Opposition to the proposed Major League Soccer stadium at the Port of Miami continues to mount despite the lack of details on the plan.
On Friday, the Miami Seaport Alliance — an organization created to fight the proposal — launched a video, radio, and digital advertising ca
mpaign across Miami-Dade County to, basically, scare folks about the notion.
After all, it opens with a shot of the Miami Marlins stadium, which was a fiasco financially that, in great part, led to the recall of former Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez in 2011.
“Before we get stuck with another stadium deal here in Miami, let’s look at the facts,” a man says, in a warning tone.
You can bet that David Beckham and his investors and whatever lobbyists he snared into this are going to launch a campaign of their own. But it’s interesting to see the anti voice go after the public opinion first.
During last year’s proposal to give away tax dollars to Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross for renovations to his stadium, the billionaire spent close more than a million to make it happen. The anti campaign came in late and grossly underfunded, but won in the end when the scam was killed in Tallahassee, where legislators had to approve a referendum. It will be interesting to see how much impact a professional and well-financed campaign like this one can have.
The video, which already had 41 views on YouTube by lunchtime, talks about the 200,000+ jobs and the $27 billion the port generates a year for the local economy, questioning who will pay for the security costs.
“Can we risk our economy for another stadium deal? Get the facts. No to another stadium deal,” it ends.
The radio ad is almost exact, except it opens with “What do we really know about the proposed soccer stadium at Port Miami?”
And, while Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez likes to say that there are no details, they’ve been talking about this secretly since December, so there has to be some framework within which they are working. There are a few items that have already become part of the public conversation on the site choice (and I’m sure there’s a couple left out):
- Traffic concerns are so critical that soccer star Beckham and his investors have already commissioned a traffic report that they say is incomplete, but which Ladra fully expects to say that traffic won’t be that bad of a problem. They have already hinted as much. And Miami Beach residents had a town hall where Mayor Phil Levine — who, granted, works with Royal Caribbean Cruises — joked why not have it at the airport between runways, for that matter.
- Homeland security issues have been raised and proponents or defenders of the early plan have said that this is far enough away from the security area to not have that be a concern
- The mayor and Beckham’s group — and lobbyists and PR people — have said that they are fronting the whole cost of developing the site, but they are also going to seek around $40 million in state tax rebates. Not this year. This year, the legislature is just considering the mechanism for them to do that next year.
- Some people prefer an office and retail complex at the site.
The city of Miami actually owns that land, leasing it to the county at $1 a year, and it could revert to them if the land is used for anything other than port uses. Mayor Tomas Regalado said he wants to wait to hear about the plan and if the city can share in the financial benefits, but they have concerns about parking and security. Also, David Beckham and his people haven’t even called him.
Regalado would not tell Ladra whether he was for or against the Port site for a MLS stadium because he wants to know more first.
“What I’ve said is we have to be part of the conversation and we haven’t been,” Regalado said Friday morning.
He says it may be premature for him to be involved in any discussion, however, if Gimenez can’t get the Port location past his own commission, where some electeds have indicated dislike for the site.
“If the commissioners say we don’t want it at the Port, then that’s that,” Regalado said, and there is indication that the majority don’t (more on that later).
And if they vote to have the mayor enter into negotiations, you know, just to see what they get back?
“Then we will insert ourselves into the negotiations because they have to count with us,” Regalado told Ladra.
Gimenez told Ladra and news partner Mira TV that he did not understand why people were against the Port site even before they know the details and said that the opposition was premature. He said that when people are informed about the facts, they don’t have the arguments they make — which are, principally, traffic, security and the possibility that the acreage will be needed in the future for port expansion.
Miami Seaport Alliance President John Fox — a former Royal Caribbean Cruise Line executive and RCL lobbyist that Gimenez paints as an interested party — infers that whatever those details are cannot be as important as preserving the Port for maritime cargo and cruise activity.
“Even the hint of a disruptive non-port-related activity, such as a stadium, could force a cargo or cruise ship to leave the port, which would result in the loss of thousands of jobs,” Fox said in a statement.
The ads are professionally made — and on a rush job, so you know they were a bit pricy to produce. The privately-funded Miami Seaport Alliance is made up of Florida Stevedoring, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Norman Braman, the International Longshoremen’s Association Local 1416, the International Longshoremen’s Association Local 1922, Eller-ITO Stevedoring Co., and Florida Foreign Trade Association.
Fox told Ladra that the workers he represents help make Port Miami the second largest economic engine for the county. “They feed it. They oil it. They grease it. They put gas in it.”
Gimenez says that the alliance speaks for only a quarter of the port community. But the group is being joined by a coalition of municipal mayors who also are against the site and/or any public land giveaways. Fox also told Ladra that the Latin Business Association had also joined the opposition, but I could not independently confirm that.
To clarify, this is opposition to the port site as the location for Major League Soccer. Fox and most if not all of the above parties want a stadium. They just don’t think that the one of the busiest ports in the U.S. is the best place.
“We just don’t see how a soccer stadium, in the midst of all the activity there, furthers the port’s interests.”
Fox has been talking to commissioners. So has John Altschuler, a lobbyist working for the Beckham group and the guy who sparred with Fox on the Jim DeFede show last Sunday. More meetings are scheduled for this week.
Altshuler accused Fox of protecting only Royal Caribbean’s interests, since the company pays a rent that is 45% below market value. But Fox said that was the agreement made so that RCL would build not just the terminal but the gym and the day care and the clinic. And while it may not be right or something to be proud of, it’s the same kind of sweetheart deal that is likely going to be offered to the Beckham group, who is also going to fund the whole $200 million or so development of the stadium, which would include a hotel and retail or restaurants.
And while Gimenez said that RCL is the only cruise line opposed, there was early indication that Norweigan Cruise Lines was against the plan and rumors that they backed off because the majority owner of the business is Genting, which wants to develop a resort and, their fingers crossed, a casino here. Observers also note that Carnival Cruise Lines is owned by Micky Arison, who has been getting a sweetheart deal with the county on his arena and could get up to $120 million more in 25 years, according to a deal he told season ticket holders was a done thing but which Gimenez now say was not (more on that later).
As far as the soccer stadium: Gimenez says it is to early for anyone to oppose anything.
And everyone that Ladra talked to believes there is not enough support for the site on the commission, either. The mayor, who keeps saying there are no details on the proposal, may not have brought the details to the dais because he does not have the votes.
From the public and private statements of commissioners, opinions of staff and people close to them, as well as interested parties, Chairman Rebeca Sosa and Commissioners Esteban Bovo, Audrey Edmonson, Barbara Jordan, Jean Monestime, Dennis Moss and Juan Zapata would vote against it. Maybe Xavier Suarez, who says he is on the fence but originally liked the Miami Intermodal Center area just east of the airport. Expected to vote in favor: Commissioners Bruno Barreiro, Jose “Pepe” Diaz, Javier Souto and Sally Heyman, because of her longtime friendship with Neisen Kasdin, who is lobbying for the Beckham group. Lynda Bell is also in the group but may vote the other way if she sees they are losing.
These are the people that the Seaport Alliance ads are going after, because the Port site for soccer will not come up for a public vote.
That’s a lot of effort and money for 13 votes.
Anti PortMiami soccer stadium interests launch campaign added by Ladra on
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