You want to know the difference between a news site that’s trying to do good hard reporting on a stadium proposal, and one that’s just trying to find ways to get a deal done? Here’s the Voice of San Diego on the imminent San Diego city plan for a new Chargers stadium:
These are 10 big questions we’ll be looking for the task force’s plan to answer… How much public money? … Where’s the public money coming from? … What kind of public money is it? … What’s the city budget on the hook for? … How much development? … Where’s the private money coming from and who’s getting it? … Who’s responsible for the stadium’s upkeep and who gets the money from its events? …What’s in the fine print? … Are we having a vote? When? … What are we giving up by building a stadium?
All excellent questions, and the VoSD piece goes into detail about how they should be answered. Now, what’s the story over at the still-not-yet-rebranded U-T San Diego?
It’s hard to imagine any viable plan that doesn’t involve public money, so it’s a good time to review how taxpayers might be involved.
The UTSD goes on to propose three different funding schemes — hotel and rental car taxes, a broad tax hike on San Diego residents, or kicking back money from property and sales taxes from new development adjacent to a stadium site — without ever once estimating how much any of this would cost or whether it would be worth it to taxpayers. Clearly somebody needs to be reading the Voice of San Diego more.