The NBA Commissioner was in Portland and said we need a new arena in Portland. Now everyone and their brother among the elite are falling over themselves groveling to the NBA to build a new arena or substantially renovate Moda Center. All due respect to Chris Dudley and Clyde Drexler, but we need a new or renovated arena in Portland about as much as we need a baseball stadium which is to say as much as we need a hole in the head.
Every time I go into the Moda Center, which is about once a year and only with steeply discounted nosebleed tickets, it's like entering a Star Trek spaceship. It's a beautiful place and needs nothing. The only people who need new stadiums are the elite politicians, business people, and athletes who want to hobnob with the rich and famous. They are drunk on their own egos.
Most people in Portland can't afford to go to the games and have other priorities. If we get a chance to vote, it would be voted down. But if we did vote it down, it would probably mean nothing.
In Seattle in the 1990s, the voters voted down Safeco field, but the state legislature voted the money anyway. Last year the voters in Kansas City voted down a stadium bond but now the state legislatures in Kansas and Missouri are both competing to build new stadiums for the Chiefs and Royals.
So I'm sure in Portland it will follow the script so the pols can have their glitz and glamour.
No comments:
Post a Comment