Subsidizing millionaires: Miami taxpayers will pay 80% of new Marlins baseball stadium
By
Alvaro F. Fernandez Read Spanish Version
alfernandez@the-beach.net
After
years of trying, the Florida Marlins finally got what they wanted.
First the Marlins needed the blessing from City of Miami
commissioners. They received it last week. This past Monday the deal
was sealed by the Miami-Dade county commission with a 9 to 4 vote
also in favor of funding a new retractable roof stadium in Miami’s
Little Havana area. The team had threatened to leave South Florida if
the stadium had not been approved.
In
these testy economic times I would have loved to have seen where the
Marlins would have gone. But Miami politicians — not known for
having much balls (and I’m not talking base-balls) — took the bait
(and who knows what else they were offered) and opted to subsidize a
rich baseball owner… with the taxpayers’ money. Question(s) seem
to be: At what expense?
The
stadium and the surrounding parking lots are projected to cost $634
million. Almost a half-billion dollars of the cost will be provided
by South Florida tax dollars. The land where the new, 37,000 seat
stadium will stand, the site where the old Orange Bowl used to be,
belongs to the City of Miami (another giveaway and part of this great
deal — for the Marlins). Financing experts agree that when all is
said and done, and you add the interest and other costs, the stadium
will have cost Miami taxpayers almost $2 billion.
Money
used to pay for the stadium will come from tourism-generated funds
projected into the future. The question on the lips of many: what if
we build the stadium and the tourists don’t come in the numbers
expected? For whatever the reason (the economy, weather, etc.)…
Then…
money must be taken from the county’s general operation funds. In
other words, if things don’t work out as they “are projected,”
money that should have gone for police, fire, roads and other city
and county services may have to be used to pay for the stadium.
If
you want to read how this thing has developed, visit my blog (This
ain’t Disneyland)
where I describe the process over the past few months. Also, what
follows are the names of the shameless Miami politicians who despite
our current economic circumstances sold out the community for what
were probably a few shillings to fill their greedy pockets. I’ve
included their emails. Write them and tell them what you think of
them. And come election time… remember them.
Miami-Dade
County Mayor Carlos Alvarez (mayor@miamidade.gov)
City
of Miami Mayor Manny Diaz (mannydiaz@miamigov.com)
County
Commissioner Barbara Jordan (District1@miamidade.gov)
County
Commissioner Dorrin Rolle (District2@miamidade.gov)
County
Commissioner Audrey Edmonson (District3@miamidade.gov)
County
Commissioner Bruno Barreiro (District5@miamidade.gov)
County
Commissioner Rebeca Sosa (District6@miamidade.gov)
County
Commissioner Dennis Moss (District9@miamidade.gov)
County
Commissioner Javier Souto (District10@miamidade.gov)
County
Commissioner Pepe Diaz (District12@miamidade.gov)
County
Commissioner Natacha Seijas (District13@miamidade.gov)
City
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez (agonzalez@miamigov.com)
City
Commissioner Joe Sanchez (jsanchez@miamigov.com)
City
Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones (Mspence@miamigov.com)
