Soccer stadium referendum may be in November
According to Miami Mayor, Tomas Reglado, the referendum for the boat slip/soccer David Beckham arena deal will not be until November, as more time is needed. But he explained that nothing has been decided about the slip yet. He says there are so many numbers that have to be run. The Beckham group has not brought up money yet but they do want that prime waterfront land along with tax breaks.
At first the Beckham group did not want the public to vote on the issue as they felt it would delay the project, but Mayor Regalado insisted that if they want to be taken seriously by the city, they would need a referendum.
The mayor says he wants to regain the trust of the voters. I think the only way to gain trust again is to actually do what the majority of voters ask for. And the City needs to get out of the stadium business. So does the county.
It's possible that the City and the County will both have referendums in November. The same question, twice.
"We're still living with the ghost of the Marlins Stadium," said Mayor Regalado.
Hopefully voters will remember this at voting time.
There should be a substantial amount of money involved to benefit the City in order for the City of Miami to accept any plans, says the Mayor, but when has the city or county made any money from any of the stadiums or arenas? From a recent Miami Herald story: "Miami-Dade owns the AmericanAirlines Arena and pays the Heat about $6.5 million a year as an operating subsidy." This is to pay back a $240 million loan to Micky Arison, Heat owner.
From another Herald story: "The Miami Heat would begin paying rent at American Airlines Arena — but ultimately receive more than enough new subsidies to cover the new expense — under a deal Mayor Carlos Gimenez reached Friday that would keep the team in the county-owned facility at least through 2035."
And has the Marlins Stadium ever brought any money in? It barely draws fans and the retail that was supposed to be part of the stadium has never happened. This stadium was all built on lies.
It's still questionable how 6000 cars will find parking downtown since no parking is part of the soccer stadium plans. The Mayor says the city is working on a master plan for parking in downtown Miami. Garages next to the Arsht Center are planned and trolleys would take people around downtown from there.
Downtown developers are not happy about the bay being blocked. Future projects may be affected. The mayor admits that life in downtown Miami will be affected by the stadium. We don't think in a good way. How can two arenas side by side, blocking public water access be a good thing?
Voters recalled County Mayor Carlos Alvarez and Commissioner Natacha Seijas over the Marlins Stadium mess. Maybe politicians should remember that now.
Anyway, I got to the Just Say NO to David Beckham protest too late on Sunday, but Al Crespo was there. Here's his slideshow from the event.
At first the Beckham group did not want the public to vote on the issue as they felt it would delay the project, but Mayor Regalado insisted that if they want to be taken seriously by the city, they would need a referendum.
The mayor says he wants to regain the trust of the voters. I think the only way to gain trust again is to actually do what the majority of voters ask for. And the City needs to get out of the stadium business. So does the county.
It's possible that the City and the County will both have referendums in November. The same question, twice.
"We're still living with the ghost of the Marlins Stadium," said Mayor Regalado.
Hopefully voters will remember this at voting time.
There should be a substantial amount of money involved to benefit the City in order for the City of Miami to accept any plans, says the Mayor, but when has the city or county made any money from any of the stadiums or arenas? From a recent Miami Herald story: "Miami-Dade owns the AmericanAirlines Arena and pays the Heat about $6.5 million a year as an operating subsidy." This is to pay back a $240 million loan to Micky Arison, Heat owner.
From another Herald story: "The Miami Heat would begin paying rent at American Airlines Arena — but ultimately receive more than enough new subsidies to cover the new expense — under a deal Mayor Carlos Gimenez reached Friday that would keep the team in the county-owned facility at least through 2035."
And has the Marlins Stadium ever brought any money in? It barely draws fans and the retail that was supposed to be part of the stadium has never happened. This stadium was all built on lies.
It's still questionable how 6000 cars will find parking downtown since no parking is part of the soccer stadium plans. The Mayor says the city is working on a master plan for parking in downtown Miami. Garages next to the Arsht Center are planned and trolleys would take people around downtown from there.
Downtown developers are not happy about the bay being blocked. Future projects may be affected. The mayor admits that life in downtown Miami will be affected by the stadium. We don't think in a good way. How can two arenas side by side, blocking public water access be a good thing?
Voters recalled County Mayor Carlos Alvarez and Commissioner Natacha Seijas over the Marlins Stadium mess. Maybe politicians should remember that now.
Anyway, I got to the Just Say NO to David Beckham protest too late on Sunday, but Al Crespo was there. Here's his slideshow from the event.
posted by Tom Falco at 5:00 AM
YOU MAY NOT LIFT THE PHOTOS & TEXT. IT'S COPYRIGHTED INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. YOU CAN HOWEVER SHARE A STORY ON SOCIAL MEDIA BY USING THE LINKS HERE.
