Stadiums

Budget - California - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Government - Jobs - Liberals - Sports - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

L.A. Sports Stadium Project More Important Than Libraries, Police, Firemen?

November 17, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The 2010 elections are now history. If there was any lesson from this Republican tidal wave that swept across the country it is that the vast majority of Americans are furious at the overspending and flawed leadership of our politicians. Voters are no longer so easily fooled by claims that wild spending sprees are beneficial. California was spared the GOP tidal wave but California voters of all stripes voted in droves to impose a high threshold on imposing any new taxes (what was LA turnout). In the City of Los Angeles real pain is being felt as libraries are shut down due to budgetary cuts with police and firefighters next on the chopping block. Yet even with all these cuts in services, politicians in the City of Los Angeles are still considering a multi-million dollar subsidy — using taxpayer dollars – for the problematic Staples NFL Stadium project.

Across the country voters are starting to veer away from supporting public money going to fund stadiums and other such entertainment projects. Recently the Wall Street Journal reported that, “taxpayers are opposing agreements to fund baseball projects after a decades long boom in publicly financed ballparks.” It appears that L.A. has not learned its lesson from November 2nd.
Continue reading “

L.A. Sports Stadium Project More Important Than Libraries, Police, Firemen?”

Budget - California - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Entertainment - Free Trade - Government - Journalism - Liberals - Media - Media Bias - Sports - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

The Coming Staples Mausoleum/Stadium

September 30, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Even as supporters claim they won’t need subsidies, it is more likely that L.A. is about to plunge itself forever into debt with a new stadium, the Staples Center. A look at just about any other convention center, or stadium in the country easily shows that these projects seldom pay for themselves as builders insist that they will do. Yet, every time you turn around another city is falling for this false hope.

Unfortunately it is almost impossible for the average citizen to track where the budget money is going in any particular city budget. As we learned from Bell, California people have even been duped into making city politicians millionaires and millions have been misspent.

Cities shift funds from one department to another with such regularity that tracking it is difficult. If the City of Bell is any lesson we need far more transparency in city budgeting.

But it shouldn’t be any surprise to the city fathers of LA that the Staples Center will never pay for itself. After all, the Convention Center has lost millions every year, too, and now they intend to tear down part of that losing venture to build yet another losing venture. According to the L.A. Almanac, in 2005 the convention center brought in $9,130,000. Appropriations for the convention center, however, were 21,608,518. That is an operating loss.
Continue reading “

The Coming Staples Mausoleum/Stadium”

Budget - California - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Entertainment - Government - Liberals - Sports - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Stadium Deal in LA a Moneypit

September 7, 2010 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Whenever I think of this new Staples sports stadium deal going down in Los Angeles I can’t help but think of the “bread and circuses” that contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire. Here is the City of L.A. sinking millions into this entertainment project leaving the people destitute and all for what? After all, as I wrote in the last column, these stadiums don’t seem to pay for themselves. So why is LA doing this? Is it just the prestige of having a football franchise?

Is having a football franchise enough of a palladium to justify sinking millions of tax dollars into a project like this? The city and the state it is in are going bankrupt, yet the city fathers of Los Angeles are pursing this football team with stars in their eyes. Is this the sort of hard-nosed, grown-ups we want leading our government?

Even more ridiculous is the plan to tear down a portion of the convention center to build the stadium. In a city starving for revenue does it make any sense to tear down a facility that brings in money and to leave that space fallow until the new stadium is finally finished years later?
Continue reading “

Stadium Deal in LA a Moneypit”

Anti-Americanism - Budget - Business - California - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Government - Jobs - Liberals - Sports - Stimulus - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Want Economic Stimulus? Don’t Build a Sports Stadium!

July 9, 2010 by 5 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

For the last few decades sports teams across the country have nosed up to the public trough and demanded that states and cities chip in millions for the construction of new sports stadiums. To justify the public expense the claim has been made that these monstrous construction projects bring a wealth of jobs and spending on entertainment and are a boon to any city that will fund them. But are they? Do these multi-million dollar projects bring such lucrative benefits to the cities and states that pay through the nose for them?

For many years the “economic boom” idea of building stadiums seemed to make sense and city after state pumped billions of taxpayer’s dollars into such projects. But starting in the early 2000s, economists began to have enough data to show that the claims of beneficial end result of building stadiums was not as advertised.

In fact, these days economists that disagree amongst each other about so much have developed a wide consensus based on the belief that sports teams in and of themselves are not great economic engines for a city and that building giant new stadium complexes are not the automatic boon to the area such as they were sold.
Continue reading “

Want Economic Stimulus? Don’t Build a Sports Stadium!”