The following post is written by Jeremy Schilling from the fantastic J Schil's Blog. Jeremy is one of my good friends from college and can be heard on WQAQ-FM, The Soundtrack of Quinnipiac (time: TBD) and covers the golf team for the WQAQ Sports blog (which I edit).
The New York Yankees got more money from the City of New York today for the new Yankee Stadium. Yes, the richest team in baseball that just spent half a BILLION dollars on THREE PLAYERS in the offseason is needing more public financing.
80,000 jobs have been lost so far in the United States in 2009. Fronting today (Friday, Jan. 16)'s dismal report was the announcement of the liquidation of Circuit City. American families are hurting big time -- some living paycheck to paycheck. And like that isn't worse enough, some are having to choose between vital medicine and food!
Yet the Yankees are begging for more of OUR money. That's right: OUR money. And at the same time they're raising ticket prices in the new stadium. And at the same time their spending OUR money eliciting the help of some fancy real estate company to help sell the remaining high-priced seats. I frankly hope they don't sell.
I'm a Yankee fan...just like many who will read this post. And I hope this team plays well this year. But the way the Yankee hierarchy has spent both their money and OUR money is unfair, unjust, and plain old painful in these economic times.
I'm not sure what would make the Yankees change their ways, but I sure know that giving them more $$ isn't going to be the solution.
Thanks, Jeremy.
What are you thoughts on this topic? Let Jeremy hear them in the comments section.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Guest blogger: Jeremy Schilling
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5 comments:
"And like that isn't worse enough"...Huh?
Dude, your point is well taken, and I can see why people have a right to be up in arms over the stadium funding issue, but you should have someone eyeball you work before you post it.
A writer can lose so much credibility, no matter how powerful his/her point may be, when fundamental rules of syntax are overlooked.
Somebody tell this Jeremy Schilling guy that people get the government they deserve. Big city government gets you big city irresponsibility. Unless you change they way you vote, take the screwing like a man--with all due respect. Government is now your daddy, now go to your room.
New York City's government website lists 48 people on the City Council. There are 46 Democrats and 2 Republicans ( and, I bet they are not even conservatives). This gives you an idea of who controls the committees that vote on these matters, such as the Industrial Development Agency that voted for the extra public funding for the Yankees. Schilling can lay all of the blame or some of the blame on the Yankees if it makes him feel better, but if he wants to be taken to heart, he needs to address the political philosophy that has rendered individuals and their income as the property of government to be doled out as Mama and Papa see fit.
"And like that isn't worse enough, some are having to choose between vital medicine and food!"
Gee, I had never heard this before! How original. People have to choose between paying their bills or taking their pills. Funny. Just the other day I say a couple pay for their groceries with a "food card" then purchase a TV with cash. It's a ruse. This is not Africa. Disgusting.
What is missing in this is the truth. The bonds that the Yankees were seeking were not public financing. What they were were a payment plan that the Yankees can use to keep their coasts down and get the stadium finished. These bonds are issued to private works that serve a public interest and the argument can be made that having a world class stadium serves to civic pride as well as creates new jobs thus serving a public iterest. It is also better then the alternative for the city which would be to renovate old Yankee Stadium, which the city owns. That would mean that the city would have to pay for the whole thing. You can argue that it is indirect public financing because the Yankees don't pay taxes on the finance and the city looses that revenue, but at the same time the construction does creat quite a few jobs that does creat more tax revinue through income taxes. It is not like the other major league cities that give millions of dollers directly to the construction of the ballpark. Any direct city funding is being used for inferstucture, ie. fixing the roads, creating replacment park land, and the new Metro-North station. The Yankees still have to pay back all those bonds with intrest, albeit a much lower intrest then they would normally. Also please excuse any misspellings as I am Dyslexic.
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