The Deets

After visting Tannehill Historic State Park in Alabama (Interesting history, check it out), Carly and I passed the Tannehill Opry along the road to Birmingham.

Check out the sign:

Music with no booze can be a tough sell. What’s their secret? Free air conditioning.

And, Tater Wallace, the 92 year old lead singer of the house band:

We missed it by a day.

I’ve been banned from commenting on The Daily Norseman website. For what? Reality checking Vikings Wilfare queens, I guess.

Here is the post with comment thread that did me in (PDF): Minnesota Vikings Stadium_ Metrodome Now _Only Workable Site_ – Daily Norseman.

Here are my infringing comments:

All options still on the table
Great news: all options are still on the table!

Fans just need to find their checkbooks and help Zygi out. For a small 1-time donation of $10,000 per seat, Wilf would have the money he wants to build a stadium wherever he wants, as profitably as he wants.

Stop begging for Wilfare. Bypass government by providing direct corporate welfare to the Vikings.

The Market Works
I am free to spend my own money to go to games. You are too. But you are not free to spend my money to subsidize your entertainment or Wilf’s private business.

What’s stopping you from writing a check to Wilf? You have a loyal following. Why not ask fans to pool their money to help increase Wilf’s share of the costs / decrease the corporate welfare demands?

In general, Minnesotans are Vikings fans, but not fans enough to be willing to subsidize the team. Yet, there are plenty of hardcore fans who probably would be willing to pony up some serious cash for PSLs and other forms of funding to create the “game day experience” they claim to want.

BTW, using stupid spending on other things to justify spending money on something this stupid is really stupid. We’d lose nearly half a billion dollars over 30 years if we met Wilf’s corporate welfare demands. That’s bad public policy.

Avoid delays
Pool your money to close the financial gap between what Wilf is willing to pay and what Dayton can get the votes for.

Correct
Fans should be donating rather than demanding forced donations from taxpayers. Green Bay fans did it. Show some pride in your team.

Strong opinion
Back it up with money. That’s the problem that needs to be solved. Tell Wilf to take out a $200 million loan that he could repay through PSLs or jacked up ticket prices.

Check your math
I ran the numbers over here:

http://www.thedeets.com/2011/11/27/it-costs-50-million-year-to-borrow-650-million-dollars-wilfare/

It’s a net loser if we meet Wilf’s corporate welfare demands. If the numbers made sense, the Vikings would have the votes. If it was even close, legislators would hold their nose and vote for it. But, Wilf is demanding more money than any NFL franchise in the history of the NFL. More than any sports team in the history of the United States. That’s not going to happen. Thus, the move toward more financially sane stadium locations.

Good reason to write a check
If a team really wanted to be in the Twin Cities market, we wouldn’t have to pay to have them here. It’s a free market. If the NFL benefits from being here, they’re welcome to be here.

If it’s important enough to you, you’re welcome to pay their ransom.

Step up, Fans
Get out your checkbooks. Things are getting serious. Now is the time to show that you care enough about the team and the game day experience to put your money where your mouth is.

Job losses
Yes, there would be a couple hundred full time jobs lost if the team left. But, borrowing $650,000,000 to save a couple hundred full time jobs is not good public policy.

Milking the system?
I have a job. I pay taxes. The work I do brings money into the State of Minnesota and creates jobs here. That’s milking the system?

Vikings before schools?
Really?

There are jobs bills and stadium boondoggles
Claiming that anti-corporate welfare for NFL franchise folks are anti-job creation is a really weak argument. There are people of the far right where that may fit, but there are plenty of people on the left who see a role for government job creation through health care, education, or justifiable construction projects.

For example, Dayton has proposed a $775 million bonding bill that aims to put people back to work while upgrading the state’s infrastructure:

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2012/01/17/dayton-unveils-bonding-bill/

Education may not be as sexy as subsidizing your entertainment, but it creates jobs with a side effect of educated Minnesotans. Bridge repair is boring, as crossing bridges should be.

Converting wasteland
Good point. The land is worth cleaning up.

But, the land would be more profitable if it was reclaimed then used in a way that generates property taxes. Wilf’s plan would have the public own the stadium. Why? No property taxes.

