David Beckham rep: Soccer stadium without parking a ‘good bet to make’ ... by gimleteye

A sports stadium without parking in Overtown? Really, David Beckham reps? Someone please explain how this makes any sense at all.

School Board Will Get to Own Beckham's Major League Soccer Stadium. By Geniusofdespair

Will he wear the Miami Dade school uniform?

According to Doug Hanks of the Miami Herald:

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez has reportedly told David Beckham's representatives that he will not object to Miami partnering with the school system to build a soccer stadium, despite the obvious political play his camp sees for the mayor's 2016 opponent: Raquel Regalado, a school board member and daughter of Miami's mayor.

In a private meeting with soccer negotiators Monday, Gimenez was told of the potential deal, which would have Miami-Dade's school system own the stadium. Until then, the plan was for Miami-Dade itself to own the stadium in order to spare Beckham from having to pay property taxes.

This gives school kids all sorts of advantages. They get to use the stadium for their events and they are putting in a track for them. The School Board is not paying money. School Superintendent Carvalho is negotiating other details. I guess the kids will be walking billboards for the stadium with T Shirts etc. Are they going to buy uniforms for our kids? 

Major League Soccer wanted Beckham's to  do a REAL educational component at the stadium. That is how the School Board got involved. The School Board now spend over $300,000 rent a year for hosting events and graduations at other venues. The school board will be able to stage them at the stadium and televise school events such as battle of the bands.  Carvalho also wants a magnet school on the site paid for by the Soccer franchise. The school board admits they get nothing from the other stadiums and teams because of deals they didn't make.

Beckham United is going to pay to build it but the School Board will own the stadium so they can make it tax exempt. The County agreed it would be tax exempt early on so the School Board lost that revenue because of the County.  They make no revenue from any of the stadiums, and they wish they had a say in that but they don't. The question remaining was would it be tax exempt by the School Board or The County. The School Board opted to take it on to at least get the rental savings for large events (could total half a million at least).

The soccer franchise Fusion didn't succeed because it had no fan base. That is why Major League Soccer wants this educational partnership. It will help with the fan base and create good vibes in the community for the franchise. It is a win for our students. The Miami Heat pays lip service to our school kids, having a team member paying a visit once in awhile to a school. This one is a real partnership where the schools will have USE of the building.

The Miami Herald wrote about this today, they said a city referendum is going to take place.

More on David Beckham: Miami needs a miracle … by gimleteye

The Miami Herald reports that the David Beckham investor group, twice jilted in its quest for cheap downtown Miami waterfront real estate, is now aiming for greener pasture in nearby Broward County.

EOM criticized the downtown Miami plan for two reasons, entirely independent of the question whether another sports stadium on Biscayne Bay is an appropriate land use given the decades of surrendering public access to commercial developers: 1) traffic access to Biscayne Boulevard is irredeemable screwed up by past land use decisions and 2) soccer supporters who would actually attend games don't live in condo high rises: they live mostly in western suburbs.

That the Beckham group so quickly diverted to a potential location in suburban Broward with excellent highway access affirms critics who argued that the soccer stadium plan in downtown Miami was a fig leaf or merkin whose downside risk was poor attendance but whose upside potential was real estate development. Spokesmen like Neisen Kasden are paid handsomely to mask base motives as something glorious, but eventually -- and in this case only after a few weeks -- the truth will come out.

As for the Beckham group's claim, in the Herald, that an alternative site -- near the Miami Marlin's stadium -- is "spiritually tainted?

We couldn't agree more, even if the site is the best location in Miami-Dade for another sports stadium. Raising the specter of the deal supported by the Miami Herald, taxpayers are on the hook for the worst professional sports stadium compact in US history, to eventually cost more than $3 billion.

But there must be a way for to cleanse the location and its demons.

EOM suggests a voter petition to incumbent county commissioners who voted for the Marlins stadium. Although voters recalled the county mayor, Carlos Alvarez, who shepherded the deal through to completion, the incumbent county commissioners who approved the deal have paid no political price at all at the polls.

So EOM recommends voters to request their elected county commissioners like Javier Souto to pray hard and pray together, lead perhaps by another pro-stadium incumbent Pepe Diaz, calling on a higher power, a muscular presence to remove the stigma and bring Beckham back to Miami.

To bring Beckham back to Miami, we need a superhero. Who could you call on, county commissioners?

