Sunday Poll: Reaction to the following: The public should build & own a new stadium to keep the Rams in St. Louis
Friday the two men appointed by Gov. Nixon presented a bid to keep the St. Louis Rams in St. Louis, the new stadium would be publicly owned:
The financing, they acknowledged, is now just a pitch: $200 million from the National Football League. As much as $250 million more from Rams owner Stan Kroenke. Perhaps $130 million from the sale of personal seat licenses to fans. Some tax credits. Plus as much as $350 million from an extension of the $24 million a year in tax dollars that still pay down debt on the Edward Jones Dome, where the Rams now play. (Nixon team proposes open-air stadium, and no new taxes)
Opinions on their proposal are varied, from support to opposition. Perfect for the Sunday Poll. There are many issues within this, I’ve picked one for the poll: Reaction to the following: The public should build & own a new stadium to keep the Rams in St. Louis.
The poll is in the right sidebar, it’ll remain open until 8pm.
— Steve Patterson
“No new taxes” does not mean “no taxes”! Extending taxes scheduled to expire, using brownfield tax credits and expecting to collect millions in “fees” (aka taxes) for personal seat licenses is political spin at its finest!
If we want to collect and spend $400 million or $500 million in local taxes, there are far, far better things to spend them on than building a billion dollar “public” facility (that we will have to pay big bucks to enter) that will be used less than 20 days a year. We could build 25 or 30 miles of new streetcar lines. We could fully fund the city’s employee pension fund. We could install curb ramps on every corner in the city. We could repave more than 2000 lane miles of city streets. We could create a truly functional network of bike routes. We could catch up on decades of deferred parks maintenance. We could scale back and/or phase out the earnings tax. We could subsidize a few new shopping centers. We could try and end homelessness.
We sure don’t need to be providing public welfare to billionaire owners and millionaire players, especially since their current facility continues to be functional, if not oppulent. Especially when the rest of our infrastructure and service spending needs continue to be underfunded every year. Tax revenues are finite, the voters’ appetite for paying them is wearing thin. There are many, many “sports” out there, both professional and amatuer. I don’t blame any NFL (or MLB or NBA or NASCAR) owner for asking for a handout, anymore than I blame a cardboard sign guy standing on a corner. I do blame politicians for caving into their “requests” / “demands” / “extortion”. Our elected representatives are SUPPOSED to be the stewards of our hard-earned and reluctantly-paid taxes, not shills for the 1% . . . .