New Atlanta Braves stadium musings by Field of Schemes

11/12/13, "Braves stadium mysteries: Who would pay for it, and is the site workable?" Field of Schemes, Neil deMause

"Where will the money come from? Finding $450 million under the sofa cushions isn’t easy, and it’s going to be especially tough for Cobb County, which has already reduced its school staffing and furloughed teachers for a week this year to close one budget gap, and is facing a $60 million education budget deficit for next year as well. (The total county budget is about $320 million, meaning the annual stadium debt costs would represent a full 10% of the county’s budget.) If they want to avoid a countywide vote, they’ll need to find a plan that involves using (or raising) existing taxes, not instituting a new tax. And with Cobb a Tea Party stronghold — Lee’s campaign website lists cutting property taxes as his #1 priority, though he says he’d hike sales taxes to compensate — any tax hikes are likely to meet political resistance, though given that Lee says he expects a unanimous 5-0 vote in favor of the plan on November 26, it sounds like he’s worked out something that will fly with his colleagues, if not necessarily his constituents."...

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Comment: The first article I saw about the new Atlanta Braves stadium mentioned the Tea Party in passing in the 2nd to last paragraph. So I said, this has to be a fluke, who would mention the Tea Party in a narrative about a new Atlanta Braves stadium? So I went to Field of Schemes because I knew Mr. deMause would have a good write-up which he did. But he also mentioned the Tea Party as part of the background/cultural backdrop of the new stadium (posted above). Again it was just in passing, not suggesting TP groups were involved. Most local TP groups have no money anyway. The IRS helped out with that. My experience from past reading is that Mr. deMause is no more a Tea Party cheerleader than a Huffington Post writer would be. It was just an interesting coincidence though it's possible the authors are pals and chatted about the matter before writing it up. In any case, mere mention of the Tea Party drives the GOP establishment nuts which is always good.

Here is the Huffington Post piece:

11/11/13, "Atlanta's Turner Field Is Dying -- And American Sanity Is Dying With It," Huffington Post, Will Bunch