“If you take the land away, which is probably all some of these local governments have … you can forget about growing the state, growing the tax base, creating jobs,” said Newton, whose district includes stadiums.
Rep. Kathleen Peters, R-Treasure Island, said the proposal could hurt future efforts to emulate plans by Tampa Bay Rowdies owner Bill Edwards, who intends to spend $80 million of his own money to renovate Al Lang Stadium in St. Petersburg from a baseball field into a Major League Soccer-ready facility.
“Why are we shutting down public-private partnerships?” Peters asked. “Why should this gentleman not have the ability to invest $80 million, no taxpayers’ money whatsoever, $80 million to keep this historic integrity and make it a viable stadium, and we then get to benefit from the economic stimulation that comes from that?”
–END–
3/30/2017
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