If normal local businesses and home owners developed that land, it would contribute more to the tax base.

Not 10,000 Jobs. 673 Jobs
There may be quite a few people who work on the job site for a few days, but the money would be enough to employ the equivalent of 673 full time construction workers over 3 years. I’ve explained that here:

http://www.thedeets.com/2011/12/07/reality-checking-reality-check-vikings-stadium-job-creation-wilfare/

That’s a lot of jobs, but there are more efficient ways to create that many jobs, and with better side effects (educated kids, healthier people, safer bridges, etc.).

Hundreds of billions of dollars?
The Vikings generate around $21 million/yr in revenue for the state today. They’re asking for ~$50 million/yr in subsidies. See the problem?

Interesting points
But, the numbers don’t add up. If they did, the Vikings would have the votes. Or, why wouldn’t Wilf just finance the stadium privately, own it, and reap all the benefits? Because it doesn’t add up.

The losses would be nowhere near that.
For the net losses in tax revenues to be as high as you suggest, every single dollar that’s currently spent on the Vikings would have to be spent outside the State of Minnesota. In reality, the vast majority of that money would be spend on other taxable things in the state. Perhaps going out to eat a bit more often, attending other sporting events, hunting, vacations, etc.

So, while there would be a loss, let’s try to be a bit more realistic about projections.

It’s not their money
You’re free to spend your own money on things you find valuable. What’s stopping you?

Stop demanding that the government spend other people’s money to subsidize your private entertainment and an NFL franchise’s private business.

If I was to guess, I bet it was my 2nd to last comment that caused Ted Glover to melt down. That comment was in response to this one from him:

They were not hearing what they wanted to hear. It’s a free country. And they can do what they want to do with their site. That said, it’s kind of sad to watch superfans rely upon such bad data to form their opinions about Wilf’s corporate welfare demands and why people opposing those plans oppose them.

Update: Looks like this was the comment that set Ted Glover off:

Good humor.

Here is an example of Ted Glover failing at a simply math problem:

With a new stadium, that revenue is projexted to be almost $30 mil/yr
multiply that by 30 years, which is the length of the lease they said they would sign, and that’s over $900,000,000. Subtract $650,000,000, and that’s still a profit to the state we like to call in the accounting world a shitload of money.

So what’s the problem?

The problem is that:

1. Ted is using revenue projections in excess of what even the Vikings project (PDF) they will generate in a new stadium.

2. Ted assumes that the state borrows money for free when, in fact, the state pays interest when it borrows money, just like you an me.

I can see how Ted Glover thinks this deal is a good deal based on his irrationally exuberant (mathematically incorrect) assumptions. Luckily, our elected officials seem to have a better grasp on reality than Glover, which is why they haven’t voted in favor of meeting Zygi Wilf’s corporate welfare demands.

As I’ve said before, if the numbers were even close to break even (break even meaning, the Vikings contribute nothing to the state, but at least they aren’t a financial burden to have around), the Vikings could probably find enough legislators who would be willing to hold their nose and vote for a stadium deal. But, Wilf’s demand of more corporate welfare than any team in the history of the NFL continues to hamper progress on this issue.

Back on Jan 2nd, Carly and I clipped off a few streets to the south fo Powderhorn Park, starting from 13th Ave S at 35th St E.

Powderhorn Park’s lake was iced over, but not by much.

The Dairy Queen at 38th St E was closed for the season. I could have gone for a small Blizzard.

Bancroft Elementary School is across 38th St from Dairy Queen. They are aiming to be a fully-authorized International Baccalaureate school by this spring.

Roads were particularly icy at that time. Hard packed stuff. Tough to run on, but we still saw a couple bikers.

Our turnaround point was St. Mary’s Cemetery at 44th St.

Risen Christ School, at 12th Ave S & 37th St E, was formerly Holy Name school, but became home to a consolidation of five parishes in 1993.

Back at Powderhorn Park, we turned back south on 11th Ave, and passed Church of the Holy Name on the other side of the block from Risen Christ School.

Fountain of Life Gospel Church, on 10th Ave S at 40th, seems to like acronyms a lot, based on what I see on their website.

