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Marlins Stadium Update No. 323,009.5
Miami-Dade County Commission Chairman Dennis Moss has just closed the public hearing portion of the meeting.
Nearly 80 people weighed in both for and against the stadium. Just as they did at the city, members of the public framed the discussion as one of creating much-needed jobs and keeping baseball in South Florida versus spending tax dollars on a private enterprise, particularly with no guarantee there will be enough bed tax to cover the project.
The public has jammed the commission chambers and another 60 or so spectators couldn’t even fit inside and instead were moved to the county hall lobby to watch the video feed.
Debate got feisty about halfway through the public hearing, when Reginald Munnings, representing a number of community organizations, reminded commissioners the now-demolished Miami Arena was supposed to bring jobs.
“There’s nothing wrong with saving until you can find a better way to spend it,” he said. “Financial resources should not be used to bail out a private enterprise.”
Munnings walked away with representatives of the Miami Workers Center and others who began shouting “Real jobs now,” and “Shut the stadium down.”
Moss told the group to settle down and ordered the group escorted out of the commission chambers not to return.
Comments
Thank you all for following along. Monday night got a tad crazy, that's why I couldn't keep you as up to date as I would have liked. The county does have an online feed - sorry I couldn't tell you that while the meeting was going on. And yes, there were arguments on both sides, but the pro side was still slightly ahead when all was said and done. Thanks again for reading.
Posted by: Sarah Talalay | March 26, 2009 12:15 PM
Could you please vote yes and make it happen for the Florida Marlins finally will have a home to play baseball!!!!!!!!
Posted by: alexander montesinos | March 23, 2009 9:03 PM
Im not trying to single out the author as I do very much appreciate the updates, but its been difficult to find reasoning given by the pro-stadium speakers during these meetings. I actually thought the public at these meetings were overwhelmingly anti-stadium due to recent local media coverage until the author pointed out that this is not the case. Haven't there been pro-stadium arguments given also in these meetings? I've heard plenty of information about how these are temporary jobs and the cost is not guaranteed and the owners going to sell the team etc., what about the other side of the argument?
Posted by: Tom | March 23, 2009 7:31 PM
I wish there was a way to follow this second-by-second live. Not that I don't appreciate your updates, but the City Commission had a webstream for their meeting, and I'd love one for this too.
Posted by: Sean | March 23, 2009 7:22 PM