May 23, 2006

The stench of victory

The key factors that got a Minnesota Twins stadium bill passed were "stadium fatigue" among legislators who just wanted the issue to be done with, and the fact that only Hennepin County would be subject to a tax hike, according to Minneapolis Public Radio. (Most Hennepin County legislators voted against the plan.) "The fatigue factor was one of the big things," state rep. Kurt Zellers told MPR. "People have heard about it for 10 years. They have been so close so many other times and then the fact it was 86-to-1 - eighty-six counties to 1."

In other Twins news:

• The stadium could still be halted if subtantial environmental problems are found at the proposed downtown site. The Twins also must produce an environmental impact statement for the project - among other things, it would sit immediately adjacent to a garbage-burning power plant, which emits dioxin and heavy metals, albeit at legally "safe" levels.
• The Hennepin County Board of Commissioners still must officially vote to approve the stadium sales-tax hike, with public hearings required first. While there's no reason to expect the board's 4-3 gender-based majority to shift before then, anything's possible, I suppose.