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2013/01/23/recalled-miami-mayor-flexes-for-camera-as-bodybuilding-champion/

Tall Ship Eagle Came June 14. It Docked at the FEC Slip that County Mayor Gimenez is dying to fill in Against The Will of the People and City of Miami Officials. By Geniusofdespair

The USCGC Eagle (WIX-327) (formerly the SSS Horst Wessel) is a 295-foot (90 m) barque used as a training cutter for future officers of the United States Coast Guard. She is the only active commissioned steel hulled sailing vessel in American military service. She is the seventh U.S. Navy or Coast Guard ship to bear the name in a line dating back to 1792. Each summer, Eagle conducts cruises with cadets from the United States Coast Guard Academy and candidates from the Officer Candidate School for periods ranging from a week to two months. These cruises fulfill multiple roles; the primary mission is training the cadets and officer candidates, but the ship also performs a public relations role. Often, Eagle makes calls at foreign ports as a goodwill ambassador.

Built as the German training vessel Horst Wessel in 1936, it served to train German sailors in sail techniques until decommissioned at the start of the war. Given anti-aircraft armament it was re-commissioned in 1942. At the end of the war Horst Wessel was taken by the US as war reparations.

This is where the Soccer Stadium was wanted by David Beckham and Mayor Gimenez. They wanted to fill the slip. Since the City owns the slip, they nixed the deal. People were free to go on board the vessel for a tour.  The salon has been restored to the way it was decorated when Hitler Christened the Eagle. Howard Slotnick of Op Sail New York (he was the Op Sail Vice President and Seaport Trustee) is going to encourage more Tall Ships to visit Miami's FEC Slip.


Mayor Reglado at the soft opening of Museum Park and the Arrival of the Eagle. Everyone was in a festive mood when the Mayor said NO to the Soccer stadium on the waterfront.

School Superintendent Alberto Carvalho with the Lovely School Board Member Raquel Regalado.

Grateful Citizens

Bicentennial/Museum Park - not as ugly as Mayor Gimenez thinks.

A Civic Uprising, The Beckham Retreat, Brazil Defeats Croatia … by gimleteye

IN Miami one can hope -- in fact, all one really has is hope -- that the civic uprising that brought so many voices to push back against the plan to site a new professional sports stadium at Museum Park is a sign of Miami's maturation. Unlikely.

Still, Miami's political leaders finally figured out it was OK to say no. No to wealthy celebrities, no to well-heeled developers instead of giving away the waterfront for a song or putting taxpayers in the hole, again. (Now comes the Nail Clipper Building By The Bay.)

It took a concentration of civic energy to object loudly enough to the Beckham plan to get the point across to decision makers. In Miami it takes a lot to get everyone pulling the oars at the same time in the same direction.

The planning of the city, with little care for public space or efficient transit or parks, never matured beyond its goal to be a destination resort. Despite the banks, the high finance, the trade with the Americas, Miami hasn't grown up. Its suburbs are layered like indifferent coats of paint.

Governance is an after thought, despite the fact it has such profound consequences on daily life. Most people don't even know the names of county commissioners or the mayor. As a civics lesson, connecting the dots is not a strong part of Miami's curriculum.

Perhaps the Beckham people finally read the blogs and the many, many reader comments that predicted a tough battle ahead for the FEC slip site. For example, it would have taken years to get through the permitting process to fill the site. The monkey-wrenchers would have had plenty of money from the condo owners to gum up the works. Comparatively speaking, it was a small beans.

The Beckham group says it is taking a breather. Now all that civic energy can be turned to the plan by Florida Power and Light to build two new nuclear reactors at sea level at Turkey Point and high voltage power lines up the US 1 Corridor.

Meanwhile the World Cup is off to a stuttering start in Brazil. There may be no model of governance less attuned to public opinion than FIFA, football's organizing entity. It is accountable to no one, apparently. It is run by its own oligarch, Sepp Blattner, who controls a very, very rich kingdom by doling out favors and tolerating corruption in its ranks. FIFA would be at home in Miami, but the culture is so much more refined in Switzerland and the food and wine is better.

The man of the match for Brazil against Croatia was Oscar, a young twenty something who plays for Chelsea in the Premier League. Chelsea's boss is Roman Abramovitch, a Russian oligarch. His manager is Jose Mourinho who played his young Brazilian intermittently through the season. Yesterday Oscar was the only footballer on the pitch who controlled the ball and made something of each possession. He disrupted the Croatian midfield and made brilliantly timed passes into the center where other stars seemed unable to match their hulk. Finally Oscar broke through himself and scored the third goal. Take that, Mourinho.

It was a victory for Brazil and that's all that mattered to tens of millions of frenzied fans. Meanwhile, Iraq and the Middle East are dissolving in the remnants of our trillion dollar investment; your taxes and mine. David Beckham, scarcely forty, watches from the stands or his television, like the rest of us, wishing it could be different.

