new rail
lines to higher salaries, fancy offices and the hiring of friends and family
members of (yes) commissioners and county transportation department executives
among others. That’s right! Thirteen stalwart public servants will decide if we
should spend taxpayer dollars on a stadium. Get the grease ready folks because
we’re about to get screwed.
What
irks me most, though, is the fact that the mayor keeps telling us that “We’ve
got the money” for the stadium. He also warns that it “can’t be used” for
schools, health care, etc. I believe I should add a second Hmmmm… here. The
mayor also feels we should build the stadium because, as he says, “Great
communities have amenities such as professional sports…” Well, Mr. Mayor, that
might be true. But I had the impression that great communities start with great
schools, affordable health care, transportation that works effectively,
affordable housing and other first-rate social services — all things lacking
in
can’t afford them.
Smells
fishy, doesn’t it?
As
a Miamian, it’s so demoralizing, really… I just wish we had a courageous state
attorney or more honest politicians willing to stick their necks out. Even The
could dig a little deeper. We should be looking at simple things like how much
money and promises have the politicians received from the Florida Marlins —
money which includes political contributions, of course. But we need to dig
deeper. Who are the lobbyists behind this stadium and what side(s) do they
represent. Remember, when you build a stadium somebody has to construct it —
some people will make a ton of money. (I wonder how many friends of the
politicians are involved both in the building and the lobbying?). If other
recent public works’ projects are an example, $600 million can easily become a
billion.
Finally
in 2011 or 2012, when the new stadium is completed, built with our tax dollars,
how many of us do you really think will be able to afford to go to a ballgame?
But
in the end you know what I find most interesting? The commission meeting to
vote on the stadium falls on a fitting day… Friday the 13th.
