Thursday, August 23, 2007

A curious post from D.C. 

The Washington Post's Marc Fisher discusses the failure of stadiums in Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Detroit to spark economic revival in these rust-belt cities:
The extraordinary frenzy of construction that surrounds the new Washington Nationals ballpark is a tribute to former mayor Tony Williams and those who believed that bringing baseball back to the District would be a smart move, even if taxpayers and fans are fronting $611 million to build the stadium.

But there is nothing automatic about sparking the economic development that stadium proponents cite as the justification for public investment in a ballpark.

I saw that this month on visits to Cleveland, Detroit and Cincinnati, where new downtown stadiums have done little to cure urban ills or inject street life into places that can be empty except right before and after a game.
Read the whole thing to gauge this subsidy-supporter's account of the lack of economic impact associated with these stadium projects. Curiously, you can get the piece (right now, at least) under two headlines:

Spin (a): Ensuring the Promise of D.C.'s New Stadium

Spin (b): A Warning from Cleveland: Could Baseball Fail D.C.?

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permalink posted by Skip Sauer @ 8:49 PM