After posting my Arena post last week I was asked many times, “I’m not a fan of sports or shows. I’m a taxpayer. Tax payer funds are being used to build it. How will the folks who won’t patronize the arena benefit from this?”
This morning I read this:
Posted by Yahoo Sports News, Florida has what appears to be pending legislation to enforce a law created in 1988 requiring publically funded stadiums to serve as homeless shelters on non-event days.
state legislators have unearthed an obscure law that has not been enforced since it was adopted in 1988. It states that any ballpark or stadium that receives taxpayer money shall serve as a homeless shelter on the dates that it is not in use.
While the law is in place, the Florida lawmakers are seeking to retract payments to these teams if they cannot show they have met this requirement.
“We have spent over $300 million supporting teams that can afford to pay a guy $7, $8, $10 million a year to throw a baseball 90 feet. I think they can pay for their own stadium,” said Sen. Michael Bennett, R-Bradenton, who is sponsoring the bill. “I can not believe that we’re going to cut money out of Medicaid and take it away from the homeless and take it away from the poor and impoverished, and we’re continuing to support people who are billionaires.”
Also cited in the Yahoo Sports News post is the original source, The Miami Herald.
While this could be an election year push to gain votes, it does raise some thoughts on how the team/arena could provide for the community that shelled out a lot of cash to support this project without so much as their consent. (Yes, I do realize that when you vote someone in office you give them your consent to make decisions on your behalf.)
Politics aside, as always… how else could this arena help the community?
Graduations! Yes! I’ve heard it so many times. Forget the 95 degree, 100 % humidity day on my high school’s soccer field that did not detract at all from my 13 year effort to graduate. (I count Kindergarten too). Local school (also taxpayer funded) should receive the opportunity to use this facility at no or low cost. Sure, security and parking folks need to be paid, etc. etc.. Let this arena work for us.
As the effort in Florida goes, to help the homeless. Writing a check is one thing, providing direct assistance is another. How many cold winter nights would find folks seeking refuge in the arena which would be pumping hundreds if not thousands of dollars a day into heating costs for an empty arena. (Can’t have the plumbing freeze can we?) The question of who would oversee this? Maybe a partnership with the current support system. Have representatives from the local shelters/missions that would provide support in the event their shelters are full.
Red Cross disaster relief site. Something bad happens and people need a place to stay temporarily. Tornadoes, Hurricanes, Floods and even Earthquakes not to mention gas explosions or fires. The Red Cross helps folks affected by these disasters. When we lost power last fall, some for weeks, local schools were packed with folks seeking refuge from the cold. An arena could be a central location.
I’m sure there are many other ways the Arena could benefit the community. Anyone out there have more ideas?
noisenation.mlblogs.com 
Wouldn’t it be easier to require sports teams that use public financing to just build NEW shelters? maybe as part of the complex, maybe elsewhere in town where needed? Seems more win-win-win (better for team, city, and homeless) than trying to shelter folks in the bowels of a stadium..
As for Allentown, who would be libel injuries to homeless when the arena/shelter succumbs to another sinkhole?
I will attempt to avoid the ‘politcalness’ of all this but alas I may not succeed.
There may be those who disagree with my personal opinion and that’s fine. I don’t wish to offend anyone, just simply provide another viewpoint for this post.
Please allow me to explain that in no way am I intending to disparage the plight of the homeless. That sad reality could happen to any of us. But whose ultimate responsibility is it to aid these folks and who decides?
I can agree that if an arena/stadium is publicly funded that the “general public” should benefit. Doesn’t simply building a stadium benefit the “general public”?
Why should a certain segment of the “general public” benefit more than any other? When in fact does it then stop? Do people living below the poverty level get free food from the stadium because the stadium was publicly funded? Do folks get free transportation because they don’t have a vehicle and the stadium was publicly funded?
I’m not sure if this is entire accurate and I apologize if I’m missing some crucial information, but I found this tidbit on Coca-Cola Park.
(http://www.baseballpilgrimages.com/minors/allentown.html)
Construction cost: $50.25 million
Financing: The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania funded a third of the cost. Lehigh County, through the issuance of bonds and a hotel tax, covered the remainder. The county’s debt payments on the bonds are covered by rent paid by the team. The IronPigs’ 30-year lease calls for them to pay the county $1.29 million annually in rent.
So if my math is correct the State funded $16.75 million leaving $33.5 million for the County to fund with bonds and a hotel tax. The County will receive $38.7 million over the 30-year lease. Combined with the hotel tax the County doesn’t seem to be losing any money at all. Again, if I am inaccurate here I’m more than willing to stand corrected.
Also, let’s not forget about the IronPigs Charities who have doled out nearly $500,000 to various local charities. Is that not another “public” benefit? In 2011 the IronPigs Charities donated over $106,000 to local charities including… wait for it… The Allentown Rescue Mission!
Understandably in a natural disaster arenas and stadiums are instrumental in aiding the public. However, that is different than mandating the homeless pitch a tent at center ice!
I do not see a problem with the arena donating some services for school graduations, civic organizations, etc. It would provide good will and perhaps some extra marketing exposure. At the same time they are in business to make money so there is a fine line there.
I’ll leave you with this final thought…
“If everyone gets free bread – who’s going to be left to make the bread?”
“Socialism works great until you run out of other people’s money.”
Your “Where does it end analysis?” is brillliant stuff, if only in my opinion.
50 million or so, total construction cost
30 million or so, government assistance with financing
… that’s about how I remember it, too.
So — 60% of Coca Cola Park gets converted into a Homeless Shelter immediately!
🙂
All I’ll add to this are:
1. Laws can and will be changed, even if just to clarify when they are truly applicable.
2. Pennsylvania is NOT Florida. Our lawmakers are going to be influenced only by their OWN concerns, and not those of some other state. Not unless the Federal authorities are involved, which in proper context they should NOT be, would PA’s govt be made to impose something like this.
Meanwhile, Happy New Year, Colonel! 🙂
Our local lawmakers are “influenced”, alright … do not worry about that!
He / She who can’t see any Pay To Play going on at Chairman Pawlowski’s Palace of Sport needs to open their eyes and apply a little Common Sense.
I am a volunteer for the Bethlehem Emergency Shelter Program which currently provides overnight facilities for 13 women and 23 men. I sometimes am a driver, providing rides from the pick up point to the church being used on a paticular night, or back again in the morning. My wife and I also cook either the supper meal or breakfast two or three times a month for the “guests”, We can always use more volunteers. Contact me and I can tell you how to sign up.
That’s awesome Dave! Thank you!!!