PAYING FOR THE JAGUAR'S JUNGLE HAS CITY IN DEBT?

[JaxBorn1962]

In todays fla times union the mayor isn't sure how to get more money to cover the Stadium cost? Well why doesn't CSX or EverBank or Coach or Krystal's or GATE OR somebody put there company name on the Stadium and we could get several million dollars a year. And I loved it when peyton said the Team is happy with the stadium - as long as the city or taxpayers can come up with the money to fix the Stadium like no $h!?

[vicupstate]

My fear is that the $5 million from the bed tax is committed to the stadium, and thereby probably effectively killing any chance of a new convention center anytime in the next 15-20 years.  Then the team leaves anyway because it can't sell enough tickets. 

Then Jax has no chance for a decent convention center and the tourism it would bring, and it is stuck paying for a stadium that gets used maybe 4 times a year, that is soaking up tons of money.

My other fear is that once a few more Dallas-grade stadiums go up, the team demands another multi-million dollar upgrade or replacement.

The potential for a huge white elephant is real, IMO.

[buckethead]

The stadium is fine. Someone needs to prioritize a little better.

[CS Foltz]

buckethead............that's been the problem since Johnny was installed as the Mayor. No plan....no vision so I expect no less from him and his posse!

[Sportmotor]

We are gonna be even worse off when the jags leave jax lol

[stjr]

So... what is the solution?

Raise taxes?  Eliminate other critical community needs and investment that have already been cut to the bone and are well below national standards?  Convince more people to buy Jags tickets even if they haven't the money to spend?  What?

The Jags have a contract that the City agrees to maintain the stadium at a certain level.  When the stadium deal was questioned in some quarters, the zeal for getting the Jags essentially quashed all such concerns.  So, again, now what?

These situations are what give me so much pause when our fearless leaders promote grand and long term schemes that "sound good" but are mostly put forward on the basis of emotion, poor planning, inadequate research, uncreative visioning, and careless thought.  Jax decision making has suffered long enough with this behavior.

I am not at this time voicing an opinion on the current subject but, by example, I would like to see those who think our city problems can be easily fixed by others propose their own realistic, viable, and politically saleable solution to this one.  Such an exercise would be constructive and a step forward toward us making better decisions in the future.