Any additional taxes and fees on city residents, or worse yet, downtown residents, to support a stadium are unacceptable.
Minneapolis residents have been shafted year after year for taxes to fund the sports venues. I would remind everyone on this list that we once had a lively downtown where people from all over the metro came to shop and eat and have fun. We used to have a Powers, a JC Penney, a Woolworth, and a Donaldson's. We used to have a City Center full of shops. The Skyway theater was packed every day. We had inexpensive stores aplenty, and we had very upscale stores that were doing well. Now, we have a mostly dead downtown where most smaller restaurants close at 2 or 3 PM, the skyways and even the main commercial retail spaces are vacant, and the streets are empty after 5 PM. Why? Because people aren't so dumb that they want to pay extra for the same food and goods they can get elsewhere, just to fund the stadiums. Why eat somewhere that has a big food/liquor tax added, when you can find just as good a restaurant elsewhere that doesn't jack up the price? Why pay extra for any taxable merchandise? All incentives for people to shop, eat, and seek entertainment downtown is gone, all in the name of attracting people from other parts of the state and other states to come into downtown briefly for a game, without spending any significant money at the city's commercial establishments. The claims that businesses benefit so much from sports in the city are a crock. Just watch traffic in and out of the city when there is a game on. There is a huge, last-minute rush to get into the city and find parking. (Tying up streets for Mpls residents and businesses, and subjecting people with a real reason to be downtown to excessive "event parking" fees.) There's a pedestrian rush from the parking areas to the stadium. (Snarling up traffic for people who just want to get in and out, since sports fans think that traffic lights don't count for them because they're so special to be coming in to watch the game.) The fans pack into the stadium, and then a couple of hours later the whole pattern is reversed. If there was any money to be made from the fans for Mpls businesses, there would be all kinds of restaurants and shops around the Dome, and on the way to it from the parking garages. Those businesses ain't there. Back in the 80s, there was a flurry of speculation in land and buildings near the Dome because the Dome's proponents claimed that there would be huge business to be had nearby. Here we are, 20 years later, with NOTHING near the stadium. People working in that area have a hard time getting lunch within a few blocks. Why? Because those who tried to make a go of a business in a fan area quickly lost their shirts. So, what we have here are sports parasites trying to make Mpls even less livable for the residents, especially those least able to afford the extra taxes, so they can have their toys. The idea of a city-wide tax is especially harmful, because there is no remotely arguable benefit to businesses even a few blocks away, much less several miles away, from stadium events. The people of Mpls are speaking up in droves that they don't want the stadium, they don't want to pay for the stadium, and they're tired of having their government victimize them for the sake of these massive for-profit entertainment conglomerates. The idea is NOT to spread the area to harm more citizens with allegedly slightly lower extra taxes. The idea is to say NO, NOT NOW, NOT EVER, are we going to give a dime to sports teams. Hey, officials of Mpls - let's please make Mpls livable and vibrant FOR MINNEAPOLITANS. I'd love to be able to stroll downtown again in the evening, like I did in the mid-80s, and go shopping, stop at the library, have a great meal, enjoy being out among a lot of people, see a movie, and feel happy that I live in such a great city. As long as we keep jacking up costs for corporate welfare to the richest of the rich entertainment businesses, that will never happen again. But gee, if it did, Mpls's coffers would be a lot better off because people would actually patronize local businesses, and those businesses wouldn't be dying or leaving in droves. The only answer is for Minnesota to show the nation its leadership. Let the twins and the vikings go, if they want. Hopefully the next city that they try to squeeze money from will get a clue and say no, too. And the next, and the next. Folks, this has to end somewhere. Hundreds of millions of dollars to feed the profits of the biggest entertainment companies? While kids go hungry and get a poor education? Nope. Roxana Orrell Central On Friday, March 22, 2002, at 10:09 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Message: 11 > Date: Thu, 21 Mar 2002 21:54:11 -0600 > Subject: Re: [Mpls] stadium money > From: Mark Snyder <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: Minneapolis Issues Forum <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > <snip> > > With regards to Terrell's post earlier, I'd like to point out that the > bill > he cites caps a local food/beverage tax at 5%, meaning it cannot exceed > that. It doesn't mean it has to be that high. The cap is probably in > there > to make sure that local governments don't go completely nuts trying to > outbid one another for the ballpark location. > > Also, while I'd really like to see strictly user fees (parking/ticket > surcharges) in conjunction with the initial investment, I have to admit > that > I'd prefer a Minneapolis-wide tax (or St. Paul-wide, if they got the > ballpark) over something that was downtown-only. Terrell and others > have > made great points that downtown residents have already been hit with > more > than their fair share of extra taxes for things like the Convention > Center > (and how many of them ever visit it?). Better to spread out the > affected > area to keep the percentage down. Maybe something county-wide is not > out of > the question, but I'm reasonably sure state-wide would be. > > Hopefully a mechanism for user fees can be developed that renders a > food/beverage tax unnecessary or could have such a short life that it > could > be converted to a means for raising funds for housing or arts as Dean > suggested (or a Planetarium, since that looks dead for bonding this > year?) > > Mark Snyder > Ward 1/Windom Park > [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
