Good Morning,
That is a good point. The City of Minneapolis spending $7 million up front doesn't seem bad. My question is, who's butts are on the line for the bonds? If the projected income to cover these bonds falls short, who is responsible for the shortfall? Or will they be the type of bonds that the investors take the hit on any shortfalls? Those bonds are not being issues by the Twins, those bonds are being issued by some public institution. I'd like to know more about them. For example, in regards to the car rental tax bonds, why is that being used for a public stadium? Surely the lions share of that tax revenue is derived from car rentals at the airport. Shouldn't the majority of it be put back into airport related projects such as sound proofing properties around MSP? In general, my issue with the public financing is the Twins, the group that will directly benefit the most from a new stadium is only coughing up 1/4th of the cost. What will the public get for it's investment? Over $5billion in public dollars has been put into stadiums and arenas around the US since 1992. I have yet to see a long term studies showing the public gets a fair ROI (return on investment) for coughing up all that capital. And to me that is the difference between financing a new stadium and the public money that has gone into other projects such as the Target HQ, the NWA loans in the early 90s, redeveloping the old Sears warehouse on Lake Street, and other projects such as these. We can point directly at the number of jobs that the Target HQ brought. We can put some firm numbers on the value of NWA at MSP to the state of Minnesota in terms of jobs and commerce. But where are the numbers for the stadiums? I feel the city is better served holding onto it's $7 million dollars to put into other uses within the city. The city would be better server using that money to get Accenture to move their new ex-Best Buy employees downtown or keeping the next Lawson Software to stay in located in the city. Allen Graetz Prospect Park -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Barbara Lickness Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2004 5:27 PM To: Leurquin, Ronald; Jim Bernstein; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: [Mpls] RE: Misplaced Minneapolis Bonding Priorities The only Minneapolis Twins Stadium proposal I have seen is the one from MNTwinsville,Inc. The finances are laid out as follows: Costs: Ball Park - $332,255,000 Roof - $104,821,000 Infrastructure and Site - $57,008,000 Cost of Issue: (Temporary Financing) - $1,110,000 Contingency - $36,106,000 TOTAL COST - $531,300,000 Funding Version A: Minnesota Twins Contribution - $120,000,000 City of Minneapolis - $7,000,000 Met. Sports Commission - $6,000,000 Permanent Seat Licenses (PSL's) $11,000,000 Seller financing on land $13,000,000 TAD Parking Revenue Bonds - $24,000,000 Car Rental Revenue Bonds - $118,000,000 Alcohol Revenue Bonds - $232,300,000 TOTAL SOURCE - $531,300,000 Funding Version B: Minnesota Twins Contribution - $120,000,000 City of Minneapolis - $7,000,000 Met. Sports Commission - $6,000,000 Permanent Seat Licenses (PSL's) $11,000,000 Seller financing on land - $13,000,000 TAD Parking Revenue Bonds - $24,000,000 Car Rental Revenue Bonds - $105,000,000 Alcohol Revenue Bonds - $105,300,000 Hospitality Revenue Bonds - $127,000,000 TOTAL SOURCE - $531,300,000 So, those of you who are espouse public ownership of this team and stadium care to tell us where the additional $524M is going to come from to build it? How about on-going operating and maintenance costs? The above plans only takes a direct to hit to the city's budget for 1.5% of the costs. Barb Lickness Whittier REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
