May 032006
I’ll be at the Metrodome tonight to watch two baseball teams try to figure out which one of them sucks more. Meanwhile, the Legislature seems poised to do…something…about the long-simmering stadium debate here in Minnesota. I really like the current bill in the Senate, which would raise the sales tax in the seven-county metro area by a half-cent, which would pay for stadiums for both the Twins and Vikings while also generating additional funding for some much-needed transit projects. The only thing I don’t like about the bill is that it would require voter approval through a referendum. Referenda are wasteful affairs that allow legislators to shirk their accountability to voters while simultaneously undermining our system of representative democracy.
But this bill probably has little chance of passage, given the fact that Governor Pawlenty and House throw their arms in the air and scream like adolescent schoolgirls when anyone suggests anything that looks like a tax increase. The most likely result is that Hennepin County will foot much of the bill for a new baseball stadium. I suppose I can live with that, but the new stadium better have killer disability seating.
