City Does not Know how it will fund its share of $63 million for Everbank

[WmNussbaum]

Wow, Non? Redneck I must have really pissed you off making sure participants here read an article I consider very worthwhile. Okay, I promise I won't post is again and offend you even more. Now, about some of your points:

At age 72 and having been a practicing lawyer for almost 50 of them, I'm sure I have had at least 5 original thoughts. Really, I have. How about you? Here is one of mine, and it was mine before I read the not-to-be-named article:

I think it is obscene for this city to spend $43 million on a bauble like the world's biggest JUMBOTRON when parts of the City, according to the T-U some weeks ago, look as shamefully shabby (that's alliteration, fella) as they do, and one small part, according to this morning's edition, do not even have potable (drinkable) water. We were in danger of having libraries close - probably still are; had to search for money to repair the Southbank Riverwalk; have a huge unfunded pension problem; and yet we can afford the world's biggest JUMBOTRON.

Point two: If I were attempting to pass off the article as my own - that's called plagiarism, fella - I would have done some copy/paste and not given attribution - er, I mean credit - to the source.

Point three: "Your" is a possessive pronoun. I think you need some practice on using it and "you're" which is a con-trac-tion.

Point four: I have the same regard for your opinion as you do for mine.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

Wow, Non? Redneck I must have really pissed you off making sure participants here read an article I consider very worthwhile. Okay, I promise I won't post is again and offend you even more. Now, about some of your points:

At age 72 and having been a practicing lawyer for almost 50 of them, I'm sure I have had at least 5 original thoughts. Really, I have. How about you? Here is one of mine, and it was mine before I read the not-to-be-named article:

I think it is obscene for this city to spend $43 million on a bauble like the world's biggest JUMBOTRON when parts of the City, according to the T-U some weeks ago, look as shamefully shabby (that's alliteration, fella) as they do, and one small part, according to this morning's edition, do not even have potable (drinkable) water. We were in danger of having libraries close - probably still are; had to search for money to repair the Southbank Riverwalk; have a huge unfunded pension problem; and yet we can afford the world's biggest JUMBOTRON.

See, Bill, this is more along the lines of what I was talking about - actual opinion and not just some URL to an article posted all willy-nilly across the boards. 

I can understand your frustration, as well as the frustration of many others when they're unable to comprehend that our government has different funding mechanisms for different things.  Sure, we all pay taxes - property taxes, sales taxes, gas taxes, etc..., but how those taxes are actually allocated is the sticky part in all of this.  You being an attorney for all of those years leads me to believe that you might actually be somewhat of an intelligent guy, so why the obtuseness when it comes to this?

I would be just as upset as you if, for even a second, I thought that the city was shutting down libraries to pay for video boards, but since that's far from the truth, I don't allow my panties to get all wadded up and I am for any upgrades done to our stadium that will help attract ANY additional events there.  That's on the city's partner, SMG, fella, to keep our stadium full of activity, not the Jags.  They're a tenant.  A highly prolific tenant, but a tenant none the less. 

Point three: "Your" is a possessive pronoun. I think you need some practice on using it and "you're" which is a con-trac-tion.

Seriously?!?  You went grammar nazi?  Incorrectly I might add, but here, this is for you:

Well, sir, I would thank you for your grammar lesson if you'd kindly point out my grammatical errors.  You're really stretching on this one, and I think you've probably mis-read my post. 

If you find that you often have difficulty understanding some material and finding yourself rereading things a lot, this site may help:  http://www.beatingdyslexia.com/learning-strategies.html

Because I think that you may need a little practice yourself.  BTW, your / you're... those are homonyms, fella.

Point four: I have the same regard for your opinion as you do for mine.

As long as we're (contraction for "we are") clear on that. 

Enjoy you're day.    (<-----  That's sarcasm, fella)

[mtraininjax]

I think it is obscene for this city to spend $43 million on a bauble like the world's biggest JUMBOTRON when parts of the City, according to the T-U some weeks ago, look as shamefully shabby (that's alliteration, fella) as they do, and one small part, according to this morning's edition, do not even have potable (drinkable) water. We were in danger of having libraries close - probably still are; had to search for money to repair the Southbank Riverwalk; have a huge unfunded pension problem; and yet we can afford the world's biggest JUMBOTRON.

+1

However, the City is moving at the pace the Jaguars push them. Khan comes out and says, I want new videoboards or I am leaving to go to LA.....so the Mayor diffuses the issue and caves. Eliminate the issue, when the Jags have soooooooo many issues, keep the LA talk out of Jax. So the 43 million is a lot, but Brown was bullied into the issue.