Andres Viglucci Herald Reporter on the Beckham Soccer Stadium on the Waterfront. by Geniusofdespair

Mayor Carlos Gimenez calls the Historic FEC slip "not beautiful to look at" I call it a rare opportunity to see the aquatic preserve from Downtown.

I think Andres Viglucci wrote the definitive article on filling in the Historic FEC slip to put up the Beckham Soccer Stadium.  I especially like Terry Riley's quotes:

In a dissection of the Beckham plan during an interview, Terence Riley, a prominent architect who as director of the former Miami Art Museum guided the development of the lavishly praised and heavily visited PAMM, called the stadium site plan “mind-boggling,” “preposterous,” “misguided” and “kind of crazy.”

“I can’t understand the urban logic behind it,” said Riley, former chief curator of architecture at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. “I’ve done a lot of research on stadiums and arenas, and, no matter what is promised, they are virtually always empty.

“The only population it would bring is a very large crowd on occasion, and that’s not what the park needs. It simply doesn’t fulfill its promise as a large urban park,” Riley said. “This puts a bad light on whoever’s advising them.

“Show me another example of an American city that after all this thoughtful planning and strategizing just sets it aside. It doesn’t exist. This is not the way urban planners who are experts in reviving cities would do things. This would be considered anathema.”

Why I keep calling the FEC slip historic:

Magazine of the Historic FEC Slip when it is was a Submarine Chaser Training Center in 1943.

Andres Viglucci has been with the Miami Herald since 1984 and remains one of the paper's best writers.

Andres Viglucci from Random Pixels.blogspot.com

Save the green and blue space for our residents Mayor Gimenez and Mayor Regalado! Put a moratorium on helping Arena's and Stadium's till you can balance your budgets without a sleigh of hand.

City of Miami Commissioner Frank Carollo is pissed over the Historic FEC Slip! By Geniusofdespair

BREAKING NEWS: STUPID WATERFRONT BECKHAM SOCCER STADIUM

 

The Bayfront Park Management Trust governs the slip.  Frank Carollo is the chairman of the trust. Without warning TODAY the Trust was given documents taking the slip's governance away from the Trust.  I suppose they were expected to approve and execute them.

Apparently Frank does not like to be blindsided. He was shouting in English and in Spanish. Other members of the Trust were aghast but no one was as vocal as Frank Carollo Chairman of the Trust. Members include Marlene Avalo, Alex Cardenas, Pedro R. Diaz, Ralph Duharte, Jeanie Hernandez, Nathan R. Kurland, Marie Louissaint and Jesse Manzano.

I do not know where the document came from but I assume the Mayor's office. This freight train for a David Beckham soccer stadium on the waterfront is going to be hard to stop with all the idiot elected officials we have.  Frank, stay strong, don't fold. Don't wall off our waterfront.

The Army Corps of Engineers has told me that they would have to review this project if any filling of the bay is involved. Unless built on uplands, they said they have jurisdiction and they have not received an application on filling in the Historic FEC slip. That process likely would take over a year.

Also see Al Crespo on this....

Beckham Stadium on Biscayne (filling in the slip). By Geniusofdespair

ALSO READ BENDING OVER FOR DAVID BECKHAM BY AL CRESPO

 A Chevy for a Cadillac? A People’s Club?

The Urban Environment League Condemns the Soccer Stadium/Wall Against the Waterfront in Downtown Miami --A Resolution by the UEL’s Board of Directors

Contact: Gregory Bush, Vice President: 305-926-5001; publicbush@gmail.com

While explaining why the plan for the new soccer stadium in Miami’s FEC slip (and Bicentennial Park) was so valuable for residents, David Beckham’s adviser David Altschuler recently said that trading a Chevy for a Cadillac should be a “pretty fair transaction.” His comment underscores a fundamentally elitist misunderstanding of the needs of our community under the mantle of attracting a major league soccer team to Miami. Such a notion of status is not the central issue to define this issue, nor is Michael Putney’s recent assertion that soccer legend David Beckham strikes him as a “regular guy” as a rationalization for deference. The stadium - in the last open space in downtown Miami - is wrong because it insults any sense of smart urban design in contemporary times by deferring to a soccer legend as a front man for financial backers. How dumb can we be - again?

The UEL strongly condemns the action by City and County Mayors in strong-arming a hastily drawn plan to wall off more of our long forlorn downtown waterfront against residents in favor of a Major League Soccer stadium. While some of the arguments in favor of the stadium in the FEC slip strike us as old and tired, it is important that we remember what we have experienced – and forgotten - in the recent history of attempts by sports corporations to “take” our rare public waterfront through complex formulas that disguise the theft of public space for private interests. The UEL believes that the public is, finally, tired of these games and will show their anger to public officials over the coming months in a variety of ways.

