[PEN-L:8749] RE: Re: the NFL and urban development

["Max B. Sawicky" <sawicky@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Depends on the numbers, Jimbo.  Typically the official renditions
are hype to boost the deal, big surprise.

I testified in Annapolis on this issue for our progressive state
senator, Paul Pinsky (New Party).  He was trying to get regs on
the use of state money for stuff like this.  At the time our
unprogressive Dem governor had snagged two different pro
sports teams -- the "Washington" Redskins (who now play in
Laurel, Md., about 40 min from downtown D.C.) and the
Cleveland Browns (now Baltimore Ravens).  Both deals involved
debatable expenditures of state money.  Poor Paul was set upon
by liberal black Dems from Baltimore, who promised to can his
bill cuz he didn't go hoorah for the Ravens deal.  Good political
lesson there about where to go forward and where to detour.

Any given deal could be worthwhile for a locality, but on principle
I would be against all of them.  One place's gain is another's loss.
These things are always singular and non-repeatable in a locality.
In practice these deals are a distraction from what State/local
policy should be focusing on.  Thus in my view changing the subject
is the most important political goal.

The guy with the most to say about all this from an activist
standpoint is Greg LeRoy, who runs a little project here called
'Good Jobs' as part of Citizens for Tax Justice.  You can find
his web site by going to CTJ's at www.ctj.org.


> What do others on pen-l think? Should LA subsidize an NFL team
> to locate here? Is it a good idea for other cities to do so? Does it
> promote the _type_ of development we want? Should the poor hook their
> fortunes to Al Davis and the NFL? (The possibility of "full socializaton"
> seems off the agenda.)
> Jim Devine jdevine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx &