Comments on Advance Indiana™: Shaky Stadium Financing

Thank you Bart for shoving this down our throats a...

2006-10-29T09:04:00.000-05:00

Thank you Bart for shoving this down our throats and scaring the city with thoughts of abandonment. This is shameful. Bart comes in and runs up our debt. Did I say "thank you?"

I will election day.

I remember looking at the city budget report 15 ye...

2006-10-28T22:43:00.000-05:00

I remember looking at the city budget report 15 years ago and couldn't find the damn Hoosier Dome! It was hidden well - I asked one of Goldsmith's's gnomes about it who showed me where it was shyly placed. There was a GOP financial genius named Rogers who worked the financial legerdemain. He was one of those guys who made complicated spreadsheets on large sheets of paper before computers made them popular. Rogers could cook the numbers while Hudnut and Goldsmith hornswoggled the population while the iron Republican domination of the CC Council let things slip on through.

This is old news, which the Star is really good at...

2006-10-28T21:33:00.000-05:00

This is old news, which the Star is really good at reporting. If anyone was paying attention, the Colts extorted funds every so many years and the bonds were refinanced.

And, of course, now our great city leaders want to give millions of dollars to another hotel. They really believe that their main purpose is to help fund private ventures. They have no idea what government is supposed to do. And it does not matter whether they are Democrats of Republicans. They all do the same crap. They will never stop doing this stuff. We need to be able to impeach these bastards immediately, when they get out of line.

The Capital Improvements Board is a joke. It should be called the Stadium Improvement Board. It has nothing to do with capital improvements. Not one dime of their money goes to real infrastructure. The ironic thing is that their whole purpose is supposed to be related to economic development, but they can't fund the police or criminal justice system, without which, economic development would be impossible.

Excellent Star article, and mediocre analysis, Gar...

2006-10-28T19:25:00.000-05:00

Excellent Star article, and mediocre analysis, Gary.

The financing scheme, construction schedule, and remodel bids were done entirely under Mayors Hudnut and Goldsmith. Peterson walked into office with all this in place. Nothing--not a damned thing--could be done about it.

That wasn't the only surprise. Fiscal conservative Goldsmith had just about borrowed the city into oblivion, whilst ignoring huge capital requirements like the jail, combined sewer overflow and a growing need for court space.

He had the willing assistance of the City County Council. And a Republican Party, led by John Sweezy, that was loathe to even mention taxes, let alone raise them. His favorites occupied every office in the C-C Building.

Those days are over.

Not to let Glass off the hook. The deal he negotiated with Irsay, on further reflection, might as well have been negotiated with Glass on the Colts' side of the table. It's frightening how much Irsay got, and we gave up.

Maybe they ought to let the next big negotiation be handled by people who negotiate for a living daily--real estate brokers, union officials, car dealers or salespersons. Don't laugh. They survive in a tough economy. Glass's penalty for negotiating a bad deal?

Nothing. A big law firm partnership was his before and after his city stint. He's an incredibly nice guy, but he had zero experience at this kind of thing.

And it shows.