Comments on: How Not to Save Money

By: Don Shaw

Don Shaw — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 15:17:02 +0000

JC, I contacted Mr. Connell’s office and requested all documents about this. three days later I heard back, they are waiting for me to go get them now.

Stay tuned, the document was so large my server could not handle it. I offerd to go to GJAC and pick it up.

I really can n ot wait to read it.

By: JC

JC — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 16:31:59 +0000

Thanks for chiming in, Don. It’s good to see the citizens of Gwinnett fight back.

By: Don Shaw

Don Shaw — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 15:30:05 +0000

I am one of the two residents that were in attendance at the BOC meeting that voted on the land purchase. I am the one quoted as “I do not think this is a good business deal.”

The BOC thinks this will genrate 15 million in economic revenue to the area, this is not enough to cover the debt service as JC writes about.

This is about big egos. Next we will be widening the doors at GJAc so they can get their heads through.

By: JC

JC — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 11:49:44 +0000

Long term though, the added tax revenue from that area (you know it’s going to get built up quite a bit now) should allow the county to recoup this investment.

The evidence from all of the empirical studies by economists—not consulting firms hired by governments—that I have seen don’t back this up. This isn’t controversial among economists. Gwinnett doesn’t think this is the case either, because they are raising taxes to pay for it. If tax revenue would be sufficient to pay for the stadium, the tax wouldn’t be necessary. It’s too bad that the tax they chose won’t be effective, and even if it did bring in $500K a year, it still won’t be enough to cover the debt.

I might be willing to support raising taxes to support a team, but I would rather not be lied to by politicians. It’s insulting.

The deal is done and the team is coming. As fan, I hope the team succeeds and all of the commissioners are voted out of office.

By: Jay P

Jay P — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 06:43:44 +0000

I understand the concerns about secrecy and disclosure – I recognize the fact that if Gwinnett had conducted it’s business with the Braves out in the open, the Braves probably wouldn’t be coming here, because we’d have gotten involved in a bidding war.

I agree with the principle of the lower and middle classes continually being shafted. In a state thats proud of it’s 48th place ranking in schools, that $45-60 million going into our schools or perhaps for more police officers would seem to a better investment.

Long term though, the added tax revenue from that area (you know it’s going to get built up quite a bit now) should allow the county to recoup this investment. True, traffic’s gonna have to be addressed, and I’d guess the state will take a brunt of that load. But it will add to commute times for anyone going thru that area.

I’ve gotta admit I submitted my deposit for season tickets within 5 hours of the initial announcement. If you wanted minor league baseball in Gwinnett, you couldn’t do better than the AAA Braves, and the location is great for me personally. You take those last two sentences out of my story, and I’d probably be a bit opposed to the whole deal.

Now if I can come up with a way to sneak bottled water in the park when I go.

By: Jason S.

Jason S. — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 15:39:41 +0000

As someone who lives in Gwinnett County I was originally excited by the news of the AAA Braves coming here, but now that I see what it’s going to cost and what the county has foolishly agreed to to placate the Braves, I’m now hoping the whole thing falls through. This whole deal is like a middle class residential neighborhood paying to build a gigantic house for a millionaire to move into and agreeing to pay all of his costs (utilities and such) if he’ll only agree to move there in the hopes that property values for the whole neighborhood will go up if they let a millionaire live there for free.