Believers Fellowship Christian Church on 10th Ave S at 39th St, has a church motto: “Bring them in – Build them up – Train them and Send them out.” Sounds good.

And back to Powderhorn Park.

We’ve seen some positive progress in the Vikings stadium debate over the past week. The biggest news is that the Vikings now realize that the public is not going to pay to build a 21,000 car parking lot in Arden Hills. They, of course, are welcome to do so, but not with the public’s money:

Dayton was firm about the fate of one site: The Vikings’ previously preferred site at Arden Hills, he said, “is not financially viable.” The Vikings, he said, could choose to contribute $700 million to the cost of the $1.1 billion stadium — something the Vikings immediately said would not be possible.

Looking at the options I outlined back on December 29th, we can scratch the one of the left off the list:

It looks like the public has saved at least $100 million in the past week. It also means that – if a stadium is built – it will leverage previous investments in transportation infrastructure (highways, NorthStar rail, LRT, buses) and existing hotels and restaurants rather than attempt to justify building infrastructure to support 10 uses a year. That’s a good start.

Funding is easier when the project is cheaper, but the project (as it exists now) still relies too heavily on the public to subsidize Vikings fans’ season tickets (~$40/ticket per game in ticket welfare).

Revisiting financing options, if Cory Merrifield from Save The Vikes switched his efforts from lobbying for corporate welfare on Zygi Wilf’s behalf to asking fans to come up with cash for PSLs, we’d be much closer to getting a deal done:

PSLs: Fans pay personal seat licenses at an average cost of $2,500, bringing in $163,000,000. Clearly, the PSL cost would be higher for some seats than others. Whatever gets us to that figure is what matters.

License Plates: Fans pay $1,000,000/yr for Vikings license plates. If 21,000 fans were willing to pay $50/yr for the right to market the Vikings on their license plates, that would raise $30,000,000 over 30 years.

In addition to those two options, since this would be the “People’s Stadium” I’m going to assume that the people benefit from stadium naming rights by having that revenue go toward paying down any debt the public takes on to get a deal done.

But, still, the most financially sane way to upgrade the Metrodome is to simply upgrade the Metrodome, like Vancouver did with BC Place:

Since they stuck with the same foundation, they were able to fully renovate the facility in not three years but 19 months (the stadium closed at the end of 2010 Winter Olympics (Feb 2010) and reopened for its first football game on September 30, 2011. (That would be ONE relocated season to the Gophers stadium for the Vikings.)

The upgrades addressed many of the same concerns Vikings fans have with the Metrodome:

- Retractable roof allows for outdoor games
- Fixed roof means building doesn’t have to be pressurized (no more revolving doors or being pushed out of the building after games)
- Upgraded concessions
- Refurbished restrooms
- New screens, including a very impressive center-hung HD big screen
- New seats throughout the stadium.
- Adding windows that allow natural light to enter field and concourse.

They did all of this for $563 million in one of the most expensive cities in North America.

Since we know Wilf is good for at least $420 million, that leaves $143 millin for Vikings fans to cover through a combination of personal seat licenses (a 1-time fee of $2,200/seat would cover it). Or, some combination of PSLs, license plates, and any other creative solution Vikings fans (together with the Vikings organization) can come up with that doesn’t rely upon public funding works for me.

One other interesting thing about Vancouver’s plan:

In April, Vancouver City Council killed a massive casino proposal for the land beside BC Place. The money from the development was supposed to help ease the financial burden on taxpayers.

Minnesota could learn a lot from what’s proven to work in Vancouver. Renovate your way to a modern stadium, and keep costs low enough where don’t have to sell out to gambling interests.

I dig the Where I’ve Been map service. Here’s my updated map as of this week, now that I’ve spend some time in Georgia:

2012 is turning out to be the year of the South for me. So far, I’ve been in Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia, with a trip to Louisiana planned. Can I hit the Carolinas too? Time will tell.

