Comments on Advance Indiana™: Cincy Has An Indy Problem

Doug, It's the declining sales tax revenues fo...

2009-09-01T17:19:55.654-05:00

Doug, It's the declining sales tax revenues for the City and not poor ticket sales to the Reds and Bengals games that is to blame. It looks like the claimed economic boost didn't materialize. It never does if you actually conduct an objective economic impact analysis. These stadiums always cost the public many times more than they ever generate in economic benefits to the community.

At least Cincy has a plan even if it is a bad one....

2009-09-01T15:42:46.989-05:00

At least Cincy has a plan even if it is a bad one. Ballard has no plan to get us out of this CIB mess even with the help of his new best friend, Jackie Nytes.

I have an irrational bias against Cincinnati -- pa...

2009-09-01T14:54:34.059-05:00

I have an irrational bias against Cincinnati -- particularly Cincinnati sports -- from my days at Miami University, so this story made me pretty happy.

I came to school from Indiana and was pretty well neutral at first, but I found the Cleveland fans were a whole lot more palatable to me than the Cincinnati fans. The Cleveland fans were die hard while the Cincinnati fans were fair weather.

In any case, I suspect at least some part of the revenue shortfall has to do with the poor performance of the Reds and, to an even greater extent, the Bengals over the last 20 years. From 1990 - 2008, the Bengals are 110-193-1. (.361 winning percentage.)

And the state legislature and the city council her...

2009-09-01T13:41:09.638-05:00

And the state legislature and the city council here have never trusted the issue of whether taxes should be increased for the CIB to the voters.

No correction is needed. The original post makes i...

2009-09-01T13:39:04.885-05:00

No correction is needed. The original post makes it clear that the voters approved the original sales tax but later voted down two separate attempts to raise it again to support the stadiums.

Saying the voters of Cincinnati and/or Hamilton Co...

2009-09-01T13:21:03.980-05:00

Saying the voters of Cincinnati and/or Hamilton County, OH voted against tax increases for Paul Brown Stadium and Great American Ballpark is a bit misleading unless you also point out that those same voters approved the taxes in the first place (though his support for those taxes ultimately cost county commissioner Bob Beddinghaus his job). I realize that point is made in the excerpt, but since it can be seen as going against the grain of your general position on this issue, it's probably something that should be addressed in your comments.