Beckham's Soccer Stadium: The Neighbors (VOTERS) Are Pissed Off! By Geniusofdespair

Historic Boat Slip From the 1920's (Then the Port) - David Beckham's Group Wants to Fill It In. By the way, the green in the background is the Everglades.

I went to a meeting of the neighbors around Bicentennial Park and the Downtown Neighbor Alliance. Apparently it is not just me and environmentalists who do not want the slip filled in. And, by the way, that article in the Miami Herald today was a total insult to PEOPLE IN MIAMI. They had the nerve to say they were taking our Chevy and giving us a Cadillac (In their distorted view). We want our Chevy and we don't think it is a Chevy, it is a Rolls Royce to us! This is not a nimby thing. It is a quality of life question. People want a quiet place to sit and walk by the water. Parcel B is anything but quiet. I have been there, the traffic noise is pretty bad. Let that be our dog park or our soccer field. Someone should tell the Beckham's Group Parcel B is already OUR park and so is the slip. They aren't increasing anything they are decreasing our park space. Fuzzy math doesn't work here. They are stealing our park space for their 10 story stadium (and I still think it will turn into gambling on that first level). People scoff but just wait. Adelson of the Sands was in partnership with Beckham on other deals.

Coconut Grove, Brickell, the upper East Side and the new building inhabitants across the street from the park want their park space...all of it. And they want the historical boat slip to be kept as water (duh moment). They don't want about 10,000 truckloads of fill. These are voters, pissed voters. Marc Sarnoff you had better be listening if your lovely wife is following in your footsteps to the commission and Francis Suarez, if you want to be mayor, you had better be listening too.  This is such a colossal bad idea I can't even comprehend it and neither can the people of district 2 and 5. Keon Hardemon's constituents also benefit from this park where they can picnic and fish by the water.

Everyone is talking to David Beckhams, the interloper, maybe they should take some time to listen to the voters who think the stadium should be inland. There are thousands of voters against this bad idea. They say put it somewhere else. It is not just Royal Caribbean that has a voice. People do too. LISTEN TO THEM! You will be hearing from them Miami! Their message: Don't mess with parks and our green and blue space!

It is not just the thousands of people in these building that are mad. There is now a coalition. Also note the buildings on the right side of photo. This is quite a lot of people. If you go in the other direction there are thousands more.

This is where they want the stadium (historic slip on the right). The park has been closed for renovation, it is just getting ready to open. Of course no one was using it during the work being done. Bicentennial Park is not that big (29 acres) they want to take a big chunk of a small park with two museums already on it.

I added these for this idiot in comments.... go to the link

Freaky Friday story of the day: Miami police recruit charged with identity theft while bigger interests lay plans to expropriate more of Biscayne Bay … by gimleteye

The general public is in an uproar over the soccer stadium deal. Meanwhile a rather pungent story crossed the Miami Herald's ticker tape: "After graduating from the Miami Police Academy, recruit is busted for identity theft."

"Yurien Martinez Gallardo, 34, had just graduated from the six-month training program at the Miami Police Academy, but had yet to hit the streets with a field training officer, according to the department.

“He hadn’t even been sworn in yet,” said Miami police spokesman Delrish Moss.

The U.S. Secret Service, which investigates identity theft, arrested Martinez. He was charged along with 19 other defendants, most of whom had worked in the wireless communications industry.

A conspiracy indictment accuses them of stealing the personal information of customers, including Social Security numbers, to buy cellular phones at discounted prices and resell them for a profit."

So, where would Mr. Gallardo get the idea that cell phone fraud was a good idea for a police recruit?

Way back in 2011, the Miami-Dade Police Department itself was targeted with a DOJ investigation of the mis-use of $24 million, money generated through fines against polluters and law breakers. We wrote about it at the time and so did the Herald, "… the police department is flatly rebuffing two IG recommendations: that it stop using green-fund money to pay expenses such as monthly cellphone and aircard bills, and that it repay the misused public dollars. "We continue to stand by our original recommendations that the Trust Funds be reimbursed," Mazzella said in a Dec. 21 memo to (then mayor Carlos) Alvarez. The police department isn't obligated to follow the IG's recommendations, unless the mayor or the county commission act. And there's little push coming from the county executive's office."

When the culture of corruption starts at the top and has filtered even into the ranks of police recruits who haven't been sworn in to duty, it is no wonder that Miami taxpayers are objecting to at any expansion of special interest domination of our politics. The Miami Dade police never did repay the $24 million.

