Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2016 | 2 a.m.
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Kudos to Catherine Cortez Masto for her position on new stadium for Las Vegas. It’s about time someone had the courage to tell it like it is and put things in perspective. The “big-money boys” are out to make a large profit off the backs of the “little guy” taxpayer.
Just the purchase of the land for the stadium will put big bucks in the pocket of some wheeler-dealer. Also, the estimated cost has surged from $1.3 billion to $1.9 billion — more money for the big-money boys. The $1.3 billion estimate was low to make the project look plausible. If the project is approved, the $1.9 billion will cover only about three-fourths of the actual cost. Then, using the law of “creeping commitments,” they will be back for another half a billion with the excuse of, “we can’t leave it half-finished; we need to just put the extra money in to finish it off.” Been there, done it.
The taxpayer will be left holding the bag, whether it is in the form of room tax and/or sales tax. Already we have heard overtures for higher sales tax to provide for more police coverage of the stadium and the surrounding area. As far as adding hundreds of jobs is concerned, how many ticket takers and peanut vendors can one stadium hold?
If this is such a great achievement and profitable undertaking, why aren’t the big-money boys funding everything? It’s an old expression: Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
Although I’ve been a registered Republican for longer than most people have been on this earth, I will be contacting the Cortez Masto committee for volunteer work.
