March 21, 2007
Testify!
Next Thursday, March 29, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Domestic Policy - now there's a name that trips off the tongue - will be holding hearings on urban economic development, and I've been invited to testify as part of a panel that's expected to include both advocates and critics of public stadium funding. If you're in the D.C. area and would like to check out the scene, the stadium hearing begins at 10 am in Room 2247 of the Rayburn House Office Building; if you live elsewhere, it'll probably be broadcast on C-SPAN Kids or something.
Also, just a reminder that I'll be at the Columbia University Barnes & Noble tomorrow night and the Yogi Berra Museum in Little Falls, N.J. on Saturday, along with the rest of the Baseball Prospectus crew. Management requests that if you must throw tomatoes, please make them organic.
Congrats!
I think you should mention the piece (February 19, 2007, Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat) that was done in Seattle - that it's reasonable to think of sport being another kind of civic function but that sports stadiums are funded far out of proportion to libraries, concert halls, and museums. Nevermind that the latter are run as non-profit and the former for-profit. It's a bogus argument to lump sports stadium construction in with other civic events and then posit a higher subsidy.
Posted by joejoejoe on March 22, 2007 04:47 AM
Here are the members and locations if you want to prepare a fact sheet to reference projects in their districts while testifying.
Majority
Dennis J. Kucinich, Chairman - Cleveland, OH
Tom Lantos - San Mateo, CA (suburban San Fran)
Elijah E. Cummings - Baltimore, MD
Diane E. Watson - Los Angeles, CA
Christopher S. Murphy - New Britain, CA
Danny K. Davis - Chicago, IL
John F. Tierney - Peabody, MA (north of Boston)
Brian Higgins - Buffalo, NY
Bruce L. Braley - Waterloo, IA
Minority
Darrell E. Issa, Ranking Member - Vista, CA (San Diego county)
Dan Burton - Indianapolis, IN
Christopher Shays - Bridgeport, CT
John L. Mica - Maitland, FL (big E. Cent. FL district)
Mark E. Souder - Fort Wayne, IN
Chris Cannon - Provo, UT
Brian Bilbray - Solana Beach, (San Diego county)