The mayor's goal of leveraging any investment in the stadium to create affordable housing and a mixed-income, mixed-use community is a great start. I'd like two more assurances from the city council, the mayor and the city's county and state representatives:
1. Any county-wide referendum will be for a county-wide tax (not just a tax on downtown). 2. The stadium proponents will start thinking like a lender instead of a booster club. The Twins are like a prospective homeowner going to the bank for a loan to build a new home, but they won't provide financial statements, collateral, a down payment, personal guarantees or detailed cost estimates that a lender would require. As the lender, the people that represent this city should be saying, "Yes, we really want your business, but we have a fiduciary duty to our shareholders (residents) to limit our risk and be quite certain you're not going to default on your loan. Therefore we need the following financial assurances from you..." If it were up to me, the owners would be required to give a PERSONAL loan guarantee to secure any public financing. Then, if stadium revenues or new taxes don't cover the debt, the owners are personally responsible no matter what happens to the Twins or Major League Baseball. It gives the owners the flexibility they want in structuring a deal and takes the risk off the taxpayers. John Rocker 10th Ward _______________________________________ 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
