Wednesday, July 9, 2008

The Marlins Ballpark Lawsuit

Portland, Las Vegas, and a few other places are probably watching this pretty closely:
At its core, Braman v. Miami-Dade County, et al, is a straightforward civil matter over public money and voter intent. Yet when the lawsuit comes to Miami-Dade Circuit Court on Wednesday, the vision of a future Miami potentially hangs in the balance.

Will the $3 billion ''megaplan'' for Miami, approved last year at lightning speed, move forward -- bringing with it a new Florida Marlins baseball stadium, a rejuvenated Overtown and a renovated Bicentennial Park? Or will the plan's chief critic, auto dealer Norman Braman, stop the government in its tracks once more?
If Braman wins, the Marlins' plans for a new home by 2011 are toast, and the future of the team in Miami is cast into serious doubt. I don't know a lot about this particular case, but I'd guess that the city would have a much better chance of success if this were purely a stadium deal (i.e. one line item on a budget battle). This deal, however, is just one part of a hastily-passed, broad and complicated development plan. Those kinds of things tend to have a lot of devils in those details, thereby making it much easier for a court to find fault with the scheme.

Definitely worth watching.

(This was yet another link from the diabolical Pete Toms. Wait, he's Canadian, so he can't be diabolical. How about the Generally Polite but Occasionally Capable of Getting Slightly Huffy Pete Toms. There, that's better.)

1 comment:

Pete Ridges said...

Ignoring the main point entirely, I was interested that the writer emphasised that Braman was an auto dealer, before eventually mentioning in passing that he was "once owner of the Philadelphia Eagles" (1985-94). I guess former NFL owners are two a penny, but an auto dealer, wow, that's really something!

Incidentally, I would estimate that Braman chose exactly the wrong moment to sell the Eagles.