At every turn, it seems, the Miami Marlins get more deliciously bizarre.
Here's the latest gem: according the Florida state law, not only the new Marlins Stadium -- but every publicly financed stadium in Florida -- is obligated to shelter homeless people on days in which the stadium is not hosting a game.
According to a story this week in the Miami Herald, a long-forgotten piece of legislation in Florida is being revived by the Florida State Senate. A 1988 law says that Florida sports teams who accept taxpayer dollars to build new stadiums must give shelter to homeless people on offdays. Obviously, no one in Florida has actually been doing this.
Now, a new bill has been introduced -- and is gaining steam in Florida -- that could force teams to give money back if they cannot prove that they have been housing homeless people this whole time.
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“We have spent over $300 million supporting teams that can afford to pay
a guy $7, $8, $10 million a year to throw a baseball 90 feet. I think they can
pay for their own stadium," said Republican Senator Michael Bennett,
who sponsors the bill. “I can not believe that we’re going to cut money out
of Medicaid and take it away from the homeless and take it away from the poor
and impoverished, and we’re continuing to support people who are billionaires.”
The public financing of stadiums is one of the biggest scams currently being perpetrated in America, and the Marlins have seemingly made a fine mess of their new ill-gotten stadium. The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating to see if there was any bribery involved in the public financing of the stadium, and last month a whistle-blowing welding inspector says that the new stadium was only able to be built on time because so many corners were cut, and inspection records falsified.
The Miami Heat, Tampa Bay Rays, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tampa Bay Bucs, Tampa Bay Lightening and Miami Dolphins -- or every single freaking pro team in the state -- are also guilty of taking public funding without sheltering homeless people.
The Tampa Bay Rays, in particular, have no excuse. Their attendance is so bad, they should be housing homeless people on game days as well, just so the damn stadium isn't so embarrassingly empty.
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Follow Bison Messink on Twitter: @BisonMessink
[Lawmakers advance bill to fine sports teams for not housing the homeless Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2012/01/lawmakers-advance-bill-to-fine-sports-teams-for-not-housing-the-homeless.html#storylink=cpy]
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