I’m not dead yet, so I have time to eat a few more foods from the Very Good Taste Omnivore’s 100 list. Since 2008, I’ve chipped off a few:

2. Nettle tea
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
8. Carp
9. Borscht
14. Aloo gobi
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
30. Bagna cauda
33. Salted lassi
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
50. Sea urchin
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
59. Poutine
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
68. Haggis
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
93. Rose harissa
95. Mole poblano
97. Lobster Thermidor
100. Snake

Here is an interesting nugget from Advertising Age regarding the popularity of Indianapolis as a Super Bowl destination for companies that have the potential to throw around some serious coin:

“It’s been hit-and-miss, and for the Super Bowl it’s never really like that,” said Fred Rodgers, VP-corporate division at Premiere Global Sports, a New York-based agency that helps companies arrange junkets to and parties at sports and entertainment events. “A lot of our companies had a great time at the Super Bowl in Dallas last year, and next year the game is back in New Orleans. So they’ve taken a look at Indy and said, “We’re taking a pass this year.’”

That makes me thing: Should our political leaders be fiscally irresponsible enough to build Zygi World, would the NFL reward Minnesota with a Super Bowl? My guess is yes. One and done. Just like the Metrodome.

Should the economic impact on cities like Dallas or New Orleans be used as comparables? Not entirely.

Also, one thing that seems to be overlooked when discussing the economic impact of a Super Bowl is the substitution effect caused by the event pushing out other events. For example, check out the Indiana Convention Center’s upcoming events:

There is a Super Bowl Sunday sized hole in that schedule. Hosting 550 cheerleading teams (Jamfest) the same week as the Super Bowl wouldn’t work.

So, when people talk about spending the public’s money to build a Super Bowl worthy NFL stadium, be sure to consider what the upside may be for a place like Minnesota, while also accounting for the true net-gain in economic impact due to losing other events.

The aerial shot above shows a 1/3 mile stretch along 15th St E in Tuscaloosa from before the tornado went through in April 2011. Carly and I walked along this street on our way to the University of Alabama on New Years Eve. Here’s what things looked like 8 months after the tornado:

This is facing east along 15th from the lower left portion of the aerial shot. The area along the road used to be home to fast food locations for blocks.

This is looking north from the same spot, zoomed in across a barren wasteland to one the remaining homes.

Over on the NE corner of 15th & McFarland is a CVS pharmacy that continues to fill prescriptions out of a trailer pharmacy.

This is just a small segment of the tornado’s damage path. PBS has a before/after slider that shows the extent of the damage. The above photos show the 2 blocks to the NW of the mall in the middle of PBS’ slider.

The tornado wasn’t done after Tuscaloosa. It went through Birmingham as well as this TripLine animation shows.

East Lake St Taco Bell building. Closed. Will it be reused?

Hey city planner geeks, has anyone done any research on the difficulty of reusing buildings built for specific businesses such as the former East Lake Taco Bell building shown above?

It seems like finding a new tenant for a building with a Taco Bell branded design would be more difficult to find a tenant for than a vacant restaurant location of similar size.

I’ve found some people kicking this idea around at Cyburbia. They’ve suggested that proprietary fast food building designs, churches, and big box stores are among the most difficult buildings for reuse.

Are any public efforts being made in Minneapolis or other MN cities to take this into consideration?

As Ramsey County Commissioners Tony Bennett and Rafael Ortega continue to in their efforts to redistribute their county’s wealth to a New Jersey businessman, perhaps now is a good time to look at who’d pay vs. who’d benefit from the Arden Hills Vikings Stadium plan:

Two legislators who are about as far removed from Ramsey County as one can get while still being in the State of Minnesota, are pushing Vikings stadium wilfare bills through the state House and Senate. Sounds like a good deal for them at the expense of Ramsey County.

This infographic overplays who’d benefit from this deal. The biggest beneficiary would be Zygi Wilf, who’d see his franchise’s value increase by hundreds of millions of dollars due to hundreds of millions in subsidized from Ramsey County. If we zoom out a bit, we can see where Ramsey County’s wealth would be redistributed to:

That’s 778 Park Ave in New York City. Zygi Wilf’s $20 million apartment.

Other beneficiaries of Ramsey County’s wealth redistribution would include the tens of thousands of Vikings season ticket holders who largely live largely outside of Ramsey County. They would see their tickets subsidized at a rate of $40 per ticket per game for the next 30 years. It’s a nice public subsidy for those wealthy enough to be able to afford season tickets.