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On Saturday 23 February 2002 09:04 am, James E Jacobsen wrote:
> I have never been in the Guthrie.
> They want to build a new Guthrie -with some of my tax dollars-
> And with a design and expense I am not enthused about.
> But I am glad to see them do it.
Isn't the Guthrie a non-profit organization? Isn't the latest stadium
proposal putting the city/county in for more than half of the investment,
to the tune of nearly $200 million? Does the city have a 3% sales tax
anywhere in its boundries to support the arts institutions?
> I am not into Harley Davidson culture,
> Though I don't get road rage when I see Harley drivers on my tax
> paid highways.
Everyone benefits from roads, no matter what they're driving or riding in.
Essential city services like police and waste disposal depend on roads.
That motorcyclists can use the roads doesn't prevent anyone else from
using the same road. That we all support the building and maintenance of
roads makes sense, they are truly a shared resource. And it's important to
point out that various taxes (gas tax) and fees (licensing) *are* intended
to get users to pay more for using roads more.
> But I am glad to see a new stadium for millions of people who do
> want to go there. I also like the 'membership' in the national sports
> community, --having teams. And if it takes a few cents of my tax dollars
> when I eat a sandwich, I won't feel violated.
So if we have a new baseball stadium, will we have to have this same
discussion again when Red McCombs wants a new football stadium? How many
pro sports teams does a metro area need to be a "big league" town?
Will a baseball stadium be useful for much other than baseball? I'm
guessing not very. At least the Target Center seems to be hosting an event
pretty much every day of the week.
> I have television. There is a lot on TV that I don't car about
> watching, I am not trying to get my least favorite stations taken off
> the air.
With the exception of two public television stations in the Twin Cities
area I'm under the impression that TV is a private enterprise, not
subsidized at all.
> I prefer sail boating which doesn't take even much gasoline,
> thank you. I do go to the library, variously, and will visit the new
> library they are working on and which is paid for with taxes from a lot
> of people who won't go there.
I'd be interested to know how many Minneapolis citizens do or don't use
the library (directly and indirectly). Like public schools, not every
citizen takes advantage of them, but we all pay for them because it seems
to be a consensus that they are a necessity for the ongoing strength of
our democracy.
> I believe in a balanced society and culture in which reasonable
> options are available to people. I wouldn't think to forbid others from
> having activities which might not be my cup of tea.
No public-financing-for-a-stadium opponents that I've seen (even those of
us who don't care much for pro sports) are trying to forbid the building
of a stadium. All I'm saying (and all I've seen others say) is that we
don't think we should be the ones to foot the bill if a stadium is that
important.
I've gone to many games (mostly Gopher football) at the Dome, so I
definitely hope we have some decent football stadium when this is all
over. But for the football and even the baseball games I've been to, the
Dome has seemed a fine venue to me. Is the building falling in? If not,
why the push for a new stadium? Is it because the owners of the pro teams
aren't gorging on enough money for their tastes? Is it because the teams
are threatening to leave town if we don't coddle them?
In all this I've not seen one solid reason why, when the last lease these
teams signed isn't even over yet, we need to take on additional fiscal
risk to build a new stadium (and more likely two new stadiums), nor why
the people who live and work near the stadium should pay a higher tax rate
to help pay for it.
If Hennepin County wants to use citizen money to pay for the stadium, tax
all of Hennepin County for it. Sounds fair to me. Or better yet, see if
you can't convince Anoka and Ramsey county to help pay for it as well.
Lots of people will come down from Anoka and Blaine or over from St. Paul
to see a game, I'm sure. But will they all really be stopping and eating
in downtown Minneapolis?
And if those few cents of tax are really so little to ask for, why not
just roll that into ticket pricing and have the people who came for the
game pay an extra fifty cents or a dollar per seat? The convenience
charges a lot of them pay to TicketMaster are much higher than that.
- --Michael Libby, Cleveland/North Mpls.
______Michael_C_Libby__{_x_(at)_ichimunki_(dot)_com_}______
| "even monkeys fall from trees" : "saru mo ki kara ochiru" |
|_____public key at http://www.ichimunki.com/public.key_____|
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