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April 25, 2012
Vikings stadium bill, now fully alive, heads for epic showdown on Friday; only Gamera can save us now
The Minnesota Vikings stadium bill is officially very much undead. Yesterday it unanimously passed the state senate jobs and economic growth committee (in a voice vote, which is how all the votes this week have been handled so that members don't have to go on record with their positions), was endorsed 7-6 by the Minneapolis city council (which had previously indicated its support, but hadn't officially voted on it), and prompted these comments from legislators on opposite sides of the debate:
"It feels like a first down, [and] another first down — got a good drive going here. I think, after a while, it starts to take on a little bit of momentum and an air of inevitability." — stadium supporter Sen. Geoff Michel
"I would say it's imminent. I think they have the upper hand and I think they're more likely than not to get their stadium within the week." — stadium opponent Sen. John Marty
There are still some obstacles to be worked out, in particular what exactly will be in the bill, which is being rapidly loaded up with amendments as legislators try to win over their reluctant colleagues with horse-trading. The Minneapolis council's resolution, for example, says that including money to renovate the Target Center is a "required component" of any bill; the senate on Monday removed Target Center funding from the bill, though it was restored yesterday. Yesterday's senate committee vote, meanwhile, added on $43 million to help St. Paul pay down debts on its RiverCentre and Xcel Energy Center, leading chief senate sponsor Jule Rosen to warn: "Forty-three million is a tremendous amount of money — that can't happen."
Still, when push comes to shove, there are ways to reconcile such disagreement, or at least to sweep them under the rug and hope nobody notices. And all signs are of push coming to shove this in a final vote this Friday.
My impression from Saint Paul (where I live and know/work with a fair number of legislators, politicians, lobbyists, et cetera) is that the Wilf lobbying team, the Governor, and a few legislators whose districts would benefit have really turned the corner on this thing. They got the unions on board, and they have got the leadership of both parties at least partially behind it.
So the non-ideological people are still skeptical (because frankly it is a horseshit deal), but now instead of my ideological friends/colleagues approaching it as they do issues with no party orthodoxy and giving their opinion, now they are for it and just parrot the party line. Sadly politics has a lot more of these mindless drones than it does independent thinkers.
They have also somehow managed to make the debate center mostly around jobs. Which is ridiculous, since anything you spent that amount of money on would create jobs. Hell you could put it all in a big pile and start it on fire and that would create jobs staking it and cleaning up the ash.
It would make sense for there to be some small subsidy for this project, but 60%? Are they insane? Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.
Posted by QCIC on April 25, 2012 11:12 AM
Jobs is the cover story at this point — I'd be stunned if anyone, even the construction unions, took seriously the notion that a Vikings stadium will create more jobs than anything else the state and city might do with the same money. But "The lobbyists won't stop calling! What was I supposed to do?" doesn't sound so good, so instead it's "I can't say no to something that will create jobs." Even though they were perfectly willing and eager to vote against it last week before the phone started ringing...
Posted by Neil deMause on April 25, 2012 12:19 PM
My preciousssss.... stadium cash! We wants it, must have it!
Posted by Piggy Wilf on April 26, 2012 06:35 AM
I'm 36 and live in Minnesota, and for nearly half my life I have been hearing demands from Vikings owners (starting with Red McCombs) for a new stadium. The latest news is, of course, us taxpayers would be the ultimate backstop so Zygi palace!). The way things are going, around year 10 Wilf (and/or who ever buys the Vikes from him) can have a "first class stadium" for 30 years (hopefully, unlike in Cincinnati, we won't have to start selling hospitals to pay for Wilf's I expect the "build us a new stadium or else!!" drum will start beating.
Posted by erikj3 on April 27, 2012 03:44 AM
I'm 36 and live in Minnesota, and for nearly half my life I have been hearing demands from Vikings owners (starting with Red McCombs) for a new stadium. The latest news is, of course, us taxpayers would be the ultimate backstop so Zygi Wilf can have a "first class stadium" for 30 years (although, I expect the "build us a new stadium or else" drum will start beating long before then!) Hopefully, unlike in Cincinnati, we won't have to start selling hospitals to pay for Wilf's palace!.
Posted by erikj3 on April 27, 2012 03:48 AM