The Evansville Courier & Press has an article comparing the renovation of the Memorial Coliseum and the possible renovation of Roberts Stadium in Evansville:
A decision was made to renovate, and the county chose to pay for it by adding a penny tax on food and beverages. There were some naysayers, but overall public support "was amazing, really good support in my opinion," Bloom said. "We dug our feet in as commissioners and felt we were making the right decision. ... It just made really good sense to do what we did."
She said the coliseum puts $100 million into the Fort Wayne metro economy.
That would be Linda Bloom, Allen County commissioner. The article doesn't get into it, but what many of us object to to this day is the continued presence of the food and beverage tax. It was sold as the "perfect tax," because it would be used for a specific, targeted purpose, then disappear. They made that argument to our editorial board, and we actually bought it. Of course, that was 22 years ago, and the tax hasn't gone away and never will -- theere will always be more found to spend the revenue on. Oh, here's one good idea: Let's build a baseball stadium with it, then tear it down as soon as it's paid off so we can build another one downtown!
(Via Disenfranchised American)
