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A Whole Lot Of Fuss For Few Surprises

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By DANIEL RUTH

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 31, 2008

Threats! Stolen yard signs! Innuendo! Boycotts! Ugliness! Duplicity! And yes, certainly there must be a hint of backstabbing going on here - please?

Yep, it's the kind of stuff that makes an old Chicagoan grow wistful with memories of those golden days of sleazy, nasty, brass-knuckles politics. Ain't democracy grand?

From all the sniping, you might think this was a campaign dust-up between presidential candidates, or perhaps opposing sides over same-sex marriage, or even maybe an environmental hissy-fit concerning offshore oil drilling.

But no, this great social debate of the day involves the effort by the Tampa Bay Rays to get the city of St. Petersburg and Pinellas County to burp up at least as much as $175 million in public money to help the team build a new waterfront stadium.
Burnt Toast
Of course, those of us who live in Hillsborough County, and thus are more than accustomed to having big-shot sports moguls cajole the taxpayers into paying for their playpens, pretty much know how this will end for our dear friends across Tampa Bay.

In short - you're toast.

By Aug. 15, language will have to be crafted for a referendum measure on November's ballot asking residents of St. Petersburg to approve or reject the estimated $450 million ballpark.

The Rays are seeking to have the county divert all proceeds from a 1-cent hotel bed tax until at least 2015 and maybe even ask voters to extend the tax 30 years beyond that to pony up a total of $100 million for the stadium. St, Petersburg would contribute

$75 million, with the balance of the stadium financing coming from the sale of the current Tropicana Field site, parking revenue and $150 million promised from the team.

As a matter of timing goes, the idea of asking the body politic for at least $175 million in corporate welfare to build a baseball field at a time when people are losing jobs, having their homes foreclosed upon, paying $4 a gallon for gas, and contending with other assorted economic distresses seems to make about as much sense as hiring Dick Cheney as a constitutional law professor.

Party Favor

So in the run-up to finalizing the final referendum language, emotions for and against giving a private business owner a nearly $200 million party favor are running fairly high.
Yard signs in favor of and in opposition to the waterfront park have been vandalized and stolen. Egging of homes has occurred, which is still probably safer than the Windy City tradition of blowing up one's own campaign headquarters.

In one instance, Tampa Bay Rays trucks blocked a naysaying banner, although team officials later groveled in humiliation while insisting the vehicular censorship was simply a tragic misunderstanding.

Some merchants who support the stadium proposal have complained about being threatened with customer boycotts unless they change their views.

So much for - "We are one team!"

In the end, will the Rays get their new $450 million home pretty much at the taxpayer expense?

At the moment, the team is on a pace to have the best season in franchise history, which is a bit like damning with faint praise.

This is even a question?

Keyword: Book of Ruth, to read and comment on Daniel Ruth's blog.

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