[KuroiKetsunoHana]

so we're officially doïng whatever the jaguars want?  why?  they don't do anywhere near as much for the city as has been claimed, they completely bork downtown traffic on a fairly regular basis, and people who are actually into football (it's a dreadfully common brain disorder, and there seems to be no cure) assure me that they kind ov suck.

if the jaguars want to sod off to LA, i'm sure i'm not the only one who would gladly hold the door.  all this bending over backwards for them is nonsense.

[funwithteeth]

and people who are actually into football (it's a dreadfully common brain disorder, and there seems to be no cure) assure me that they kind ov suck.

Does regularly using "ov" instead of "of" have a place in the DSM-IV, too?

[KuroiKetsunoHana]

and people who are actually into football (it's a dreadfully common brain disorder, and there seems to be no cure) assure me that they kind ov suck.

Does regularly using "ov" instead of "of" have a place in the DSM-IV, too?

yeah, it's a subheading ov "linguistic dementia brought on by excessive P-Orridge consumption".

[fsquid]

so we're officially doïng whatever the jaguars want?  why?  they don't do anywhere near as much for the city as has been claimed, they completely bork downtown traffic on a fairly regular basis, and people who are actually into football (it's a dreadfully common brain disorder, and there seems to be no cure) assure me that they kind ov suck.

if the jaguars want to sod off to LA, i'm sure i'm not the only one who would gladly hold the door.  all this bending over backwards for them is nonsense.

if you lose them, you'll never get another team.

[KuroiKetsunoHana]

if you lose them, you'll never get another team.

that's the best news i've heard all day.  let's make it happen.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

if you lose them, you'll never get another team.

Herein lies the problem. 

There are those that have no love for the Jaguars, or football, or even sports in general, so any expenditure that is funneled in that direction is looked as a waste.

And when you get people spouting off about it being libraries v/s scoreboards, then the numbers don't even matter anymore.  Who wants to take the time to sort through tax codes and see what money is allocated where? 

Definitely not the ones who could care less if the team is here or not.

[KuroiKetsunoHana]

it shouldn't even be a question ov taxes though; i'm supposed to believe a football team is a financial asset to the city when they can't even buy their own damn giant TV?

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

it shouldn't even be a question ov taxes though; i'm supposed to believe a football team is a financial asset to the city when they can't even buy their own damn giant TV?

Depends on your own POV.

I don't really see a need for some of the amenities that the government provides, but have no problem helping pay for them through the money allocated by the taxes I pay.

Why is this any different?

[Wacca Pilatka]

The amount of money the Jaguars and people affiliated with the Jaguars pump into local charities, including arts and historical preservation associations, is staggering.  I believe it's well over $150 million since the team came into existence.

Having an NFL team in the city attracts thousands of visitors per year who come solely to watch football games, boosting bed and sales tax revenue.

While the intangible benefit of prestige that a professional sports team provides is debatable, the devastating blow to a smaller city's prestige that comes with losing its lone professional sports team is not.  It would be a humilation for Jacksonville forever.  Its national image would be that of the city that couldn't handle the big time.  I think it would have a deleterious psychological effect and in particular, would become a detriment to keeping talented younger people in the city. 

The intent of the scoreboards and other improvements is not merely to placate the Jaguars (who are paying the cost of the jumbotron, incidentally; it's the other bells and whistles that the city's covering) but to attract other major events to the stadium, such as college football playoff games or early-season special event games.  It's intended to make the stadium, in essence, something more of a tourist attraction in itself, much as has been the case with Dallas.

[Cheshire Cat]

it shouldn't even be a question ov taxes though; i'm supposed to believe a football team is a financial asset to the city when they can't even buy their own damn giant TV?

Depends on your own POV.

I don't really see a need for some of the amenities that the government provides, but have no problem helping pay for them through the money allocated by the taxes I pay.

Why is this any different?

The two differences I see are first that a bed tax is not something most Jacksonville citizens pay. That burden is generally on the back of tourists and business visitors.  Second is that the other amenities offered via the city don't total $63 million. 

[KuroiKetsunoHana]

Depends on your own POV.

I don't really see a need for some of the amenities that the government provides, but have no problem helping pay for them through the money allocated by the taxes I pay.

Why is this any different?

because professional sports isn't an amenity--it's an industry, and one that's been proven to make boatloads ov money.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

The two differences I see are first that a bed tax is not something most Jacksonville citizens pay. That burden is generally on the back of tourists and business visitors.  Second is that the other amenities offered via the city don't total $63 million. 

Not sure if you're meaning to make my point for me, CC, or if you're just clarifying my intentionally vague answers....

Either way, now that the cat is out of the proverbial bag:

We (the city) are using money that is mostly generated by tourism to fund one if it's largest tourism generators.  Seems like a good plan to me, but that's because I have a somewhat vague understanding of how the pot gets split. 

As stated before, if it were an either/or issue with some of the budgetary shortfalls that have been mentioned previously in this thread, then my opinion would take those into account.  Pensions, libraries, schools, etc... are not relevant in this discussion.