Winnipeg Reports on Marlins' Stadium Deal and Our Flushing Sewage Along Our Coast by Geniusofdespair

Weather aside, Miami is more like Winnipeg than you might think - By: Bartley Kives from Winnipeg Free Press - February 23
If it weren't for the palm trees and half-naked models lounging on the sand, it would be easy to mistake Florida's largest city for the capital of Manitoba. No, my brain hasn't gotten soft after spending a week in the land of stone crab and Cuban coffee.

But last week's headlines in the Miami Herald suggest there are some eerie similarities between industrial, sub-Arctic Winnipeg and the Day-Glo, sub-tropical city on Biscayne Bay.

For starters, the good citizens of Miami are engaged in a stadium debate. They're also contending with the painful prospect of upgrading their wastewater treatment system to the tune of several billion dollars.

A quick scan of the Feb. 17 edition of the Herald is all it takes to reveal Winnipeg's true civic doppelgänger. Let's start with the front page:
"Magic number for stadium? A deal in the works by the city, county and the Florida Marlins would provide money for a Miami stadium opening by 2011."

In a plan that parallels David Asper's desire to build a new home for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on the current site of Canad Inns Stadium, Major League Baseball's Marlins are trying to shore up government funding for a new stadium that would stand on the site of what's now the Orange Bowl.

Asper's plan for a stadium/retail complex comes with a $147-million price tag, with the would-be Canadian Football League owner contributing $65 million of his own cash. The feds and province have been asked to share the balance of the remaining $80 million, though it's still unclear whether Ottawa or Broadway is willing to pony up that kind of cash.

The Marlins' stadium, meanwhile, would cost a whopping US$525 million, with the team contributing $155 million. Miami-Dade County would be on the hook for $347 million, while the City of Miami's share of this expensive cookie would be $24 million.

The buildings themselves share some similarities, too. Both proposed facilities would hold about 40,000 people and come with retractable covers -- for the field in Winnipeg during the frigid winter, and for the roof in Miami during the summer thunderstorm season.

Both deals involve assurances the Bombers and Marlins will not leave their respective cities, and both involve intense negotiations behind the scenes.

But the key difference between the two plans is the source of the government cash. In Miami, taxes and fees paid by tourists would make up most of the public contribution, leaving Miami residents largely off the hook.

Such a plan is possible in South Florida, one of the top tourist destinations in North America, where extra fees are attached to everything from hotels to car rentals.

In Winnipeg, the destination marketing fee recently proposed by local hoteliers would not create a kitty large enough to build a new stadium.

Perhaps we could tax every person on skates who takes part in a Guinness record attempt on the Assiniboine River. But the waterway leads us to the front of the local news section in the Miami Herald:

"Lawmakers: Quit flushing into Atlantic; State lawmakers this week will begin reviewing a timetable for Miami-Dade and Broward (counties) to end decades of discharging wastewater into the ocean."

Less than a decade after Manitoba ordered Winnipeg to stop spilling undertreated sewage into its waterways in an effort to clean up Lake Winnipeg, the Florida government is telling Miami-Dade County to do the same to protect Atlantic Ocean coral reefs and marine life.

Winnipeg's wastewater upgrades will likely cost the city $1.8 billion by the time all the components are in place in 2030. In Miami-Dade, the price tag attached to the state-ordered upgrades is expected to be $2 billion by 2025.

In both cities, municipal politicians are grumbling that water-and-sewer bills will double, while provincial and state officials are concerned about the effects of nitrogen and phosphorus -- the two most problematic byproducts of human and industrial waste -- on the ecosystems of Lake Winnipeg and the Atlantic Ocean.

And in both cities, average citizens seem more concerned about beach closures resulting from high levels of waste bacteria, even though the science linking sewage dumping with E. coli problems is anything but conclusive in both Manitoba and Florida.

It's also interesting to note skeptics in both Winnipeg and Miami are trying to cast doubt on the effects of nutrient loading on underwater ecosystems -- while stone-faced government officials plainly note it's no longer acceptable to drain your toilets into the same place people swim and fish.

The lesson here is not that Miami and Winnipeg are identical. Try wearing a Speedo out of the house this weekend and you'll quickly notice a bit of a difference.

It's just that wherever you go in North America, cities face the same sorts of issues.

Sure, Miami keeps an eye on whatever's happening in Havana, while Winnipeg is more concerned with Kiev and Manila. But people in both cities grumble about the way their taxes are spent, regardless of whether they put on sunscreen or a tuque on the way to work in the morning.