City of Miami wants to do, what? … guest blogger

The City wants to do what?

There is a proposed Charter Amendment coming up on election day on the August 26 ballot that will allow the City Commission to exclude the public from discussions, negotiations, planning and having their say on City Owned Submerged Lands. i.e. eliminating the current requirement in part that any and all waterfront/submerged lands must go for a vote.

Could this have something to do with the proposed soccer stadium downtown at the large slip of water that they want to turn into land?

The ballot reads: "Shall the Miami Charter be changed to allow the City to enter into leases or management agreements, for City-owned submerged lands (lands under water including bay bottoms), with entities having possessory or ownership interest in abutting uplands (lands bordering water) to build marinas, docks or like facilities, using methods adopted by ordinance, on the condition that such leases or management agreements result in a return to the City of at least fair market value?"

Why would anyone want to give up their right to vote and allow the City to decide for them if they currently have the right to vote now? Are they going to then want to choose the Governor and President for me? Maybe they can run my condo board for me, too and decide what I should eat and drink and where I should shop and live. Maybe we can give the City of Miami power of attorney over our lives. They can decide everything for us.

Professional Soccer in Miami: The Beckham tide shifts to the boat slip … by gimleteye

In a strategic shift keeping alive the media storm, the Beckham soccer group is backing off from the Port of Miami site to the boat slip next to the Miami Heat Arena -- a development that has yielded practically no fiscal benefit to Miami-Dade taxpayers at all.

Now readers, we are to understand the new preferred location for a professional soccer stadium will not diminish in any way the spectacular investment in an art museum by one of the world's leading architects next door.

Blocking the view of voters is what Miami elected officials do best. Am I being too pedantic?

Just look at Pepe Diaz, the uncontested county commissioner from West Dade, who has an agenda item today at the county commission (Item 3B2) for two "confidential projects" called "Gemini" needing a few hundred thou for which there is no description because they are presumably "top secret". 

RESOLUTION APPROVING CONFIDENTIAL PROJECT GEMINI AS A TARGETED JOBS INCENTIVE FUND PROGRAM BUSINESS PURSUANT TO THE CODE OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA, CHAPTER 2, ARTICLE LXXXVI, AS MODIFIED BY ORDINANCE NO. 11-08; CONFIRMING THAT THE COMMITMENT OF INCENTIVE AWARDS FOR CONFIDENTIAL PROJECT GEMINI EXISTS; PROVIDING AN APPROPRIATION OF UP TO $269,688.00 FROM GENERAL REVENUE FUNDS FOR FISCAL YEARS 2015 THROUGH 2025 WITH THE PROVISION THAT ANY TAX INCENTIVE GRANTED TO CONFIDENTIAL PROJECT GEMINI UNDER FLORIDA STATUTE 196.1995 REDUCES ANY TARGETED JOBS INCENTIVE FUNDS AWARD TO CONFIDENTIAL PROJECT GEMINI BY THE AMOUNT OF ANY SUCH TAX ABATEMENT GRANTED; AUTHORIZING THE COUNTY MAYOR OR COUNTY MAYOR’S DESIGNEE TO MAKE NON-SUBSTANTIVE MODIFICATIONS OR TO MODIFY THE JOB CREATION AND DISBURSEMENT DATES TIMELINE, AND TO EXECUTE ALL CONTRACTS, AGREEMENTS AND AMENDMENTS, AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE(Regulatory and Economic Resources)

To boring or verbose? LOLZ.

The traffic cluster@#k resulting from the proposed stadium site is, apparently, of no concern to Miami-Dade mayor Carlos Gimenez who boosted the idea to Beckham to get powerful cruise ship executives off his back.

Nor is there any mention that the only way to fill the 25 acre parcel and compact it so the foundation will hold is to excavate more Everglades wetlands, then use the same roadway for thousands of truck hauler trips to haul limestone -- that will have to be thoroughly washed with fresh water -- to Biscayne Boulevard which was why we built a $900 million port tunnel in the first place.

At least the rock miners in West Dade and lawyers will be happy.

An Inconvenient Truth for Miami: Sports Stadiums, Arts Centers, Museums and no way to get there. The Irrefutable Costs of Traffic Gridlock … by gimleteye

The Miami Herald limps to the issue of poor fan attendance to professional sporting events. In its publishers' view -- professional sports are a positive form of civic boosterism, apple as American pie.

But the David Beckham soccer stadium, following on the fiascos of the American Airlines/ Miami Heat and Florida Marlins / Miami Marlins deals, couldn't help but draw attention by the international press to question of Miami's fickle fans for professional sports. Even the UK Guardian football blog questioned the relation of Miami to its sports teams, without getting to the underlying point: you can't GET to the games.

