David Beckham’s big project: Design for PortMiami soccer stadium revealed

[Awsi Dooger]

This will work. Guys like Beckham are bold thinkers who destroy conventional wisdom, like all the concerns in this thread. I just hope the Canes are wise enough to latch hold and rescue themselves from the bland regulating atrocity of Sun Life Stadium.

The varying caliber of the two local stadium proposals is hilarious. Steve Ross wants to patch a 27 year old venue in a worthless location. Yet somehow he uses the word "vision" to describe his legacy on the matter. Laughingstock is more like it.

[MiamiRob]

Originally Posted by miamihurricane555

it's because I don't want to have to pay taxes to subsidize something I don't use. If I have the choice of getting rid of the half penny tax and making the transit systems pay for themselves instead of endlessly subsidize them I will happily take it. I would like to see transit stop relying on general revenue and pay for itself. When I say transit I don't just mean metromover metrorail and metrobus I also mean our very expensive road system, but I don't want toll increases to be used as a pretext 4 more government spending I want general taxes to be slashed by the same amount revenue is raised by tolls and other fees.

Problem is transit never pays for itself anywhere. As for the Metromover being free they figured that to replace the fare boxes to recover a $0.50 cent fee was cost prohibitive. If you start charging for Metromover again ridership will drop also and that becomes a problem in trying to secure Federal funding to expand the system.
You already pay the transit tax through the sales tax everytime you purchase something anyways. Also the expansion of Metrorail to the Airport was funded mostly through the transit tax and was also done without a penny from the Feds. We need to keep the transit tax otherwise you will see a reduction in transit service almost immediately.

[miamihurricane555]

Originally Posted by MiamiRob

Problem is transit never pays for itself anywhere. As for the Metromover being free they figured that to replace the fare boxes to recover a $0.50 cent fee was cost prohibitive. If you start charging for Metromover again ridership will drop also and that becomes a problem in trying to secure Federal funding to expand the system.
You already pay the transit tax through the sales tax everytime you purchase something anyways. Also the expansion of Metrorail to the Airport was funded mostly through the transit tax and was also done without a penny from the Feds. We need to keep the transit tax otherwise you will see a reduction in transit service almost immediately.

I get that ridership will drop because driving becames more cost effective. But if they made a tax 4 every mile people drive it would be worth it. Say 10cents every mile they drive on a city road and 15 cents per mile on highways. I am sure if something like this was installed ridership on public transit would be fine.

[Wild Style]

Originally Posted by MiamiRob

Problem is transit never pays for itself anywhere. As for the Metromover being free they figured that to replace the fare boxes to recover a $0.50 cent fee was cost prohibitive. If you start charging for Metromover again ridership will drop also and that becomes a problem in trying to secure Federal funding to expand the system.
You already pay the transit tax through the sales tax everytime you purchase something anyways. Also the expansion of Metrorail to the Airport was funded mostly through the transit tax and was also done without a penny from the Feds. We need to keep the transit tax otherwise you will see a reduction in transit service almost immediately.

That argument goes both ways. Driving a car isn't the only cost. We also have to maintain roads, and like mass tarnsit, they too are not self sustaining.

Check this out

Unlike transit, highways aren't subsidized.

Only if you don't factor in things like Michigan's tax of 19 cents per gallon of regular gasoline you pay at the pump, and the 18.4-cent federal tax.


True, that same pot of money pays for both road building and maintenance and for building and operating transit. But a U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) report in January debunked the notion that those taxes -- often called "user fees" by advocates of road spending -- are adequate. By PIRG's estimate, the U.S. has spent $600 billion more on highways since the system was built than what "user fees" such as gas taxes and vehicle registration fees paid for, and today those fees cover only about half of the cost of building and maintaining roads.

link

[flyers29]

Originally Posted by Awsi Dooger

This will work. Guys like Beckham are bold thinkers who destroy conventional wisdom, like all the concerns in this thread. I just hope the Canes are wise enough to latch hold and rescue themselves from the bland regulating atrocity of Sun Life Stadium.

I'm not saying Beckham is a stupid guy who doesn't understand the obstacles to his plan, but he's also just a recently retired soccer star who is looking at things through the lens of grandeur and glitz. There are some legitimate (but not insurmountable) impediments to this project regarding transportation and leasing costs that need to be properly evaluated. I think the ownership group knows how much they're under the microscope regarding not using public funding, but there also needs to be a comprehensive plan in place to solve some of these issues. I actually want this team to succeed and want to encourage others to support the team, and that's hard to do if the county/ownership create controversies (which they haven't yet, but could easily do if they're not careful).

[Ghengis]

going...going...gone?

A year later, David Beckham

[flyers29]

There has been talk of something tangible within the next month. This has to be resolved one way or the other very soon.

[Ghengis]

Originally Posted by flyers29

There has been talk of something tangible within the next month. This has to be resolved one way or the other very soon.

something tangible is happening in Minneapolis, Sacramento next?

Reports: MLS decides to expand into Minneapolis | Soccer | Sporting News

[flyers29]

Originally Posted by Ghengis

something tangible is happening in Minneapolis, Sacramento next?

Reports: MLS decides to expand into Minneapolis | Soccer | Sporting News

I think they're going to give Miami some more time to work this out. They don't have forever, though.

[pistola916]

I think Sacramento's chances went from good to slim after Minny got rewarded a team. MLS is going to work hard to make sure Becks gets it done in South Florida.