Saturday, June 26, 2004

Another Cartel's Public Ripoff. Washington Post: A Stadium Built on Shaky Ground. The rift between the commissioner of baseball and the governor who championed his ballpark is a microcosm of the rupture in the private-public partnership that Wisconsin forged to build Miller Park. In many ways, the story of the bedeviled $413.9 million stadium, which came with a leaky 12,000-ton retractable roof and 70 luxury suites, is the story of how modern baseball is played -- not on the field but in the offices and boardrooms where Selig, a former Ford dealer, presides over a $3.5 billion industry that is exempt from the most basic laws of American capitalism. This story, the first in a three-part series, is a great description of the warped practices that major-league sports barons employ to suck money from taxpayers' pockets. it's crony capitalism with a twist. I bring this up because there are people who want to move the Oakland Athletics (Silicon Valley Business Journal) to a new stadium in San Jose. If they succeed (and the league would have to allow it), they'll do what so many others have done: Rip off the public to subsidize their operation. If the league and the franchise owners want to move the team, fine. But they should be forced to keep out of average people's pockets in the process. [Dan Gillmor's eJournal] As I have mentioned before, San Jose has a fine professional baseball team that pleases local baseball fans. It may be single A baseball, but it is still baseball. Better yet, it is affordable. I can see the action from the forth row without mortgaging the house. After watching the A's, I don't want them here. And I don't want to pay to bring them here. 12:00:25 PM     Comment []

Santa Clara VTA completes light-rail extension. California's Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) recently opened its Tasman East/Capitol light-rail extension on time and $14 million under budget. [Los Altos, CA - Topix.net] The VTA has blundered its way to epic deficits, massive reductions in service, and a brain dead BART to San Jose project. Now Santa Clara County Grand Jury wants the VTA board sacked. Yet some how, they scored. I am going to call it luck. The VTA has made more bad decisions over the last 5 years than Enron. And like Enron, they should be bankrupt with their officers facing criminal charges. I will give VTA this win, but they are not out of the doghouse yet. This victory shows the strength of the light rail system. But as long as VTA pushes BART, light rail will suffer. VTA should focus on its strengths and drop its pie in the sky visions. 11:28:04 AM     Comment []