St. Petersburg resident John Sinibaldi sent a response to John Romano’s January 6 article in the Tampa Bay Times about the cost and effort to repair Tropicana Field after the hurricane damage. Mr. Sinibaldi did not receive a response. Here is Mr. Sinibaldi’s letter to Romano:
John, I’m no fan of the deal the city and county have made with the Rays (it’s rotten to the core, and weighted heavily toward the Rays and the developers at the expense of city residents and taxpayers).
Having said that, I would guess that in the end, the deal will be completed, the Rays will stay, the stadium and developments will be built, developers and the Rays will make lots of money, and taxpayers like me will be hosed for gobs of money.
So be it. (My dad always said you can’t fight city hall; I’m starting to understand what he meant).
HOWEVER, I wish you – or anyone – would hammer the city on the absolutely stupid decision they made last year to drop their $100 million of insurance coverage for Tropicana Field down to $25 million in coverage, to save a paltry $275,000 in premium, especially since repair of Tropicana Field is once again in the news.
Tropicana Field is probably worth $500 million or more (and that’s just the value of the building, not the ongoing revenue generated by the Rays and vendors and such), but is old and covered with an aging cloth roof.
Anyone with a lick of brains would have recognized that in the event of a hurricane, even a Cat 1 or Cat 2, the roof might blow off.
Instead, Brown & Brown (the city’s insurance folks) along with Rob Gerdes and the City Council, thought it was a good idea to save $275,000 a year by dropping $75 million of the coverage on a vulnerable facility.
Did heads roll? No. Is anyone pointing this out, repeatedly and loudly? No. Do Rob Gerdes, the mayor and city council members and the folks at Brown & Brown suffer any consequences for this truly stupid decision? No.
Who will suffer? You (if you’re a resident of St. Pete) and me and anyone else who ultimately has to foot the bill for the $56 million repair (which we both know will wind up being closer to $100 million when it is finally done). Even if the quoted repair cost remains at $56 million, that could have been covered almost entirely by the insurance (minus any deductible); instead, at a minimum, the taxpayers will shoulder an additional $31 million. And for what, to save $275,000 a year?
I worked in insurance and risk management for 30 years, and I’ve never seen such an egregious decision with such horrendous and expensive results that didn’t end up with people losing their jobs.
Yes, I’m sure the council members, the mayor, and Gerdes will all say that the money won’t be borne by the taxpayers or some such drivel, but we all know that government money for things like this always comes from the taxpayers in the end (after all, we know the Rays aren’t going to pony up a penny to repair the Trop, and rightly so).
So tout the Rays if you wish, support the stadium and development deal (even as the city gives away 64 acres of prime development property in the heart of one of the most vibrant cities in the country for rock-bottom prices and the Rays push the city around like the bullies they are), promote the area as still being good for baseball if you wish (even though we both know that attendance at the new park will remain dismal for most games because we don’t have the demographics to support 81 home games a year for an MLB team).
But at the same time, have at least a tiny bit of sympathy for those of us who aren’t big baseball fans but who feel hosed at every turn – and in the case of the Trop repair, hosed because of ridiculously stupid decisions by city leaders and their advisors. Say something in your posts about that.
You have the ability to at least make things uncomfortable for those who have let city residents down. Even if I don’t support the new stadium and development, I can at least support smart use of our tax dollars – and the idiotic decision to drop the coverage on the stadium was not a smart use of our tax dollars.
Use your voice to let ALL St. Pete residents know that someone, anyone, recognizes that mistakes are being made – even if it is only this one issue.
Thanks for hearing me out (if you made it this far).
