Posted on 08/30/2011 5:17:33 PM PDT by ConservativeStatement
Left-leaning activists and a vocal alliance of tea party conservatives are banding together with a common outlook: Public funding for private football stadiums makes little sense during a sour economy, they say, and the people, not lawmakers, should have the final vote.
The Ramsey County Charter Commission will meet Wednesday to discuss putting a question before voters about using a half-percent countywide sales tax to fund the proposed $1.1 billion Minnesota Vikings stadium, and meeting foes from the left and right are expected to attend.
The question probably won't make it to voters before the November 2012 election, but the support of the Charter Commission would at the very least further energize anti-stadium critics.
"The people of Ramsey County voted for the charter 20 years ago," said Andy Cilek, co-founder and president of the conservative-allied Minnesota Voters Alliance. "What comes with that? The right of referendum - the right to vote."
(Excerpt) Read more at twincities.com ...
L.A. Vikings !?
public funds should never be spent on private purposes.
That would rival “Utah Jazz” in a sense.
Yaaa, but think of all the real jobs it will create.. probably quite a few union ones too.. the old ammo plant site is perfect..
Public funding for private football stadiums makes no more sense during a sound economy.
The Los Angeles Lakers were originally the Minneapolis Lakers. Lakers made sense in Minnesota, the land of 10,000 lakes.
Sometimes nicknames change when teams move to another city. The Texas Rangers were originally the Washington Senators. The Minnesota Twins were the original Washington Senators franchise. The Tennessee Titans were the Tennessee Oilers for one season after moving from Houston, then adopted the Titans nickname. The Seattle Pilots became the Milwaukee Brewers when they moved to Milwaukee, adopting the old minor league team nickname for the beer city of Milwaukee.
Yep, it’s funny that the New Orleans Jazz remained the Jazz after moving to Utah.
Stadiums .... we don’t need no stinking taxpayer funded stadiums.
It fits perfectly with all the Jazz you hear in Utah from Donny Osmond and The Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
Trivia time: What current NFL team was once known as the Boston Braves?
The answer is: The Washington Redskins were once known as the Boston Braves. Then they were the Boston Redskins, and moved to Washington and became the Washington Redskins.
I have to pass on this one, don’t know who the Ironmen were.
I don’t know the college team but that was the name of Pittsburgh’s pro basketball team in the pre-NBA days.
Iowa Hawkeyes.
Some argue that the economic potential of a given project is worthy of public fund investment. Whether that's true or not is not my interest.
As the mayor, (or whatever public official) I would lease the (at least the land) project to the private developers, and lock in future revenues (or their foreclosure) from the privateers. Public contribution would be recovered first, as part of the lease agreement, and default would favor the public inasmuch as title to the entire project is yielded in case of a default.
If the economic potential is there, a bank would be doing that. No public funds would be needed.
Public funding for private football stadiums makes little sense during a sour economy......or any other time.
A VERY sore spot for me. Sometimes stadiums are torn down, while they are still being paid off, like Riverfront in Cincy, and the Kingdome in Seattle. Then they build a fresh new one at many multiples of the cost of the perfectly fine facilities that once stood. The original Vikings stadium, outdoors, too cold, lets build the Metrodome so we can have an indoor team for the Vikings and the Twins. Oooh, we hate the sterile indoor stadium feel. Lets build TWO outdoor stadiums!
Yaaa, but think of all the real jobs it will create.. probably quite a few union ones too.. the old ammo plant site is perfect..
Ever wonder why all that land, prime land, in a good suburb has been sitting empty all this time.
It’s a super fund site. Only government would want it.
http://www.epa.gov/reg5sfun/sfd/npl/minnesota/MN7213820908.htm
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