Michael Lewis of Miami Today says leave well enough alone.

Editor of Miami Today, Michael Lewis says:

We'd be far better off if governments grappled with vital problems and didn't create new ones by sticking fingers where they've no business meddling.

Cases in point are Miami's call to retool a well-oiled Miami Parking Authority, Miami-Dade's bid to be entrepreneur in an untested boxing arena and county officials' push to stage a new Coconut Grove Playhouse.

The parking authority feeds millions each year into city coffers. But the city has put on the Nov. 2 ballot a vote to hand authority jobs, real estate and revenues to elected officials to toy with.

Boxing is dying, but the county sports commission seeks to run a franchise in an untried global league. Prior to any vote or signed contract, a press release made it a done deal.

Outside suitors woo the playhouse, closed four years, but the county wants to grab its home, build a much smaller theater under county control and then hand the whole thing to a small independent theater producer.

Each misbegotten issue could enmesh taxpayers in tangles that don't imperil us now. In business argot, they have very strong downsides and weak upsides.

And while, unlike the others, a strong independent playhouse could help the community, governments have no business stepping into any of these bogs hiding pits of quicksand.

The issues are complex, perhaps befuddling for elected officials, but principles are clear:
Principle One: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Principle Two: If it's too badly broken, don't get bogged down in it.
Principle Three: Leave projects requiring expertise to experts.

The parking authority falls under Principle One. It chugs along smoothly, planning and developing parking under a board and budget approved by the city commission."

read more....

Miami Today: Michael Lewis Editorial on The Marlins

Lewis says: Don't blame rich Marlins because we gave them $3 billion:

If building a $3 billion stadium and handing it over for 50 years for pennies didn't faze Miami-Dade commissioners when they OK'd the deal with a wink, they're now horrified that their beneficiary was rich.

Shucks, they say, if they'd known the Florida Marlins had operating profit of $49 million over two years they'd have shaved several million off their $3 billion gift that raised the team's market value at least $250 million.

He says further:

The first rule in a deal is to know fully who's on the other side. That includes character and financial status.

The commission violated that rule by a mile. You have to reveal more to get a wireless phone than the Marlins told commissioners, who then gave away the store.

It wasn't just that most commissioners didn't read the contracts and voted, as they often do, to taxpayers' detriment. It's that they didn't really want to know. After all, if they didn't know they can't be blamed — unless you expect commissioners to open their eyes and ears.

As it was, nine of them — just the right number for baseball — played a game of see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. The only thing the Marlins' nine asked about the worst county contract in history was "What's in it for me?"

Lewis Concludes:

Commissioners, this disaster isn't the Marlins' fault. Divide the blame equally between the county manager you trusted and the Marlins' nine who didn't want to examine the giveaway they signed off on. The mayor and manager leave in two years. Voters get to decide how to deal with the nine of you. Don't blame the Marlins for your $3 billion gift. It's on your backs.
See the full Editorial.

Miami Today: Michael Lewis Editorial on Sport's Stadium Deals

As the Community knows, the UEL takes a dim view of public money and public land going to to private entities. We believe that tax dollars and public lands should be utilized to benefit the most people possible, and that public lands should not charge admission to the public for using their own land.

Publisher of "Miami Today" Michael Lewis complains about the bad deal the public got with handing over the naming rights to Marlin's Stadium to the Marlins. Here are some excerpts from his editorial, blasting the terms of the deal the County agreed to with the Marlins:

It took a great deal by the Miami Dolphins to spotlight a hidden side of a disastrous deal by Miami-Dade County.

While Dolphins owner Steve Ross was selling the name of the stadium he owns, the Florida Marlins stand to collect even more on naming rights for the stadium that Miami-Dade County will soon own.

It'll be big money, another taxpayer gift to the Marlins.

At $4 million to $7.5 million a year (the Dolphins won't specify) last week's title sale to Sun Life was the biggest sports naming deal since the recession petrified corporate activity.

It won't be the last.

The Marlins could collect an annual bonanza like the Carolina Panthers' $7 million at Bank of America Stadium, the Atlanta Hawks and Thrashers' $9.3 million at Phillips Arena, the Houston Texans' $10 million at Reliant Stadium and the Houston Astros' $6 million at Minute Maid Park.

All these windfalls far exceed the Marlins' sliver of spending on stadium construction.

And that cornucopia doesn't include the team's other goodies from a stadium that somebody else — the taxpayers — will own.

The team gets all ticket revenues, all advertising revenues, all media fees, all concession revenues, all luxury suite revenues.

The Marlins profit so much that when one commissioner on deal day focused on naming rights, others pooh-poohed the minor matter, though the team could reap $250 million or more on naming during its lease.

The team's total payout over 35 years for rent and construction combined totals far less, $154 million tops, depending on how cheaply the Marlins can build a county project. Finally Lewis says:

The Dolphins' good deal already highlights how badly the county got soaked in its Marlins stadium giveaway.