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Wednesday, June 28, 2006 | Letter-writer Caryl S. Foster claims that the stadium proposal does not require any money to be siphoned from the city of San Diego. This is flat-out wrong, and typical of the lies of professional sports subsidies boosters.
60-acres of publicly owned land are worth a considerable amount. After having given the Spanos clan millions of public dollars over the past decade, all the while enduring relocation threats and the disastrous ticket guarantee, some emotionally distraught football fans seem to think all will be well if we just give these crooks even more. This is truly misinformed.
Professional sports are entertainment, not investment. The lion’s share of tourists come to San Diego for the beaches and glorious weather, not for baseball or football. Yet we neglect our beaches and bays because we have to pay off ridiculously expensive sports stadiums. Our sewers and roads are a disgrace, but we propose to give away yet more public property to people we know we cannot trust.
If the citizens of San Diego owned the team, it could be different. But this is a private business owned by a politically well-connected property developer from Sacramento. If this deal is so good, with all their experience and money they should be able to develop it themselves.
When libraries, public pools, and athletic fields for our own children are fully funded, then perhaps we’ll have the luxury of giving hand-outs to professional ball players and their billionaire masters. With San Diego on the brink of bankruptcy, we cannot afford another stadium giveaway just now.
In the meantime, the well-funded few who directly benefit from this rip-off will continue to lobby and wheedle; claiming that without a professional sports club San Diego will sink into the sea. Get informed. We’ve already spent so much on pro-sports, we are facing financial disaster.