Now that the Star and their fellow cohorts in the news media successfully shoved down our throats another massive public works project, it's time to move on to the next project: another big tax give-away to support a professional sports franchise. The Star's media campaign on behalf of those poor, ailing Indiana Pacers is self-evident today. Erika Smiths gives us a story about what an economic boon Conseco Fieldhouse has meant for downtown. "You'd never know it today, but 10 years ago, before the neon-trimmed bars, before the valet parking, before the families toting Indiana Pacers memorabilia across Pennsylvania Street, the south end of Downtown was a pretty vacant place," she writes. "Conseco Fieldhouse helped change all that," she adds.
The funny thing about this story is that I read the complete opposite in the IBJ awhile back about how neither Lucas Oil Stadium nor Conseco Fieldhouse had provided the economic boon to their respective areas as some had predicted. Contrary to what Smith says in her story, the area around Conseco Fieldhouse is one of the deadest downtown in the evening when there isn't an event going on at Conseco Fieldhouse, which would be most of the time. Figure this is just the first of many stories the Star will begin to run in an effort to convince you that the billionaire Simons should get another $15 million a year of your money because of the team's important value to the local economy. Of course, don't expect the Star to disclose its own conflict of interest, including a loan it agreed to extend to the CIB to construct Conseco Fieldhouse, which has been deferred for many years, helping to cover up the extent of the CIB's financial woes. You see, the Star chose to fore go repayment of millions of dollars owed to it for its original Circle Centre Mall investment that got diverted to Conseco at a time when it has been laying off employees left and right and cutting their salaries so it could assist in the bailout of the CIB.
Jeff Rabjohns had a front page story on this Indiana Shrine, which you can read by clicking here. Yeah, the public relations firms are making the rounds in the Star newsroom providing ready-made script for reporters all too anxious to please them.
8 comments:
It still makes me laugh to hear people laud the bustling downtown - having known the earlier years when downtown was TRULY a busy place.
Sure, it had little nightlife but it was elbow to elbow with people all day long. Companies made a living without one handout after another from the taxpayers.
It's ironic that Simon and deBartolo siphoned off the retail from downtown with their suburban malls, killing off most of the downtown retail. Then taxpayers financed a new downtown mall for the Simons.
Wonder if anyone is willing to say what interest rate the taxpayers/CIB are paying the Star and the other investors on that long deferred balloon payment loan.
200-300% ROI ???
Have you ever heard of a newspaper going door-to-door to peddle a free subscription to a weekly advertising bundle?
The Star was in my neighborhood this week begging me and my neighbors to take their weekly junk circulars.
Perhaps if the Star looked out for the people and dug to find the facts behind the city's corruption, they would not have sinking circulation numbers.
Ruth Holladay reported on their circulation numbers recently. From October 08 to October 09, the Star's subscription numbers sunk 41,479 subscribers.
SOURCE:
http://www.ruthholladay.com/2009/oct/31/star-circulation-down/
Quite predictably, the comment section is filled with folks oohing and aahing about the design of Conseco. One person dared to mention the financial burden and was instantly labelled as 'stupid.'
They have now locked me out from making comments on any of their stories.
This apparently is a modus operendi for Ryerson, Roger. He has decided to simply censure all dissenting opinions. The guy would have fit in well at the old Soviet Politburo.
Welcome to the 'club', Roger. They shut me out last week when I dared to question their Wishard propaganda.
Any economist worth his or her salt will tell you that you're talking about local discretionary spending. If people spend it Conseco or around Conseco, that means they're not spending it someplace else in the local community. The vast majority of people who attend games and events at Conseco are local folks. All you're doing is changing where money is spent in the local community.
Post a Comment