Taxpayer Abuse: Your Millions in Katrina Relief Go To . . . A Football Stadium

debbieschlussel.com ^ | 09/22/06 | Debbie Schlussel

[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.

[School of Rational Thought]

"So, was Katrina a disaster or a reward?"

Well written. Not only are they rebuilding their city on someelse's dime they offloaded tens of thousands of katricians (and the related expenses )to other cities.

[Gennie Raider]

The church groups have been great! Without them I don't know where things would be. We actually housed a group on our compound at work for a few weeks. We held pot luck dinners and did whatever else we could do as individuals to make their stay more pleasant. But you know what we were doing when they were working - working. On nights and weekends we were working on our own houses or those of our families. Sometimes we try to get our kids out of this mess and take them to the park (now that some of them have reopened) or do something else normal.

A limited amount of rebuilding is going on everywhere. When the money allocated in DECEMBER finally starts reaching peoples hands things should pick up to some extent. What is unbelievable is the fact that the damage was so bad and so extensive that gutting is still the major project in New Orleans - for many rebuilding is still a distant dream. This is the case for the middle class as well.

To answer your question - NO. The 50 or so "breachs" have been repaired. Nothing has been done to anything that did not actually break so many locations in the weakened system are on the point of collapse without any undo stress. Some of the repairs have crumbled under rainfall so you can't have faith in them either. To get back to the level of protection we were told we had before Katrina will take at least until 2010 and knowing what I now know about the Army Corp. I don't have a lot of faith in that date either.

[Protagoras]

I hope El Rushbo, O'Reilly and the rest of the gang pick this up and run with it.

Ain't gonna happen.

[steve-b]

So what's your point?

[Lead Moderator]

My point is in my tagline.

Lose it.

[taxesareforever]

I believe that we will never hear the whole story of the overall picture of how the government fell all over itself in order to keep additional mud from mudding the waters of government.

[sinclair]

Sure thing oh, omnipotent one. :^)

[Lead Moderator]

;)

[krakoosh]

I dont ever reply to these strings of comments, but I have to say AMEN! LEt's get real about this... I think that the help has been there - now it's the "hand out" that people are looking for. The people in New Orleans need jobs to make money to take care of their families, and I am tired of my tax money going to someone who CHOOSES to rebuild their home in an area that is 20 feet below sea level and in a hurricane area. It is just ridiculous! :) Shame on the press for telling Americans that there hasn't been enough done.

[krakoosh]

I'd like to see the US economy without Gates, Soros and Buffet - how many American jobs do you suppose their companies support??? I bet you'd be surprised who/what your employers company's profits support. I guess you'll just have to go out and start your own billion dollar company so that you can support the causes that you want to support. Don't get me wrong... I AGREE with you! I'm just saying... you need to DO something about it. Those of us who DON'T support gay marriage initiatives, abortion, gun control, need to stop talking about it in blogs and start doing something about it. Our opposition sure is.

[krakoosh]

Uh-Oh... better stop buying beer, cars, BBQ hot wings, tennis shoes, music cd's, and anything else that is advertised during the football games then. That is the only way to stop supporting the trash that is professional sporting these days (btw, I agree, I'm just saying...)

[krakoosh]

AMEN! Gotta LOVE a sane voice in the wilderness...

[Not A Snowbird]

Personally I don't have a problem with the Dome being renovated so the Saints can return. They bring with them and economic boost that the area needs.

[krakoosh]

That is the FIRST thing that I said when they were bus-ing so many people to Houston - Houston's residents are going to get ROYALLY screwed in this deal...