"The Dolphins ranked 21st in attendance at 64,319 per game last season and played to only 85.8 percent capacity — 30th worst in the NFL and ahead of only Washington and Oakland. The Marlins ranked 29th, ahead of only Tampa, in attendance last season, at 19,584 per game. This year’s team is playing better and is averaging 21,865, worst in the National League and 25th overall. The Panthers finished this past season 29th of 30 teams in attendance at 14,177, ahead of only Phoenix."

So here you go, David Beckham and your lobbyists; the cost of gridlock is robbing families across the region of quality of life. If you are spending ten to twenty hours a week commuting to and from work, what are the chances you will want to invest your little remaining free time in a costly professional sporting match or performance?

In the Herald's "David Beckham's Miami soccer gamble: If they build the stadium, will fans come?", the traffic problem in Miami-Dade scarcely rates a yellow light. Never mind commuters from Broward or Palm Beach who would be "discouraged" from driving to games in downtown Miami. How about Coral Gables? I've spent an hour in traffic just trying to get from Biscayne Boulevard to the I95 on-ramp when the Performing Arsht Center lets out! Report THAT! So here you go, international press:

Traffic is the elephant in David Beckham's Miami telly room.

By George! The Herald itself moved to the Broward border in part to liberate capital but also to liberate staff from the terrible costs of commuting through gridlock. (How often is Tom Fiedler, the great proponent of the Marlins Stadium, going to baseball games in Miami?)

Miamians know that a soccer stadium at the Port of Miami will require a commitment at the end of a long work day or week. The game is 90 minutes. What is the time and cost budget for commuting to and from home to a soccer game in the Port of Miami?

For failing to highlight for its readers the irrefutable costs of traffic and poor planning for access to Miami sports and cultural venues, EOM gives the Miami Herald a red card.

County Commissioner Juan Zapata the Voice of Reason on the NEWEST Sports Complex Boondoggle. By Geniusofdespair

I couldn't believe my eyes when I read the newspaper this morning. ANOTHER sports complex wants more money. And guess who their lobbyist is: Jorge Luis Lopez, BFF of Carlos Gimenez. Read the entire story in the Miami Herald. Juan Zapata said of the deal:

Commissioner Juan C. Zapata, whose district includes part of Kendall and western Miami-Dade, slammed the proposed agreement as too generous to the Heat. He cited one provision that would end the county’s ability to collect more revenue if the arena’s naming rights sell for more than $2 million a year once the current agreement with American Airlines ends in 2020.

“It’s a horrible deal,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything so ridiculous.”

I found it interesting that he was briefed by the Mayor's assistant and not the Mayor. Zapata apparently never sees the Mayor.

Gimenez is saying we have a $208 million budget gap but this year he is/was entertaining deals with Billionaire Mickey Arison (Heat), Billionaire Simon Fuller among others (Soccer Stadium) and Billionaire Steve Ross (Dolphins). He should lock his door for sports teams. There should be a sign on his door: No welfare for Billionaires. County Broke. Go elsewhere.

What the hell is wrong with this community? Who can even afford to go to these games? Broward Residents.

Here is the Heat deal proposed or agreed to (depending on who you speak to):

Taking into account the increased subsidies minus the rent the team would pay between now and 2040, the agreement would cost Miami-Dade an additional $121 million through 2040. That’s on top of the $6.4 million the county must pay yearly for the next 15 years under the terms of the 1996 agreement in which Arison financed construction of the $240 million arena. The yearly subsidy would increase to $12 million in 2031 — the first year of the extended lease — and hit $17 million nine years later.

After 14 years of profit sharing with the Heat we collected $300,000. Don't you think they cooked the books. Would you enter into another deal with cheaters? We are talking about funding billionaires when our County is strapped for basic services and Librarians are cast as devils for getting $60 to $70 thousand a year when they have Master's degrees.

Where are our priorities? Why isn't the Mayor talking to County Commissioners? What the hell is going on? $21 thousand a year from the Heat as profit sharing? I don't think so. How can the Mayor do a deal with a team that has been paying us that? It is the Heat bilking the County. I can make a better deal. We are Stadium rich and service poor in Miami Dade County. And I don't like these sports teams trying to blackmail the county with "we will take our team elsewhere". Well go or collect the money from your stupid fans.

More on the Beckham stadium deal: burning the public realm to a crisp … by gimleteye

Here is a little more space to vent on the Beckham stadium deal proposed for PortMiami by a former soccer star fronting for real estate development interests. The Miami Herald -- loves sports stadiums! -- reported "David Beckham makes case to reshape PortMiami with soccer stadium".

