After exploring where Hillsborough County Commission candidates and Pinellas County Commission candidates stand on the topic of a new Rays stadium, primary night has whittled the field down to just a handful of hopefuls.
Sadly for Rays fans hoping for a drastic change, most of the candidates with radical approaches to the Stadium Saga have been eliminated. The only incumbent to lose his/her primary was Pinellas County's Norm Roche, a fiscal conservative.
The most interesting result was Dunedin's Dave Eggers emerging from a crowded Republican primary in Pinellas County (he figures to cruise in the general election). Eggers told me that he'd like to see bed taxes from multiple counties go toward a new stadium in exchange for "economic development rights, cost sharing and return on invested dollars."
This is an approach that combines a multi-county tax with the profit-sharing idea floated in Orlando before Orange County just said, "the hell with it" and handed an expansion MLS team its subsidy for nothing in return.
While both counties will sport new commissions in a matter of months, it's unlikely much will change drastically in the seemingly never-ending Stadium Saga.
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Rayz will have taken note of the failure of the "...profit-sharing idea floated in Orlando before Orange County just said, "the hell with it" and handed an expansion MLS team its subsidy for nothing in return.,,"
ReplyDeleteThey will want the same end result, Eggars will forget this campaign plank as soon as it is convenient.
Communities do not subsidize parks, festivals, libraries, fire departments, Christmas displays, or Fourth of July celebrations. They fund them.
ReplyDeleteThe community decides it wants a particular asset or amenity, and it pays for it. Sometimes, the community is able to offset some of the cost of an amenity through rent, donations, or investments made by tenants. THOSE are the subsidies in these calculations.