Unless someone came to their respective senses and made a great save for the city of St. Louis on Wednesday, the Board of Aldermen on Friday could clear the way for the proposal to spend $60 million of taxpayers’ money to help finance a new soccer stadium.
It would take a judge’s decision to allow the proposal on the April 4 city ballot because the entire preposterous effort is way passed its actual deadline for inclusion on election day.
But Circuit Judge Thomas Frawley or another member of the local bench is probably more than ready to step up and allow voters to have their say – even if it really isn’t in the best interest of St. Louis.
Frawley, you recall, ruled that two structures can be “adjacent,” while being several city blocks – at least when one of the buildings is a proposed football stadium. Compared to that landmark ruling, this one would be a piece of cake.
On Monday, the city’s Board of Aldermen forwarded plan that saddles the city with $60 million in stadium financing, leaving the SC St. Louis private investors a bill of about $95 million to build a 22,000-seat stadium west of Union Station. No stadium, no MLS expansion franchise.
A week ago, after a 6-2 setback in a BOA committee meeting, SC St. Louis decided to surrender half of the entertainment tax on tickets and a re-vote sat at 4-4. BOA President Lewis Reed, who is running for mayor, was mustered to cast the deciding vote and he dutifully sided with SC St. Louis.
Never mind the 188 murders and the many other public safety needs of the city – he cast a vote to keep stadium hopes alive.
Never mind that David Peacock, Jim Kavanaugh and the other SC St. Louis partners could afford to do this project themselves, they simply choose not to because the deal isn’t as sweet without public money.
“It’s hard to justify raising taxes in this city and using the money to fund, of all things, a soccer stadium. Given all our urgent needs – money for new police, better pay for city employees, better city services, helping small businesses – this is not what we should be raising taxes for,” said Alderman Antonio French, who is also running for mayor. “And it shouldn’t be up to St. Louis City taxpayers alone to fund all these regional amenities. If the County and the state aren’t chipping in too, the deal shouldn’t happen.”
There will be plenty of time to debate the plan between now and April 4. I’m hoping a serious “no” effort will be mounted to counter the expected “yes” movement that will be fortified with cash by those with a vested interest in its success.
I want MLS soccer in St. Louis. The current plan is irresponsible in this time of economic crisis. If a “no” means no soccer, this region will have to get its kicks elsewhere.
Color Simmonds All Star MVP
Wayne Simmonds of the Philadelphia Flyers began his career in Los Angeles and had one of the biggest highlights of his career last Sunday after leading his Metropolitan Division All Star team to a win and being named MVP.
“It’s all pretty surreal,” said Simmonds, who was awarded a 2017 Honda Ridgeline truck for winning the MVP.
Simmonds scored his team’s first two goals in a 10-6 Metropolitan victory in a semifinal against the Atlantic Division, then scored the game winner in a 4-3 win against the Pacific Division All Stars with 4:58 remaining in the contest.
“I don’t even know if I realize what’s going on right now, but it’s pretty cool,” said Simmonds, who has registered 21 goals and 17 assists in his team’s first 50 games.
The L.A. Kings drafted Simmonds in 2007 and he played 240 games with the franchise before a trade in June 2011 sent him to the Flyers. The many Kings fans in attendance at the Staples Center greeted Simmonds with enthusiasm.
“I’ve been in Philadelphia for the last six years and when you leave a place, you don’t expect to come back and get all the cheers I got today. I must have done something right when I was here. I know I had a lot of die-hard fans here and I really appreciate those people. I just appreciate everything. They made me feel good today.”
Simmonds wasn’t the only player of color to display his amazing talent to an international television audience.
Seth Jones of the Columbus Blue Jackets, and a teammate of Simmonds on the Metropolitan squad, tied the final game 1-1 with a first-period goal. He also scored a go-ahead goal in the Mets’ semifinal victory.
P.K. Subban of the Nashville Predators, Central Division captain, registered a goal in his team’s 10-3 loss to the Pacific Division in a semifinal game.
Race and sports in 2016
Richard Lapchick, chair of the DeVos Sport Business Management graduate program at the University of Central Florida and director of UCF’s Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport,reported at ESPN.com that acts of racism at American sporting events jumped from 11 in 2015 to 35 last year.
“Many think of sports as being a sanctuary which racism cannot penetrate, but they often reflect what is going on in society. There seems to be a broad agreement that acts of racism in the United States are increasing at an alarming rate,” he wrote.
Lapchick commented on Colin Kaepernick’s decision to first sit, then kneel during the national anthem to protest oppression of black Americans and police brutality and Carmelo Anthony, Dwayne Wade and LeBron James’ respective comments on gun violence and police shootings during the 2016 ESPYs.
Among the racial incidents Lapchick included in is study were:
New York Giants player Nikita Whitlock’s home was robbed and vandalized with a variety of racial epithets including a spray-painted swastika, the letters KKK, “Trump” and a message that read, “Go Back to Africa.”
Denver Broncos lineman Brandon Marshall, who had joined Kaepernick in his anthem protest, posted a letter he received calling him the N-word repeatedly, along with other racial slurs, and concluded by threatening his life.
A man dressed in a gorilla suit stormed the field at a Chicago Bears vs. Detroit Lions game, while wearing a T-shirt that read, “All Lives Matter” and “Put The Guns Down.”
The University of Wisconsin-Madison released a statement after a photo went viral of a fan wearing a racist costume representing President Barack Obama.
Alvin A. Reid is a panelist on the Nine Network program, Donnybrook and appears on ABC’s The Allman Report and several sports radio shows, including Frank Cusumano’s “The Press Box” on KFNS. His Twitter handle is #aareid1.
