By
Alvaro F. Fernandez Read Spanish Version
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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 ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
City of Miami Mayor Manny Diaz ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
County Commissioner Barbara Jordan ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
County Commissioner Dorrin Rolle ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
County Commissioner Audrey Edmonson ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
County Commissioner Bruno Barreiro ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
County Commissioner Rebeca Sosa ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
County Commissioner Dennis Moss ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
County Commissioner Javier Souto ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
County Commissioner Pepe Diaz ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
County Commissioner Natacha Seijas ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
City Commissioner Angel Gonzalez ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
City Commissioner Joe Sanchez ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
City Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
