ABC4 Stadium Poll

[Jim Umber]

Originally Posted by RSL_Fan

Oops. Misspelling.

When railing on others for bad grammer and spelling, it is always a good idea to re-read your own post, before submitting. It saves a lot of embarassment. 😳

😉

[Deuce]

Our friendly neighborhood grand-standing Councilman takes a swipe at the Stadium deal and the business of politics in Salt Lake County...

Originally Posted by Mark Crockett

The Salt Lake Tribune
Commentary
A triumph for soccer - and old-school politics
Mark Crockett

Soccer lives on in Salt Lake County - probably a nice thing.

Business as usual also lives on - mostly a sad thing. After all our recent improvements in Salt Lake County, we still have room to grow.

These past months have been exciting. So many people have spoken out about what they want for our community, and what they don't. You care about education, transportation and open spaces. So, we are looking at smaller school districts. TRAX expansions will be on the November ballot, unless (we can hope) the Legislature acts first. We will also vote on a bond to buy land for parks, trails and open spaces.

Most of you also said you have real misgivings about using public funds for expensive stadiums and private real estate deals. And, to a large degree, your politicians listened. They asked good questions, got at least some answers and said "no" twice.

It was a solid string of victories for voters.

Now we have another soccer deal, one that is likely to go through. Certainly it seems better than what we had before these past several months of discussions. But the deal also includes some of the same old shell games, horse trading and shortsighted analysis for which our county is infamous.

Instead of requiring $45 million plus millions in interest, the new deal asks only $20 million with much less interest. That looks better. But the deal also moves a new parking structure from South Towne Expo to the stadium.

Last year the county and Salt Lake City were forced to spend an extra $22 million because we so needed a multilevel parking structure at the Expo? Was that true? Or is it now true that walking across State Street to park is no big deal after all? Or will we build the stadium parking and then still have to build a new structure at South Towne?

Similarly, Sandy is contributing $15 million from its RDA, but much of that money actually comes from the county. So, in a worst case, the county's real contribution could still possibly be near the $40 million we turned down last time.

Why is Salt Lake City suddenly so interested in a Sandy stadium? It isn't. It is admirably trying to gather promises for downtown spending. I like the idea of a cultural district as much as anyone, but Councilman David Wilde was right in asking, "What's in it for the rest of the county?"

The problem with pork barrel politicking is that some cities and special interests always have more hands in the pork barrel. And unincorporated residents and the general interest typically get fed to the hogs. Rather than all this dealing and winking, won't it be better when we simply weigh each project on its own merits?

Ultimately, the soccer deal was struck before we got answers on declining soccer attendance across the country, the league's financial viability or a variety of other issues.

Our county analysts and auditors asked great questions and did a solid job when given the opportunity. They proved that the county can, in fact, do good homework before making a decision. As policymakers, however, we can still do a better job of evaluating our opportunity costs.

Just two weeks ago, there was talk about using the same money toward TRAX instead. With the Legislature's help, we could. Just because the tax is on hotel guests doesn't make the money free. The cost of the money is what else we could do with it - lost opportunities. And there are many other priorities.

We will all enjoy the new stadium and Real. I intend to be in the crowd cheering on the home team.

I will cheer louder when we are winning more games against the old-school political rules

A politician complaining about the political process is almost as ironic as people that actively use profanity to offend... being offended when profanity is used toward them... almost!!!

[Jim Umber]

Very interesting. Good find, Duece.


It occurs to me that the reason it was finally pushed through, was that there was a very real offer on the table to move it to Utah County. All the Salt Lake area politicians couldn't stand that and they pushed it through at last, not because the deal was so much better, but because the alternative was the team going to Utah county! He he he. Good planning on someones part.

[praxis]

A politician complaining about the political process is almost as ironic as people that actively use profanity to offend... being offended when profanity is used toward them... almost!!!
__________________


Hmmm, I was wondering if anyone besides me was thinking this.

[GeNioS]

Originally Posted by RSL_Fan

I'm "smart" enough to know how to use the words "to" and "too" in a sentance.

Say this to my face at the next game.

[bordelais7]

Originally Posted by GeNioS

Say this to my face at the next game.

Seriously, Genios, what would that accomplish?

I mean, the words are pronounced the same, so it really wouldn't make that much sense in person.

[Jim Umber]

He gotcha on that one, GeNioS. He really did.

[soccerman]

Throw a "two" in there and it could get nasty. Heaven help us if we include spanish pronouns.