PUBLICALLY-SUBSIDIZED STADIUMS

[Lydia Howell]

Stadium Strikes Out Democracy
by Lydia Howell


With the inevitable cost overruns such big projects always seem to have and interest on a 30-year debt the $522M new Twins stadium willultimately cost Hennepin County citizens $1 BILLION. But, Minnesotanshave already paid an even bigger price.

We The People were summarily dismissed by those who are elected torepresent us. State law that says citizens must weigh in, on the ballot,and vote on any expenditure of more than $10M on such a project. It's called a referemdum and perhaps, many Minnesotans didn't understand what that word meant, but, in public opinion polls right up to the end, over 70% said they didn't want public money going to Carl Pohlad's stadiumm dreams. That's been the public's stand for a decade, so, every legislator who voted for this massive Corporate Welfare project can't say they didn't know.

They just didn't give a damn.

This was a bipartisan insult to basic principles of democracy.In the
Minnesota State Senate, Democrats topped Republicans voting for the stadium: Democrats 22, Republicans 12. In the Minnesota State House, it was neck and neck: 37 Republicans and 34 Democrats voted to ignore the will of the people. In his first run for City Hall, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak campaigned against any public subsidy for a Twins stadium, but, met with corporate boosters the day after he was elected and "working to find the right deal" was the first of all his major campaign promises he's broken.

From City Hall, when the big builders come with expensive condominium projects (or a corporation like Target) all the way to Congress when it's weapons manufacturers (or Halliburton/KRB), when their corporate sponsors come calling to pick the public pocket, too many politicians, both Democrat and Republican, write a blank check. Corporations and the wealthy, like Mr..Pohlad (#78 on Forbes 400 Richest People in America with a net worth of $2.5 BILLION), are never told "There's no money in the budget for that."

Rybak presided over the closing of the 510 homeless shelter, when
nightly homeless people are turned away when they don't win the lottery for a mat on the floor. Homeless youth estimated at almost a 1,000, must vie for less than 200 beds. Shelters turn away battered women, often with their chldren, fleeing abuse, because services to deal with domestic violence have never been fully funded and had a 20% budget cut last year. Politicians re-draw the poverty line to make thousands more ineligible for help to facilitate more budget cuts. At the same time Polhald gets money for a stadium more Minnesota children will lose healthcare. Clean water won't get full funding in Minnesota. Although our vibrant arts create more revenue than professional sports, they face cuts, too. While milllionaire atheletes will get a stadium "with essential amenitites", more and more youth have to pay fees to play sports in our public schools and summer programs are cut.

Besides the assault on democracy, there are real human consequences to spending hundreds of millions annually on Corporate Welfare. Real people don't get healthcare or sleep in their cars or stay with an abusive man because there's no place to go. Our children are shortchanged and our
environment is polluted further. False promises are made about "economicdevelopment" and Corporations take the money and run. Small businesses actually create 80% of the new jobs, struggle to offer ever-more expenseive health insurance and are too often driven out of buisness altogether because they can't compete against the stacked deck of Big Business subsidies. We're told universal healthcare is impossibly expensive but, what Corporation is ever denied taxpayers' money for their pet project from Target's new $100M corporate headquarters to Northwest Airlines' $350M Iron Range maintence center that was never built?


What does all this say about priorities and who sets them?

Our democracy has been highjacked by economic elites, with a
corporate-owned mass media that magnifies priviledged voices and drowns out or excludes the rest of us. Both major political parties are funded by these elites and the Twins stadium deal is undeniable evidence that that's who most Democrats and Republicans answer to.

Continued crowing about "America is the greatest democracy on Earth" rings damn hollow. These days, I'm looking south to Bolivia as their president, Evo Morales takes back his country's natural gas from international corporations and Venezuela's President Hugo Chafez reorders his country's priorities to get healthcare and education to the majority.

That's what real democracy looks like.

Lydia Howell is a Minneapolis journalist, poet, activist. She's
producer/host of "Catalyst:politics & culture", Tuesdays, 11am, on KFAIRadio (availble online for 2 weeks after broadcast http://www.kfai.org). She'salso Arts Editor for the new online journal TC Daily Planet
(http://www.tcdailyplanet.net)

[brianold]

yo lydia was this published on the daily planet?

[Lydia Howell]

My op-ed re:publically-subsidized stadium was actually first published in PULSE (unuusual because PULSE writers are rarely allowed to do op-ed. That's reserved for the paper's publisher and "VIPs" in the community). Lydia Howell

[brianold]

most interesting to me is how torn regular people really are... like i'ma twins fan, kinda sorta... i get excited when they win... i follow what they do in the offseason to a certain extent... i care enough to be dissapointed when they are loosing or to defend them if a friend from another state is talking bad about them...

i think of what makes people see the stadium and their excitement over the twins more than poor folks without healthcare (which i too will soon be in a few days)... and i think of what makes ME see the stadium and the twins more than people without healthcare... or even MYSELF without healthcare!!! wow! that's funny. kinda scary-funny, ya know.

