Wasting millions more? $7M and counting.

City Council has now approved spending $6.5 million more to clean up and start remediating damage to the stadium. All without knowing where the Rays stand, or if indeed the Trop can or will ever be brought back to its former glory in time for play in 2025.

This new money is in addition $548K the city previously spent to remove the small amount of what’s left of the Rays’ baseball stadium’s tattered roof.

In the Oct. 31 meeting with more questions than answers, City Council voted to approve resolutions 1) to allocate up to $2.5 million toward waterproofing areas of the ballpark, and 2) nearly $4 million for remediation service.

The mayor’s administration argued that if the city council did not immediately commit to spend $6.5 million to mitigate against more water damage, it wasn’t sure if its insurance policy would pay. 

One by one, council members spoke – citing the difficulty in now spending such a large amount of money, with so many other greater needs in the community. Further, they noted possible constituent push back, and the sensitivity to media in the room.   And they questioned whether the insurance could be protected if they spent less money  right now. 

Was it a good decision – when there is so much that we don’t know:

• What are the total costs of repairing the stadium?
• How much will insurance pay?  
• Is the stadium structurally safe enough to repair? 
• If repairs could be made, how long will they take?
• If the repairs are made and there is another storm, will there be insurance to cover that damage?
• With the current insurance, the city has to pay at least the first $22 million. 
• Even if the stadium can be repaired, is it worth spending that much more for a building to be torn down in three years? 
• Besides the stadium, what are the other costs to the city from the hurricanes?
• How are all the city’s storm related costs going to be paid? 
• Are taxes or utilities going up?
• What other priorities will be set back?

If the decision is made to tear it down, won’t the $548K already spent and the new $6.5M monies be a waste of taxpayer money?  Are we sure we had to commit $6.5 million this week?  

And what was not discussed at the St. Petersburg City Council meeting:

In addition to the total cost to the city from the two hurricanes, don’t we need to consider whether we can afford a new stadium when we have $5 billion+ of known sewer and storm water repairs and improvements?

If it sounds like we’re beating a dead horse about stormwater and sewer repairs, that’s because we are. More important than any single use stadium, taxpayer monies should be prioritized toward the highest need – that’s the protection of people and property – especially, during times of crisis.

Shouldn’t we prioritize helping prevent people from losing their homes to flooding, ensure we can flush our toilets, and that we can drink the water? 

Story developing…  stay tuned.