Posted on 09/21/2006 9:55:17 PM PDT by DaveTesla
Taxpayer Abuse: Your Millions in Katrina Relief Go To . . . A Football Stadium
By Debbie Schlussel
With all the news stories in the world--Ahmadinejad & Chavez Double-Teaming America, Jihad against the Pope, the House Voter ID bill--USA Today chose the most important item of the day as its cover story, today:
New Orleans NFL Homecoming: City Throwing a Party at Restored Superdome Buried toward the end of the story is the money-shot--an answer to the question we all deserve to know about:
Who paid for the $185 million in improvements, repairs, and reconstruction of the Superdome--the office of millionaires, billionaires, and gazillionaires?
$170 Million of Your Katrina "Relief" Was it the billionaires who own teams throughout the NFL, including the New Orleans Saints that are housed in the Superdome? NOPE. According to USA Today, the NFL gazillionaires donated only $15 million of the $185 million cost--a drop in the bucket to these fatcats.
Was it the millionaires who play in the Superdome at all Saints' home games, every football season--and owe their millions to those who come to see the games and buy team merchandise? NOPE.
We can't have billionaires and millionaires putting money out of their own pockets, their own wallets. That just wouldn't be right.
So who paid for the newly glimmering Superdome--$170 million of $185 million in Superdome costs?
YOU DID!
Yup. Taxpayers paid money in the name of public assistance programs for relief from Katrina and other disasters. Who knew the "public assistance" was not for poor, homeless, downtrodden hurricane victims, but for . . . NFL gazillionaires?! Should "public assistance" go to improved scoreboards, upgraded suites and club lounges, and "leatherette" upholstery? Taxpayers got soaked.
From the article:
The money being used for this was from the public-assistance program from FEMA on insurance disasters. Here's what your money went to pay for. Does this sound like "hurricane relief" or "public assistance" to you?:
Besides repairs, improvements and upgrades were made during construction. About $42 million was spent. The most noticeable change for fans will be new scoreboards. Scoreboard system
* Two larger (41% bigger) video boards (27 by 48 feet) in the end zones, with high definition quality.
* Four LED ribbon boards, or video halo boards (3 feet, 6 inches by 193 feet).
* Four color scoreboards (8 feet by 44 feet) replace a black-and-white system. Located in four corners in the 400 level.
Concessions
* All 38 concession stands and three kitchens modernized with stainless steel. . . .
Stadium seats
* 8,000 club-level seats and 4,000 box suite seats replaced with leatherette seats.
Future renovations (September 2006-August 2007)
* Four club lounges, each 19,000 square feet (in design) in each of the four corners.
* 137 suites remodeled and refurbished.
Your tax dollars at "work." USA Today's headline is incorrect. New Orleans isn't throwing the party at the Superdome. You are.
Much appreciated.
Wrong. The Levee board rented property to casinos and dealt with another of other ventures but their "duty" was to pay our 20% of the cost of the levee's and make sure the grass was mowed. They were also to report any visible signs of problems. That's it.
The money for levee's goes straight to the Corp - not the board or the city or any other local entity. Don't you think the corp would rather blame it on someone else rather than have to admit to being directly responsible for 2/3 of the flooding in New Orleans like they did (other experts put their share much higher)?
Oh, and on the dome...
While the Superdome was to undergo the necessary repairs, the LSED, the agency that manages both the Superdome and New Orleans Arena, decided to incorporate a few upgrades to the facility. The upgrades raised the cost to $185 million.
FEMA pitched in $116 million for repair work
Louisiana pitched in $13 million
The NFL gave a $15 million non-reimbursable grant.
The remaining $41 million, the LSED raised via a refinance.
70-80% of the dome was damaged by floodwaters. Because of it's location in the city almost 100% of that water was from 3 specific breachs in two of the outfall canals. In other words the US government was completely responsible for the damage and paid for it. Others paid for the improvements that make the oldest dome stadium in the country viable in today's marketplace.
You know the there is only one other city who's people have more flood insurance and that is Miami. 67% in Miami compared to 66% in NO. It is also worth mentioning that one zip code in Lakeview has something like 90% of the entire property value in the federal flood insurance program all by itself. Trust me when I say - it did not always help!
Hey now!!!...It's not taxpayer money..It's gov'mt money!
Great, while much of the rest of the city lay in ruins, at least mayor Nagin and his friends can take in a few games from his luxury suite.
This is sickening, but SOP for selfish, stupid democrats.
And a wheelbarrow full of crack.
Nice try. So, is Schlussel lying here? The very best case is that El Presidente had nada idea what the money was going towards when he blindly signed the bill. What a genius! Your response is so typical of Bush worshippers. He signs off on Medicare, "No Child Left Behind", McCain-Feingold and numerous other leftist abominations and all you can say is "God Bless President Bush, the Messiah from West Tejas." You really need to learn the correct Neo-Jacobin prayer, though, which is THERE IS NO GOD BUT DEMOCRACY, AND ITS PROPHET IS BUSH. Recite five times a day and bow towards the white house. Then you can lie with 72 Mexican virgins in Paradise once the jihad is complete.
If Jorge's really too dumb to realize that 170 million taxpayer dollars were going to line the pockets of leftist millionaires and billionaires, he should just resign and allow an adult to do the job. The sad truth is that he is really not that stupid. Bush is in fact an LBJ leftist - a "Rockefeller Republican" to the core. It's way past high time that you face up to it.
If Schlussel is a liar, prove it. She's not perfect, but she works very hard to be truthful - a true daughter of Zion. She's generally quite accurate in her statements.The vague language of the bill you referenced proves nothing. You argue like a Marxist.
Asshat.
That faulty roof was put on by a contractor who took the money for putting on a roof that should have withstood that relatively weak hurricane (a catagory 2 when it actually hit the Superdome). I'm sure some other contractors rebuilding it with our tax dollars are cutting corners again and the same sorry cycle will be repeated. Nice way for the fat cats who own the stadium to get the tax drones all over the US to upgrade their old facility, though.
Well, if they are gonna waste taxpayer dollars, at least that had the good sense to waste it on football...
Have the levies in New Orleans been fixed yet?
ROTFLMAO
Take your meds!
Ok you liberal (you told me to say that) Why should we have to pay for this???
We aren't all complaining that it was paid, but why in the WORLD should America pay for this, for the citizens of NO???
You are, you know. Unconsciously, subconsciously, you are a lib, at least in this case.
This is a variation of the "broken window fallacy". Spending money on the Superdome looks like an economic stimulus... until you consider that, if the money weren't spent on the Superdome, it wouldn't vanish from the face of the earth but rather would be spent on something else.
...we need the Dome and the Saints...
The Superdome is not just a football stadium. It is utilized all year long for business ventures. Businesses that bring in money to the state. Jobs are created in all avenues because of the Superdome.
I don't have a problem with this.
Name me more than 2 NFL (or MLB) stadiums built that did not use TAXPAYER funding!
I don't see a problem here. Better to spend it on a stadium that spend it to bring a bunch of criminals back home
Actually,,it is.
The buck stops somewhere. Unless of course $185,000,000.00 is too small a sum for him to be involved with.
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