Well you can see how democracy breaks down, when the prospect of hundreds of millions of dollars flutters in the breeze. The last two speakers from the public, before the city commissioners closed the public hearing, represented the Latin Builders and the Latin American Business Associations. What a surprise. They spoke about jobs and construction from rote memory: it might as well have been any point in time along a continuum stretching back decades. It is such a familiar script. (I can't wait to learn how many families in Little Havana will be able to afford the cost of taking their families to Marlins' season games. Please click 'read more'.)
Like Michelle Spence Jones, the city commissioner who might have provided a dissenting vote, I have no special feeling for baseball. I appreciated Jones' effort to get commitments to her district, Overtown, on the record, but if past experience is any benefit: those promises, the promisers and tapes will vanish in the same breeze as brought money from specific hands into specific hands.
A lot of the sting in the Marlins' deal would have been alleviated if the owners pledged to build the stadium themselves. In that case, the profit they would make when they flip the property would be legitimately theirs. But the salt in the wound is that the Marlins private owners will be able to extract hundreds of millions of profit, when the club is sold, if the values of professional sports teams are anything near to where they are, today. That is not a given, however.
There is no loyalty in professional sports, when it comes to owners and venues.
What I remember most clearly, are the promises and profits from the old Miami Arena, made an instant relic by the new home of the Miami Heat but not before prominent lobbyists extracted their gains from exclusive rights to parking facilities next to the Arena. It won't be any different this time. What's a trough for, if not for feeding?
12 comments:
Marc Sarnoff made a huge mistake by voting for the no-bid. He knew that the Stadium could not move forward without the no-bid provisions, and he voted for it anyways. He is having his cake and eating it too. His no vote on the initial resolution means nothing. His yes vote on the second kept this deal alive, and he knows it. Very disappointed!
Agreed. That means a deal was probably cut so he can appear to have opposed, when he really was the necessary vote on the no-bid to make the stadium happen.
I am sorry that the 3 Amigos (Angel Gonzalez, Joe Sanchez & Michelle Spence-Jones) voted for the Marlins Stadium but it was pretty much predicted they would line up with Manny Diaz.
I was very surprised and disappointed that Marc Sarnoff had a chance to vote against the no-bid contract but voted for it.
Our only hope left for this fiasco to end will be if the economy gets so bad that the bonds don’t sell well enough.
All of this aggravation could have been spared if a referendum had been permitted by the City of Miami to let the citizen’s vote.
Judge Cohan had a great opportunity to make things right by authorizing a referendum but she also failed us.
How can our leaders look at us with a straight face and claim Transparency when we citizens are not permitted to vote on the Stadium Deal.
I also resent the fact that this Mega Scam Marlins Stadium deal was packages along with the Tunnel and Museum.
All three issues should have been voted on by the citizens separately.
If Spence-Jones and the other Amigos are so concerned about finding jobs for their constituents, then they should do something positive in their districts to develop many more new employment opportunities.
Buildings a stadium for a wealthy for-profit company to offer rich ball players a great work environment and rich folks entertainment is not the best way to generate jobs for those needy constituents.
I have known Tomas Regalado for 30 years.
I used to sell Spanish Language Radio ads at his then station WQBA.
He is a great guy and shall make a great Mayor for Miami.
His NO votes against the 3 Amigos and Manny Diaz have been proven time and again to be the correct votes for our city, when the cases reached the courts.
Tomas was correct to be against the rezoning of Mercy Hospital, the Fire Fee, the claim that the Miami River is dead and permitting Home Depot to enter Coconut Grove.
I plan to do all I can to get Regalado elected Mayor and Beba Mann elected to the soon to be empty Sanchez seat and District 3 Commissioner.
If you wish to help elect Regalado and Mann FOR A BETTER MIAMI, then please feel free to contact me.
Harry Emilio Gottlieb
hgplace@bellsouth.net
Marc Sarnoff should have stepped up and done the right thing and he struck out.
We all knew this was going to happen!
How about that Joe Sanchez? What a chump. He has no idea how badly he just screwed the City.
Joe Sanchez is a good man in a bad situation. You shouldn't judge ANY politician by a single decision they make. The others on the commission, however, well, I can't say enough about their evil.
And next comes the county commission and the beloved mayor.
Joe Sanchez looked like a paid shill reading from a script. I think Joe was wearing a name tag stating "Joe Sanchez - Latin Builders Assoc Lobbyist".
I guess no one told Joe money does not grow on trees.
Money DOES grow on taxpayer owned trees.
Joe Sanchez should try getting a full-time job in the private sector. Let him trying making a living without having a no-show job with a City of Miami paycheck to prop him up. Let him try to make a living like a normal person. I bet he would get pretty pissed at stupid elected officials giving away his money to privately owned out-of-state companies. Or does Joe have a job lined up working for the Marlins?
Michelle Spence-Jones is too stupid to realize she could have gotten the Marlins onto the former Miami Arena site. That would have provided jobs for her people in Overtown. Further, the Miami Arena site is on the tax rolls unlike the Orange Bowl site. That means millions of dollars could have been created in Park West and Overtown to benefit those areas. She is an idiot for letting that chance slip away. But everyone knows she only thinks of getting re-elected and she is too dumb to see the big picture.
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