Response to Mayor Alvarez' Letter printed here Sept. 1st:
Should the Marlins have been insolvent or defaulted due to poor financial condition, the hue and cry you're hearing now would seem like a caressing whisper in your ear compared to the tumult that would have resulted.
Mr. Mayor, to quote your letter:
"...it should come as no surprise - in fact, a great comfort - that the team's balance sheets reflect the financial wherewithal to honor its commitments".
I'm sure it was of great comfort to you, since you really didn't know what the team's balance sheet reflected when you cut the deal.
That's the travesty here. You, despite all of your information from "other sources", didn't know what the Marlins' balance sheet looked like because you failed to insist it was a deal breaker when they refused to provide it.
The real story of this laissez-faire approach to handling the people's money is, "What if the Marlins' balance sheet DID NOT reflect the financial wherewithal to honor its commitments?
To quote you again; "...any lender would demand a strong bottom line from a company seeking a transaction of that size."
Sir, Miami-Dade County and the City of Miami ARE the lenders in this case! You did NOT demand proof of a strong bottom line from a company seeking a huge grant at the expense of the taxpayers you serve. Should the Marlins have been insolvent or defaulted due to poor financial condition, the hue and cry you're hearing now would seem like a caressing whisper in your ear compared to the tumult that would have resulted.
No matter what state of health your "research from other sources" revealed to you about the the financial condition of the Marlins, you have a fiduciary responsibility to your shareholders (us), your board of directors (us again), and your stakeholders (us three times) to protect our interests, which should the interests of the county at all times.
I have the ultimate respect for your distinguished law enforcement career and your desire to serve us as mayor, and I believe you have done a good job for the most part, in difficult times. However, your failure to insist the Marlins provide you with basic information that would allow you to carry out your fiduciary responsibility in an apposite manner; and then inexplicably continue with the deal thereafter, is such an egregious abdication of your responsibility to the electorate you serve, that it renders you in my opinion, unfit for the office you hold.
19 comments:
In fact, the ostensible reason some commissioners insisted on disclosure from the Marlins was because they feared that the Marlins were telliing the truth: that they were broke.
The sad reality is that the Marlins have plenty of money and could have carried a greater share of the stadium's construction and operating costs.
So now, our community has pledged an enormous share of tourist-related taxes to a business that doesn't attract customers. Even those of us who find baseball terminal must at least root for solid ticket sales to save ourselves. (The county tax payer is the ultimate back stop for this deal.)
But most galling is the constant refrain that "these taxes are limited to stadium purposes, more or less." The legislature, which authorized these taxes, limited the purposes based on tne county's request to do so.
All Miami-Dade had to do was ask for the purposes to be widened to allow for spending on other big problems. Our leaders never asked and in fact fought efforts to allow other uses to be paid from these funds.
The Marlins have given new meaning to stealing home.
Myth #1: Spending tourist tax dollars on this deal does not impact tax paying residents.
Truth: poor investments will hurt this county to its core because they divert funds from good investments that will support the local economy.
Myth #2: County officials did not know the whole story about the Marlin's finances
Truth: County officials were too stupid (or complicit) to get the whole story about the Marlin's finances
Judging from the past I would say they were and still are too stupid. In all fairness an envelope full of unmarked bills could make anybody due stupid things!
The county knew that they didn't want to know all the answers. Alvarez and Burgess were in a nutcracker and they wanted plausible deniability all the way around.
It was recently reported that Jeffrey Loria, the owner of the Marlins, just spent over $20 Mil to buy a vacation mansion in Southhampton, NY. He used the profits from the Marlins. For some reason the Marlins did not have a penny to pay rent on the 1 million square foot stadium. (The County is loaning them the rent money.) Think George Burgess feels like an idiot?
"I believe you have done a good job for the most part, in difficult times."
G.O.D.
Are you a G.O.D. from a paralell Miami Dade County? Has the vile thumb taken over you? Did you hit your head on the boogie board? or are you just sniffing some mayoral methane?
Mayor Alvarez hasn't done crap for we the taxpayers the only thing he's done is defend the over staffed institutions and their underworked/overpaid employees at our expense.
No if, ands or methane excreting butts.
"I'm mad as hell and I can't take the smell of methane anymore!"
I did not write this Cato.
Wow!!! thank G.O.D. it wasn't you....
Has your thumb grown anymore? If it has I suggest sleeping with it wrapped in a picture of Carlos Gimenes, if that doesn't work hold a cross to it or dip it in garlic.
Thumb is not swelling anymore thanks for asking. Hard to type. Hope I don't lose the nail. Gross.
CATO and Genius:
Get a room!
Thanks Malcolm. You made me laugh today...
You now have protected status for the month of September.
does anyone realize how hard George Burgess (the Napolean at County Hall) worked on this deal so that he can be immortalized as the guy who gave us a publicly funded baseball stadium? This story isn't just about the Marlins hiding information about their financial solvency. It is about "deal makers" gone wild.
In the meantime, the public opinion of Miami residents and Miami-Dade County residents be damned.
Why do millionaires get millions to play a game? Imagine if their were this kind of political will to fund education in the State of Florida...just imagine!
George Burgess should never work on any "deal". Does George Burgess know that the Marlins Canadian owner just bought a mansion for $20 mil in Southhampton, New York? Smarty pants George did not even require the Marlins to pay rent on the $3.5 Bil stadium. Dingbat George made Miami-Dade County, the taxpayers, lend the Marlins the rent money.
George,
the Marlins can afford $20 mil vacation homes, how come you didn't make them pay rent to us?
I wonder if this will happen here:
As Stadiums Vanish, Their Debt Lives On
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/08/sports/08stadium.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=print
Genius, a man wearing a giant codpiece once said "Mission Accomplished". That sentiment speaks for me now.
Bet CATO didn't laugh. Any chance you could cut him off for a month or six? It would have a profound effect on global warming.
This goes way beyond just Miami-Dade. If you are interested in the devastating effect of these sports stadiums and arenas built with public money for wealthy owners, check out Dave Zirin's new book.
http://bbpbooks.teachingforchange.org/book/9781416554752
Page One story in the NY Times Sept 8th. Cities all over America are forced to pay debt service on stadiums that have been demolished.
Marlins Stadium and Garage will cost at least $3.5 BILLION.
Carlos Alvarez and George Burgess sold out the Miami-Dade taxpayers.
That will be Miami too. We will never pay off that amount debt before the stadium has outlived it's usefulness and is demolished to make way for something bigger and better.
Burgess is no idiot (Alvarez, maybe). This whole thing needs to be investigated.
Post a Comment