My Letter to The Gwinnett Daily Post
Here is a letter that I have written to the editor of The Gwinnett Daily Post, the paper which should be covering the issues surrounding the funding of the Gwinnett Braves stadium.
Dear Editor,
I am disappointed that The Gwinnett Daily Post has failed to report the important news that financing the Gwinnett Braves stadium will be more expensive than previously projected. Bonds that were initially scheduled to be issued at a 5.95% interest rate will now be issued at 6.25%. Over the course of the 30-year repayment of the $33 million loan this will cost taxpayers an additional $2.5 million dollars. I expect this will not be the last cost increase.
This is just one more example of rah-rah journalism from a paper that refuses to ask tough questions of local government officials about public funding of sports venues. Perhaps you should change the name of the paper to The Gwinnett Daily Pompon.
J.C. Bradbury
Kennesaw State University
I do not normally write such letters, but I feel that the paper has fallen short of its obligation to properly cover this story for its readers—many of whom get all of their news from this paper.
J.C. Bradbury is an economist and associate professor at Kennesaw State University in metropolitan Atlanta. He is the author of The Baseball Economist and has operated Sabernomics.com since March 2004.
March 6th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
I love it JC! Did they actually print it?
March 6th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
I just sent the letter today, so we’ll have to wait and see.
March 7th, 2008 at 10:07 am
JC, Thought you might find this article about a restaurant in Gwinnett interesting as well: http://www.wsbtv.com/news/15504814/detail.html?rss=atl&psp=news
Maybe the standards of the town are just that low?
March 7th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
I wouldn’t hold your breath to see this in black and white… but we can hope that someone over there grows a pair for once in their career.
So have you come across anything to suggest what the Gwinnett council members would gain from this? They can’t possibly be this absent-minded without focusing their attention elsewhere… maybe they’re hoping that no one pays attention to the increased costs and they can run for re-election on “we brought Braves baseball to Gwinnett,” instead of “we made things more expensive in Gwinnett,” or maybe they’re just angling for that coveted Braves executive vote, because this sure as hell is a boon for the Bravos!
March 7th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
I live 30 miles south of Albany NY. It is the State Capital and has a tick under 100,000 people. A convention center was proposed four years ago at about 205 million. Now a new proposal, more detailed, projects it at 397 million. (Care to do a contest for the final cost of this one?) And of course it will be virtually all built with public dollars. Some of it will be city, some county and most of it from the state. That is a lot of hotel rooms to fill and a lot of meals to serve to make that kind of money back.
If these proposals were so good for the economy, WalMart, Warren Buffet or someone that knows how to make money would pony it up themselves! Private enterprise knows these are money pits.