[Speed Gibson,
Sunday May 14, 2006 at 12:19am]
Minnesota Poll: Most oppose stadium bills
This Sunday's Minneapolis Star Tribune has a couple of overdue but needed articles on the various stadium bills being (thankfully) mangled in the Senate.
Their Minnesota Poll shows that most Minnesotans oppose all of these proposals, that the Twins, Vikings, and Gophers should stay put in the Metrodome.
Yes, it's a small sample. Yes, the Minnesota Poll has a long history of inaccuracy, even bias. But consider two points. One, if there was any way to skew the results in the direction favoring their employer, the Minnesota Poll would have found it. Two, whatever the methods used, the results are comparable to last year's polling, showing no significant change.
Whether asked by pollers or referendums, Minnesotans have consistently said no to publicly funded stadiums, even for the Gophers. But the Legislature isn't listening. Neither is Prime Minister Pawlenty, one of his many flip-flops.
Another article says what most of us know already, the the sticker price of these stadiums isn't the true cost, which is always higher and usually doesn't include interest. The Taxpayers League is entirely justified at estimating the true cost of all three stadiums at $2 billion, and even that may be light.
I remember the Star Tribune running the tab on the true cost of the Metrodome. The Legislature authorized $55 million, but the real cost was around $86 million if memory serves. The $3 million architect fees were strangely omitted from that $55 million for example. Money flowed in from all sorts of places, as it always seems to in large public projects.
Their Minnesota Poll shows that most Minnesotans oppose all of these proposals, that the Twins, Vikings, and Gophers should stay put in the Metrodome.
Yes, it's a small sample. Yes, the Minnesota Poll has a long history of inaccuracy, even bias. But consider two points. One, if there was any way to skew the results in the direction favoring their employer, the Minnesota Poll would have found it. Two, whatever the methods used, the results are comparable to last year's polling, showing no significant change.
Whether asked by pollers or referendums, Minnesotans have consistently said no to publicly funded stadiums, even for the Gophers. But the Legislature isn't listening. Neither is Prime Minister Pawlenty, one of his many flip-flops.
Another article says what most of us know already, the the sticker price of these stadiums isn't the true cost, which is always higher and usually doesn't include interest. The Taxpayers League is entirely justified at estimating the true cost of all three stadiums at $2 billion, and even that may be light.
I remember the Star Tribune running the tab on the true cost of the Metrodome. The Legislature authorized $55 million, but the real cost was around $86 million if memory serves. The $3 million architect fees were strangely omitted from that $55 million for example. Money flowed in from all sorts of places, as it always seems to in large public projects.