Dear Mr. President

I decided to email President Obama about the proposed Florida Marlins stadium deal today. While its likely to fall on blind eyes, I figured it was worth a shot. Even if it brings the smallest amount of government intervention to investigate the crooked dealings of our local "leaders" its a win in my book.

Dear Mr. President,

Tell me what to do. I am writing to ask you how I should deal with a local government that is failing me and the rest of the citizens of Miami. You are also a known sports fan so I figured you would have an opinion on this issue.

The Florida Marlins are attempting to use our hard-earned taxpayer dollars for a city-funded, state-of-the-art stadium in the Little Havana area of Miami. This comes at a time where teachers salaries are being slashed, education is suffering, jobs for fire and police officers are dwindling, and many residents find themselves hurting from the economy and struggling to make ends meet. The team is asking for the City of Miami and its residents to pay upwards of $400 Million to finance a stadium with the hopes that it will turn around a sports franchise that is amongst the bottom of the barrel in terms of annual attendance, even though they have won 2 World Series Championships in the past 10 years. This is clearly an indicator that South Florida is not a baseball town. In areas like your "sweet home Chicago" you are lucky if you can get seats to a Cubs game. Same with Boston and New York. Not so in Miami.

Not only is this financially irresponsible on the part of the City of Miami, we have government officials basically telling the team that their vote in favor of the stadium can be bought if their demands are met. One City Commissioner in particular is saying she will vote in favor of the stadium provided that a small area of Miami receives Millions of dollars for improvements. Placing the entire City at risk for the improvements of one tiny area is completely absurd and I find it insulting that this Commissioner is able to "sell" her vote without any repercussions.

The deal includes little assistance to the surrounding community, currently a residential area with very few businesses that exist, let alone that would benefit from the construction of a baseball stadium. A community that also is not connected by any form of mass transit to shuttle would-be game goers to and from the area. So, basically what you have is a stadium out in the middle of an undesirable area where fans will spend money to eat/drink in their local area, then drive into the game and leave afterward. There is little difference between this new idea for a stadium and the current Dolphin Stadium where the team currently plays, with the exception being that the new stadium will be closer to the heart of Miami, thus alienating fans in the North Miami and Fort Lauderdale areas who used to have a reasonable commute to see a ballgame. The proposed site would be pillaged and plundered on game days, with nothing but traffic and garbage left to show for it.

Mr. President, the citizens of Miami have been taken advantage of for years. We hold the #1 spot for corrupt politicians in the country. Alternative ideas for the stadium have been presented, including an offer from the owner of the Miami Arena in downtown Miami (an area much more suited for a new stadium with mass transit, parking, hotels and restaurants) to finance the stadium privately and lease it to the team. Yet, for some reason, this is unacceptable. Maybe because there are certain government officials who stand to profit financially from kickbacks from construction costs? Its happened too many times in Miami and, like your predecessor said, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, er, you cant get fooled again." Anyways, enough is enough.

While I understand that it is nearly impossible for you to weigh in on this situation with the Florida Marlins proposed stadium, I do ask that my National government take a closer look at what is going on down here in the City of Miami. I moved to this City 8 years ago and saw a City with a ton of potential to become a top destination in the US, much like New York and Los Angeles. Poor leadership, however, has taken Miami two steps backward for each step forward. The citizens' voices are being ignored while a small group individuals makes decisions that largely affect day to day living in South Florida. I have one small shred of faith left in my local government and that will be dissolved should this stadium pass. Its a bad idea for the City of Miami, period. There are no long-term positive takeaways outside of the hope that this will expose our poor government leaders and their self interests.

Thank you for your attention and best of luck with your career as President of the United States.

Fired up: My feelings on the new Marlins Stadium

Tony over at Transit Miami posted about the new Marlins Stadium last night and I liked his post. Matter of fact, I really like this blog, period. I think mass transit is the one itch the City of Miami has that never gets scratched. But thats a whole other story... Since I tried to leave a comment but it wouldnt take, I figured Id make it a blog post.

Ive been against the idea of this stadium at this location since the dumbass who came up with the idea shared it with the world. Its a huge whiff, strike 3, youre out. Tony brings up the one point that our city commissioners really need to realize is paramount to anything else and that is how the community benefits. In this case, the community has the benefit of increased traffic, pollution, garbage, and deteriorating roads that already cant be maintained and will likely worsen. Not exactly beneficial. There is no public transportation to get people to/from the game. There are no local restaurants or bars or museums for people to visit before and/or after the game. So really, what is the goddamn difference between this site and Dolphins Stadium? That there are homes nearby? People will still have to drive to the game, sit in traffic, and then have nowhere to go when they get there but spend $8 on a goddamn hot dog inside the stadium walls. Businessmen and women in the Brickell/Downtown/Gables area will likely just stay put for happy hour, spending their money in a nice, clean area with established businesses that have their followings already, then head over to the game and head back to Brickell/Downtown/Gables after or go home. The ballpark area just gets raped. And guess what? When people realize what a shithole area the ballpark is in they will lose interest in attending a game, especially when the prices to do so are absurd and there are plenty of other things to do outside (Hence the reason the Marlins have such a shitty fan base already).

Its sad that the City of Miami will continue to be run by these halfwits that do nothing for the community as a whole. Whoever lines the right pockets gets their way. The working public continues to get f**ked. This city is in desperate need of a mass transit system but that will continue to take a backseat to crap like baseball teams with a fan base of 5,000 and a PAC that no one goes to. Over 1 Billion dollars wasted on these 2 things that provide service to less than 5% of the City population. Pathetic.