Jeremy Tollberg, a contributing columnist for Home Runs Matter writes:
I’d like to know if our city council thinks we should be prioritizing every dollar spent to protect citizens after these devastating storms.
Do any council members think a stadium should take priority over its people?
After hearing the most recent reports on the damage done to the area by both hurricane Milton and hurricane Hellene, it’s impossible for any sensible public official to think we’re not facing a massive bill to make the city whole again. Or that we couldn’t be facing a similar crisis, in the very near future.
I disagree with the council members who say we had no idea this could happen. Concerned citizens have repeatedly spoken in front of the council about how funding a luxury stadium complex would expose our city to devastating risks in the event of a “once in a lifetime” storm.
Then that “once in a lifetime” storm happened.
And just 13 days later, it happened again. This is it – this is the worst-case scenario happening right in front of our eyes.
I’ve lost count – of how many destroyed houses I’ve cleaned out, of how many families have told me they can’t afford to replace what they’ve lost, or if they’ll even have a place to live soon.
Just yesterday, my neighbor – in Councilman Montanari’s district- broke down crying to me: Her husband needs full-time medical care, her car is totaled, and she likely can’t afford to keep the house she’s lived in for decades. There’s going to be countless others just like her. Does anyone think her life is going to be improved by paying for a billionaires vanity project?
This city is devastated. Storm-ruined. Homes are already flooding the market by owners who are desperate for money. If our city council approves hundreds of millions of dollars in stadium debt on top of the massive costs needed to repair our homes and infrastructure – they’re as good as sentencing us to disastrous future.
The only spot of hope in all of this is that the council can still make things right. They can vote to reject – not delay, not postpone – but reject any funding or bonds to pay for this obscene wealth transfer. Forge a deal that serves the citizens FIRST.
These storms were a wake up call. And people aren’t going to forget who our mayor and our city council really represented when it mattered. That multibillion-dollar team that wants the city to approve a mountain of debt for the next 30 years.
They donated just $1 million. That’s less than .1% of the value of the deal they’re demanding. THAT’S how much your billion-dollar pal gives a damn about our citizens.
Don’t sacrifice the future of this city to his greed.