"At a morning press briefing, Beckham aide John Alschuler, a top real estate consultant in New York, revealed selected details from a traffic study he said is the most comprehensive ever performed at the port. He declined to release it, saying the final version would be made public in about a month." Oh boy.

Beware developers who quote reports that aren't ready to be released. Why do they do this? Because they are afraid that the report would become the story. Too bad the Herald doesn't say so.

Beckham soccer stadium enthusiasts seek to persuade Miami
of their concern for "the public realm"

The presentation worth quoting but not revealing showed "a stadium heavily reliant on parking in downtown Miami, with thousands of fans walking a pedestrian bridge to the island port". What the report would have done is kindle exactly the sort of criticism that Eye On Miami levels: access to downtown Miami is severely constricted, causing outrageous traffic jams, lengthy delays, parking does not currently exist to serve existing traffic demands not to mention added ones, and -- last but not least -- raise your hand if you will brave the gauntlet of driving to downtown Miami, parking, walking to a bridge, crossing Biscayne Bay on foot, to see a soccer game?

On face value, the plan to put a soccer stadium at PortMiami is ridiculous. I write this as someone who loves soccer more than any of our other sports. Given the ease with which Miami and Miami-Dade commissioners approve ridiculous projects, why wouldn't they again?

To the Herald, the developer's representative is quoted, "We are open to any process that creates a kind of public realm and unity of the site." OMG. "Public realm"? "Unit of site". I thought Museum Row was our public realm. Or the Performing Arsht Center. I thought the campus at FIU was the public realm. The Miami Marlins stadium: wasn't that the public realm?

Up next in downtown Miami: snake oil to cure intestinal worms. It really works!

The Beckham Stadium … by gimleteye

On Saturday the TV cameras caught natty David Beckham in a British stadium sky box marveling at a long distance goal by Wayne Rooney, Manchester United superstar. He had a look on his face, 'I could do that'. Now Beckham is doing other things.

While the TV flickered with his thought, the Miami Herald was readying today's front page illustration of another Arquitectonica contribution to the Miami skyline: a rendering of the soccer stadium proposed for Dodge Island.

Curious that the stadium is proposed to be open air.

Both the Florida or Miami Marlins and the Miami Dolphins have concluded that a closed and air-conditioned stadium is necessary to attract paying customers. It must be different for soccer enthusiasts. We are so wild about the beautiful game we will mob walk half an hour across a proposed foot bridge in the rain that frequents the plain in Spain or Miami, whatever.

How does Mr. Beckham conclude that a covered stadium is unnecessary when every other sports team owner has concluded differently based on experience?

Then, there is the location. Do you know where the soccer crazies are? I do. I spent twenty years ferrying kids around Southeast Florida to youth games and tournaments.

Someone at the Miami Herald or amongst David Beckham's sycophants must know: the fan base to attend a soccer game on Dodge Island isn't in downtown Miami or Miami Beach or Key Biscayne. It is in West Dade.

But can the fan base in West Dade afford the time and expense? And if you can afford both, can you get there? For sure, the Florida Turnpike is better access.

Thanks to the willful ignorance of sound planning by Miami-Dade county commissioners and mayors Alex Penelas, Carlos Alvarez and Carlos Gimenez, the traffic is so awful that there is a real question if those who can afford the time and ticket expense would travel by car to a stadium. Miami's political leadership has made so many poor decisions on zoning and permitting of building and construction (search "Great Destroyers" on our blog) that we are as effectively boxed in by traffic as Man U's offense was boxed the other day by Liverpool.

But who pays attention in Miami? Not voters!

Measuring the public: elections today in South Miami, Fukushima radiation and The Best Place For David Beckham's Soccer Stadium … by gimleteye

The South Miami municipal election is today. Thankfully. FPL is the 600 lb. gorilla in the race. The leviathan is constantly pushing its plans for a new nuclear power plant at sea level and, specific to South Florida municipalities, its goal to put overhead high voltage power lines along US 1 to move its excess power to markets far north. On that issue, the governor and cabinet will be meeting soon in Tallahassee. Public perceptions count.

Recently FPL did a push poll to measure public attitudes in South Miami environs. It followed a series of TV commercials that might as well have had children running through a field of daisies, laughing and dancing, with a nuclear cooling tower in the background. FPL then gauged the effects of its charm offensive with consumers. That's what big power companies do. So much money to go around.

