I wasn’t sure what I was going to write about today until I started reading the news. There’s talk about the new stadium for the Twins, plus there was an article in Reason magazine that I just finished reading that covered the issue. It all added up to me ranting about ballparks for a while.
- The Debate on stadium plan going deep as a bunch of people showed up to tell the Hennepin County Board they didn’t like being taxed for a new stadium for a team that’s profitable enough that they could build it themselves. You should probably also know that Peter McLaughlin, who’s on the Board (representing me), is running for Mayor in Minneapolis this fall. I intend to hold his feet to the fire.
- I would really like to believe we can Demolish Sports Welfare, but I suspect the Twins are going to sneak this deal in before the
two court cases [that] could mean the end of publicly funded stadiums.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m all for the new stadium, but I’ve got a long enough memory to know that any “temporary tax” is going to turn permanent, just like it did with the bumps to the sales tax to pay for the Dome, Convention Center (which is still losing the City buckets of money), and Target Center. I just don't think I should have to subsidize the team, even if they go for the community ownership that's been proposed. - Overall, I’m tempted to think the proposal for the news stadium is just another Field of Schemes. Heck, it’s the same deal they proposed last year, and which was rejected by the state legislature, except for leaving off the roof. There’s even more information at Ballpark Watch.
- But it’s not just MLB that’s looking for handouts. As described at Save Midway, and in the article Twelve Million revamp on deck to fix Saints’ ballpark, the Saints are looking for their slice of the pie, too. The most recent plans I’ve heard about have them building a new stadium where the existing parking lot is, then demolishing Midway and putting a new parking lot there. The problem with that is that leaves us with two years of a ballpark with no place to park. Plus the team wants St. Paul to pay for much of the cost. At least in the case of the St. Paul ballpark proposal, the city would continue to own the facility, and it would be used for things like high school baseball, so I guess some public funding would be in order, but we got hit with enough of a hard-sell in 2001, that I’m still suspicious.
- Meanwhile, in Florida, the corpse of MATRIX is barely cold, having only been shut down on April 15th, and already Florida Planning Son of Matrix. Another case where bad ideas just won’t die, especially once there’s a tax-financed bureaucracy put in place that’s feeding off the boondoggle. [wired]
- On a lighter note, how do I feel about Transparent Duct Tape? Well, I’m not sure. But they claim it holds better than the silver stuff, so it may be time to do some investigating. There are some applications where I’m pretty sure I’d be all for transparent duct tape. [fark!]
