An article “As Revenue Plunges, Stadium Boom Deepens Municipal Woes” reports:
“Years after a wave of construction brought publicly financed stadiums costing billions of dollars to cities across the country, taxpayers are once again being asked to reach into their pockets.
“From New Jersey to Ohio to Arizona, the stadiums were sold as a key to redevelopment and as the only way to retain sports franchises. But the deals that were used to persuade taxpayers to finance their construction have in many cases backfired, the result of overly optimistic revenue assumptions and the recession.
“Nowhere is the problem more acute than in Cincinnati…
“ ‘It’s like the movie where the blob keeps growing and eating away at other elements of county government,’ [David] Pepper said. ‘We’re beginning to cross a line in the sand by taking money from the general fund to pay for the stadiums. Once you put that money in jeopardy, you put the whole county at risk.’”
WATCHDOG: We wish the Lancaster Convention Center and the Marriott Hotel a happy new year. May what is happening to stadiiums (and also convention centers) across the country not befall the City of Lancaster!