The same was true in Japan where TEPCO persuaded Japanese that its Fukushima power plant was invulnerable. The latest news, years after the massive earthquake shattered the world's confidence in nuclear safety: radiation leaks in one of its reactors were up to FIVE TIMES higher than reported last year. "The Japanese company has already apologized for the failures, which they said were a result of the malfunctioning of measuring equipment." Apologies, not accepted.

Here is a question for Eye On Miami readers (since Miami Herald readers aren't being asked): how much measuring is the U.S. government doing today on the flow of radiation into the waters of the United States on the west coast? While the drums roll, how about another measurement: what is your best idea to locate David Beckham's major league soccer franchise.

I like the idea of building the stadium in Sweetwater, and paying for the stadium with fees from taxi cabs. Put David Beckham's face on the side of every taxi in Miami-Dade with soccer ball images on the hubcaps.

How much measurement is the U.S. government doing on the impacts of radiation from Fukushima to west coast waters? None. According to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, “No U.S. government or international agency is monitoring the spread of low levels of radiation from Fukushima along the West Coast of North America and around the Hawaiian Islands."

And for the official record, FPL states it is not involved in today's South Miami elections.

We Don't Care How Handsome You Are: We Ain't Payin' for Your Soccer Stadium Dave. By Geniusofdespair

I don't care how good you look in your underwear, we aren't paying!!! We already paid for that crappy baseball stadium. We are done

Proposed site of stadium.

This is a bad idea on several fronts:

The port needs revenue clearly the group proposing the stadium will want a lower than market rate land lease -- or worse -- FREE LAND. It is not the highest and best use of this land which would have and should have a more commercial utilization to maximize potential revenue to the port.

The recent downgrading of the port bonds underscores the fact that they need to look at maximizing revenue not utilizing land in this manner.

Public-sector just spent over $1 billion building the port tunnel for the most part to lessen impact of traffic this will only exacerbate the traffic going in and out of the port. I assume most of the games will be played on weekends the very time when thousands of people will also be trying to access the port to get on cruise ships. Parking also will become problematic as people try to access both the soccer games and parking for cruises. If parking and traffic congestion becomes too much of a problem along with accessing the port for cruises -- it's very easy for the cruise lines to redeployed their ships to other ports north of the port of Miami ..therefore losing revenue as opposed to maximizing revenue.

Now add to the stadium and the cruise traffic two new museums ..a potential Genting casino ..alongside potential events at the performing arts Center,the American Airlines Arena and Bayfront Park and you have a traffic/parking cataclysm -- maybe the first in the world.

Did I mention we weren't paying for it David? Beckham, my advice to you, take it to Broward...although an autographed shirt would go a long way with my nephew Michael (another soccer superstar) and might convince me to not write about it -- are you listening lobbyists.

Gimleteye loves soccer, I see a fight on my hands.

Citizens funding stadiums is so over. By Geniusofdespair

In a poll conducted by St. Pete Polls, Tampa residents nixed the stadium funding idea by a long shot:

But it's the response to the question about what to do with funds for downtown redevelopment that will be available in a couple of years that stands out.

31 percent of those surveyed said that those funds should go towards the homeless.
26 percent said it should go towards improving transportation.
13 percent it should go towards police and fire.
12 percent said it go towards constructing a new stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays, should they opt to leave Tropicana Field.

Billionaire Stephen Ross Certainly Doesn't Have the Pulse of THIS Community. By Geniusofdespair

Public Funding:“We’ll continue to pursue it.” - Stephen Ross, Dolphins

Stephen Ross, multi-billionaire owner of the Dolphins, poised to invest in U.S. Century bank STILL wants public dollars for his stadium. Hasn't he read the newspaper? Doesn't he know what is going on with Gimenez and the budget? How about we take some of that tourist tax money and spend it on libraries? Making tourists smarter is a great goal. Ross take your U.S. Century money and invest in your own damn team.

On another note, read Miami Today on Genting Casino gambling. It is an eye-opener:

Visitors are back from a disastrous Las Vegas recessionary slide. But those returning spend far less on gambling. Before the recession, the Times says, the average Vegas visitor put aside $650 for gambling; it's now down to $480. Ask yourself if even $650 a head would be the windfall that Miami would want in selling out to gambling. Really, is that all there is?

Will that 26% loss of gambling spending per person slide to even bigger losses as habits shift? An economic researcher in Las Vegas said he sees a permanent slide.

As the Times paints the picture, gambling is far less important to Las Vegas today than entertainment, clubs, shopping and dining — all of which are already strengths in Miami. Just because Las Vegas is edging into our model doesn't mean we should pick up their role, burdening ourselves with casinos. We're doing just fine with our own brand — and bringing in visitors who spend far more than Vegas averages.