But the only thing i can come up with is that i get distracted. The draw of sports is so tempting that it can even make me forget about the fact that i don't have healthcare!

Then of course on the economic end there are the strict business-minds who are pushing this thing through because they see it as economic development... more money for everyone is always the hook, but especially more for them.

But i think secretly there are alot of people who might have voted no if the vote actually came to them, but since it's not... they are cool with it going down that way too cause deep inside they'd like to see a new stadium and love the idea of eating hot dogs outside on a spring day watching twins baseball in the sun.

cause deep inside when i get caught up in the hype, (which i think is almost impossible not to do if you live invested somehow in this type of society...) i too like the idea of hot dogs and sunshine and baseball.

solution? how to keep the issue in front of people so they dont get distracted from more important issues when people are so tired that they just want to watch baseball and eat hot dogs. lol.

even further... the question of american values... what do americans value more? this idea that we want to ensure everyone is healthy but the economy must always continue to grow... or the idea that we'll take an economic hit in order to ensure the health of our citizens... kinda like the typical american values "security" enough to take a hit in the pocket to get it.

my question is, is it really logical to believe that americans will ever feel that sameway about taking care of eachother's health?

[Lydia Howell]

I've no problem with recongizing that people are sports fans and enjoy the relief of hot dogs ouside with a game. I've got my own 'distractions" (like live music outside).
But, it's a whole other matter when it's based on PUBLIC SUBSIDIES.
Then, I think a very PUBLIC DEBATE about priorities is essential.
That didn't hapen with the staidum, largely, because the StarTtribune, Sid Hartman & WCCO's Rosen were all boosters for a publically-subsidized stadium and they had HUGE megaphones.

Even if one is a big sports fan, (maybe especially! sprots fans!), what does it say that we give a billionaire team-ower & millionaire athletes a new lucery stadium---but, youth are more & mroe having to PAY TO PLAY--both in public school teams & summer programs?

I stand by my piece, which was actually about more than simply the Twins stadium: it was an attempt to use that current issue to expose Corporate Welfare, which somehow can belly up over & over & voer for the public's money---yet, HUMAN welfare is (of ANY kind)--that is, money for human needs, is demonized. There's something really wrong with this picture!

I just got a reply from the MN Progressive caucs list to my stadium commentary, that "people in the suburbs & outstate MN might disagree with your inner city priorities."
Yeah, but, they sure DIDN'T mind STICKING THE INNER CITIY WITH THE DAMN BILL, did they?
Plus, we all know what "inner city" stands for: the poor and mostly people of color...who don't ahve any legitamate rights to set any public priorities. The 'irony" is that there ARE increasing numbers of working poor people in the 'burbs(actually always were some! my divorced mother certainly was--since she wanted us to go to so-called "good schools"yet, she made a crappy wage as a secretary.) Not to mention anybody can find their job outsourced...which nasty as it sounds, I often hope some of these white, middle-class suburbanites who dispise the inner city so much find THEMSELVES in that position....come on down and see what iot's like to struggle!

I'm FOR economic development:I jsut think that we'd get a LOT MORE for our money, if we invested in small, local businesses, for one thing. Providing services also creates jobs. But, stadiums ahve been rpoven in many other cities to NOT bring the economic development that's always promised. It's hype, pure & simple(can't remeber the author's name but, a book "Field of Schemes" documents this quite thouroughly).
Lydia

[brianold]

no doubt. i pretty much agree with what you're saying... i guess i just find myself at a crossroad... somewhat skeptical that the typical american (or minnesotan for that matter) really have it in them to be that type of citizen. throughout american history, the typical american only acts when he is threatened. history has illustrated that so much to me that i basically consider it american law. lol. you get kudos from me for the position you're taking. but it's scary to think that if this media machine plants those feelings inside of me (and i just use me because i know my own brain and know for fact that i regularly consciously try and resist being overwhelmed by this stuff) how much pull it has with other folks out there. there really needs to be a paradigm shift in how entertainment is consumed and produced. but i understand that at at least the surface level they are pimping folks by just completely overlooking a public vote.

hey, btw... i got a question about healthcare from someone and thought you might know the answer... they were asking about your statement "children will loose healthcare" and were asking is that possible? for kids to actually have healthcare taken from them once they have already qualified for it? i thought it was a great question that i didnt know the answer to. so if you (or anyone else reading this in secret) knows the answer i'm interested and would like to be able to answer that question myself.

[brianold]

speaking of venezuela... and media...

Venezuela's main TV channel signed an agreement with Al-Jazeera back in February to share content and technical expertise...

Whether folks agree with the networks themselves is one question.

But of more interest to me is the fact that networks are moving toward becoming self-reliant... reminds of the whole "southern hemisphere aliance" thing that many african countries and south american countries were (are?) talking about trying to work with eachother in trade and other areas without going through the western world.

here's the article on the media partnership
LINK

[brianold]

i created a forum for discussing healthcare since this discussion brought that up. come join us as we try and flesh out these questions:

http://cybermessageboard.fatcow.com/mpls...highlight=