For linking to this one story, just click on the time it was posted & just this story will open for sharing - only through social media. Not copying and pasting.
14 Comments:
I don't get it. If we vote in August to give the commisioners the right to lease public land without a vote then won't that take the referendum off the ballot, since they will probably have already voted for it?
Tom, don't take the emphasis off August. They are putting a charter amendment on the August ballot that would allow the City to sell or lease submerged lands to buyers who own or have a lease on the contiguous upland WITHOUT a referendum.
In other words, in August they will put in an amendment that doesn't say anything about the soccer stadium that, if it passes, will eliminate the need to ever have a referendum on the soccer stadium.
why can't they use the exiting marlins stadium as a trial run for l year before actually spending money for nothing?
Maybe this shenanigan will cause a recall for the mayor and offending commissioners before they slide it through the commission or the ballots via the absentee ballot fraud organizations.
Marc Sarnoff should be aggressively fighting to kill any plan to put a massive concrete structure on Bicentennial Park. He used to call himself green. At least until we saw him driving around the Grove in a souped up BMW. Sarnoff? Why so quiet? Biscayne condo owners want to know.
I thought that county Mayor Carlos Alvarez was recalled because he tried to raise taxes in order to give the public employees' unions a raise during the peak of the recession. I guess I need to have my memory checked.
hmm, no money for schools or to clean up toxic parks (in less than a 2 year window), but hey we have money to pay to the billionaire owner of a basketball team that already makes tens of millions of profits.
Makes sense.
Disgraced ex-Mayor Carlos Alvarez was recalled by 80% of the voters because they realized he, and ex-Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, forced the taxpayers into "the worst sports stadium deal in US history". Alvarez's stupidity, some said corruption, caused the taxpayers to lose $3 Billion. Beckham has hired many of the same sleazy lobbyists who helped the Marlins.
A referendum is not the best solution! The vote process is electioneered through absentee ballots thereby rigging the outcome (as occurred with the Grove Harbor referendum). The best solution would be for our political and government leaders to make a stand to protect the remaining open swath of waterfront green/blue space we have in downtown. Aside from being historic (the original location of the Flagler's port of Miami and US Navy WWII anti-sub base), the slip is a protected deep water mooring basin that has the potential to generate revenues (estimates of $800k - $1 mil. annually) from visiting ships, nautical events, boat shows and sailing regattas without having to spend anything. Compare that to the deal the Mayor has on the table to the Heat; The Heat is to pay a fixed annual fee of $1 mil (to be directed to parks) after we (read you and me) pay them $6.5 mil as repayment for the original costs to build the AA arena. So for the privilege of having the Heat on our waterfront we pay them $5.5 mil each year! The MLS stadium deal will be equal to or worse. Have them play in the Dolphins or Marlins stadiums or they can build one next of these venues but leave our waterfront alone.
None of this would be happening if Manny Diaz had not been such a bad/corrupt Mayor. Residents and planners wanted Miami 21 and the Parks Master Plan to legislate that no more than 5% of parks could be covered in structures. But, no... Manny Diaz wanted up to 25% of parks to be covered in concrete structures. Dumb.
Helen Ferre interviewed Greg Bush on Issues. Online now or noon on Sunday. Channel 2. Re Regalado and Sarnoff giving away a waterfront park.
The City is indeed working to allow itself to sell or lease submerged lands to buyers who own or have a lease on the contiguous shoreline WITHOUT a referendum.
The coincidence of RESOLUTION # 14-00422's appearance with the Beckham real estate play is stunning. Its passing may impact other sections of the Bay including the Grove. For example, discussions have just started on how the bay around Grove Isle may get dredged to allow tens of thousands of tons of material on and off the island.
RESOLUTION # 14-00422's passing may just make the developer's work so much easier. This will come at the expense of the neighborhood and the Bay's environment. Protection once thought permanent is now being stripped away without real consideration.
http://egov.ci.miami.fl.us/Legistarweb/Attachments/75671.pdf
http://egov.ci.miami.fl.us/Legistarweb/Attachments/75856.pdf
So who at the top can now say they have nothing to do with this sorry state of affairs?
Regalado?
Sarnoff?
Dirty trickster A. Bravo?
This kinda s**t makes me sick. How can we possibly vote these corrupt people into office??? How come they listen more to outsiders, non-residents than the tax paying locals??? How come our infrastructure is a mess but they insist on trying to make Miami look good for investors?? Most of them won't even live here!!!! SOMEONE PLEASE INVESTIGATE THESE INCOMPETENT POLITICIANS WHO HAVE SOLD US OUT BEFORE THEY WRECK OUR CITY!
Post a Comment
<< Home