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May 25, 2012
Vikings stadium gets final approval from Minneapolis council (not really final, but close enough)
The Minneapolis city council, as expected, voted 7-6 yesterday to approve the $1 billion Minnesota Vikings stadium deal, which could involve more than $1.1 billion in taxpayer subsidies. (It's part of the special nature of stadiums that public subsidies can exceed the actual cost of building the thing — though come to think of it, not all that special, as I recall at least one factory subsidy somewhere in the South that collected more in tax breaks than it cost to build.) Now the stadium just needs to be approved by a vote of the city council today.
Yes, the same city council. See, yesterday's city council vote was by the Committee of the Whole, which includes all 13 members of the council, which referred it to the full council today, which will cast the same vote ... you don't really care about all this, do you? Suffice to say that the council has signed off on the stadium, and now it will get built, and it will cost the Vikings a lot but the public even more (and the Vikings will get to sell naming rights and such to make their money back while the public won't), and then it will open and every will rave about how beautiful it is. And then 20 years later, we can start talking about tearing it down and building a new one again.
So the Minneapolis council voted to take away the rights of Minneapolis voters to vote on the plan to raise taxes in Minneapolis for a stadium. Their charter requires a vote if more than $10 million will be spent on a stadium.
Read thedeets dot com for an analysis of how Minneapolis council members worked with the state legislature to get language inserted into the stadium bill which allows an override of the Minneapolis charter.
Posted by SantaClaraTaxpayer on May 25, 2012 11:27 AM
Hey it is not city money they are using if they just close their eyes an say they aren't right?
I am going to try this with my taxes next year. You see I am only obligated to pay property taxes on property I own. But I don't really own this house. So we agree I don't have to pay taxes right?
Posted by Joshua Northey on May 25, 2012 12:03 PM
Master Zygi is to be worshipped in Minnesota. The leaders have already determined this bill will pass months ago. Don't like to bad. Master Zygi is what matters.
SKOL Worship the Vikings
No reason reigned at the City Council in Mpls today. The sad losers who really don't understand they won't be able to afford a ticket, much less tickets for the whole family, were there in their fun costumes. As the old saying goes, they were more to be pitied than despised. The despicable CCM's were up there lying through their teeth, some trying to elicit our sympathy through tears...it was a pathetic display. It was a bleak day for democracy, but that's not really news. What bothers me perhaps the most is the effect this will have on people who have believed in democracy, in the rule of law, in making an effort to change their laws to bring about more equity. So much for our work on amending our City Charter to give us a referendum regarding stadiums. Also, not one member of the City Council members made an effort to research the most basic part of the project, that of the finances. The totally unrealistic, incomplete and sometimes just plain incorrect financial picture was presented by someone with a serious conflict of interest. (Look in an old textbook for this quaint, apparently out-of-date term). One heroic guy, a car mechanic and dedicated activist , took it upon himself to wade through pages of numbers to come up with a scathing critique that should have been done by the CCM's if they were at all serious about their job responsibilities. Well, it ain't over til it's over. We will pursue legal avenues, and if that isn't possible, well........I've heard somewhere that direct action gets the goods.
Posted by Janet Nye on May 25, 2012 07:54 PM
You're missing the point, the fun costume wearers don't care as long as we can catch the game on our big screens, with all the ammenities, ie chips , sausage, cheese and above all beer right at hand. Yes, let the fools who want to feel priv'ledged and fork over for the PSL's and $10 beer cover our entertainment and sunday ritual. And at the very least, if it can't be afforded, Minnesota can just default on the loan. Who cares, this is Amerika!
Posted by T-Jack for MVP on May 25, 2012 09:11 PM
Janet Nye,
I totally get what you're saying as it went down here in Santa Clara pretty much exactly as you've described in MN. We also had our citizen activists who did their homework and presented realistic facts about how NFL stadiums are a suckers bet at best and our CCMs response was ignore this reality while giving money to an individual to slander us on his blog site.
We also had impassioned speeches by individuals in 49er sweatsuits stating the the team's great on field improvement was reason enough to help them with their stadium. It's been five years of the theater of the absurd for us.
Posted by santa clara jay on May 26, 2012 12:28 AM
Hey LA Vultures who were licking there chops at the Vikings moving to Hollywood: Suck it! It's not happening! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHA back at ya! Enjoy the lack-luster Jaguars in a couple of years.
Posted by LWagz on May 26, 2012 09:57 AM
@ LWagz
I am very happy that the Vikings will be remaining in Minnesota.
"Enjoy the lack-luster Jaguars in a couple of years."
With a long term lease in the city of Jacksonville, I don't think that the Jaguars will be relocating for a long time. LA will get a team (or two). The likely candidates are the Raiders and/or Rams. Here is a link about the potential return of the Rams to Los Angeles:
www.losangelesrams.org/