Russian Proverb; A Snake Will Not Bite Its Own Tail

I really love this Russian proverb which I had heard for the first time today. It was spoken on NPR when a Russian was talking about the new KGB policing itself. It has a lot of resonance in US news as well. The City of Omaha was ordered by a judge to hire a Police Auditor because as the proverb goes, the police can't police themselves and haven't had one investigation since the last auditor was fired by the mayor. In the news today the Pope met in Boston with survivors of sex abuse by priests. You get the idea. Lastly, the almost daily news topic is the sub prime mortgage related meltdown of the lending industry. Who was watching that hen house there?

Royals Paying the Way at Rosenblatt???

Ok, I have been following the North of Downdown (NODO; ripped off name from another city & make me puke name and actually in the historic Jackson Park part of the city) baseball stadium issue of late. It has never been revealed exactly how this new stadium will be paid for. My only assumption is the tax payer will make nothing and the developers will make out like fat cats. Anyway, I digress.

The Sunday Omaha World Herald (4/13/2008) reported that the Royals may not move to the new stadium. OH NO WE CANT LOOSE THAT REVENUE, right? Well, disclosed in the article, by Karen Sloan, is that the Royals now pay $5000/year in rent for Rosenblatt. You got it for the whole year. They keep all the consession dollars during Royals games and keep 10% of consessions from the CWS games. The city pays the Royals $100,000 to leave Rosenblatt during the College World Series. The city collects no money for parking. SOOOO, lets add this money up.

Net revenue to the City from the Royals

Rent $5,000
CWS Get Lost Fee ($100,000)
Consessions $0
Parking _____$0

Profit for the City ($95,000)/annually

WHAT? Who is paying for the opperation and upkeep of Rosenblatt? More importantly the city would be way ahead if we get rid of the Royals unless I am missing something here...

If all things are equal, and the Royals move downtown, those attending the games will pay for parking. Wait, hold on, the city doesn't get the parking fees MECA does. So even at $6/car the taxpayer is still in the hole on this deal.

I will keep following this to see if I can get us taxpayers out of the red and into the black without more taxes.