Yes, But … Crony, Phony, Fake, or
Real?
Published in Marietta Daily Journal June 25, 2017
Yes,
the Atlanta Braves SunTrust Park is a sight to behold. Sports lovers or not, citizens can experience
an enjoyable afternoon or evening at the park.
For
children, the stadium is an absolute delight, and kids do need more open air fun
these days. They’re inside too
much.
Most churches have abandoned the
organ. Baseball hasn’t, and that’s good.
At a baseball game, thoughts of
politics and socio-economics are as far from fans’ minds as is New Zealand. That’s good as well.
The yelling is fun too. Not my yelling. I don’t yell.
I’ve tried to, but can’t.
Listening to the yelling (clean yelling) of nearby fans is all the
release I need. I did turn around once to
compliment loud teenage boys for their hilarious and playful put-down comments
about the opposing team.
Back to the stadium itself. One doesn’t have to be an architect or
engineer to appreciate architecture. In
fact, one reason I didn’t yell recently is that I was pondering the steel, the
labor, and the engineering that produced the structure. When I think of “advanced nations,” I think
of good roads, safe bridges, and beautiful, functioning buildings. When Churchill said, “We shape our buildings
and our buildings shape us,” he indicated that what meets the eye influences
the soul.
Even though there are seats at
SunTrust where it’s hard to see the batter, the oft repeated comment, “There
are no bad seats in the house,” still holds true. The sweep of the seating as opposed to the
stacked effect of so many other stadiums is a striking feature.
BUT
… I’m conflicted. I’ve taken my
wife, and will soon take my two sons to the park, but I’m still
conflicted. Why? Because I and several
hundred thousand other citizens were forced to pay, not a petty portion of the
park’s cost, but a hefty $300 million plus.
We had no choice and no vote.
Ok, the park is built and is in use,
so am I rattling old bones? No, because
as long as regular citizens say nothing, crony capitalism (phony, fake
capitalism?) will continue.
There has always been contention
over the interplay of the public and private sector, always debate about what
government should or should not give money to.
The debate should drive us back to a foundational question: What is the
proper role of government?
Further, is the marriage of state
and private special interests a good idea?
Is it proper for government to aid and assist billionaires in building their
sports stadiums? I say no.
Will
hotel and restaurant earnings and the taxes therefrom justify our multimillion
dollar “investment”? Jobs at the stadium
will not. Stadium jobs are held by
teenagers and seemingly retired citizens, seasonal jobs at best.
SunTrust
Park is the third home built for the Braves team in the last four decades. Like other sports cities, mostly Southern
ones, Atlanta will demolish a building at the drop of a hat. And when elected officials make deals in
secret with the billionaires seeking “public funds” (weasel words for the
people’s money), the situation becomes even more onerous.
Current annual average pay for Major
League baseball players is just over $4 million. And
what do players do for these millions? Outfielders
and basemen spend most of their time standing.
Just standing. Their work is
momentary. Not so for pitchers and
catchers, but overall, baseball players, good hitters or not, are paid to stand. What an easy life! Brought to them in part (in the case of
SunTrust Park) by the taxpayers of the county.
If a free market allows it, I’m for
it, but the injection of tax money, voted on or not, sullies the very concept
and function of a free market. Columnist
George Will once wrote that government has as much business funding the arts as
it does rodeo. I say let’s add
professional sports to the No, No list for goverment.
Even though the Braves fan base lies
northwest of Atlanta, what percentage of Cobb County taxpayers attend the games
or even care about baseball? A 35-year-old
working stiff with two or three small children probably can’t afford more than
one trip per year to the park. But we
gotta pay our hardworking celebrity athletes, so tickets, parking, and food
prices aren’t likely to drop.
My word “conflicted” above is too
mild. I’ve already moved to “Against it”
in spite of the deep pleasure of watching the Braves shut out the San Francisco
Giants.
Let’s just keep capitalism pure and
keep government in its place.
Roger
Hines
6/22/17
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