Dolphins stadium deal dies, but Ladra believes in ghosts

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Now that the Dolphins stadium bill is dead in the water in Tallahassee — gavel down, not a peep of it in the House after passing overwhelmingly in the Senate — is the stadium modernization down the pipes with it?

Not everybody thinks so.

Former Commissioner Katy Sorenson said at a debate on the publicly-financed deal — and she argued against it opposite Commissioner Barbara Jordan — that Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross would likely still move forward with a project to roof SunLife Stadium, albeit maybe without all the extra bells and whistles.

“My firm belief is that even if he doesn’t get it,” Sorenson said Wednesday night, two nights before the fate was sealed, “he will still go forward, becuse he’s abillionaire and he can afford it and make money doing it.”

And while the Dolphins organization has said — and a study provided to the county has shown — they cannot afford the upgrade, billionaire Ross, Forbes 83rd richest man with $4.4 billion, likely can. Not to mention the other celebrity owners of the team, including music moguls Emilio and Gloria Estefan, or J-Lo and her ex-hubby Marc Anthony and sisters Serene and Venus Willams who have been uneasily silent on it all.

What Ladra will not believe is that he Dolphins and the supporters of this plan — which include soccer enthusiasts who have to know that soccer is bound to come here anyway, because where else are they going to go? — will just give up the game after one fumble. This was one battle in the war. One inning in the game, so to speak. And I fully expect there to be a comeback.

Ladra knows the stadium should remain competitive and comfortable. But I believe there are alternatives to providing $379 million in a public dollar revenue stream to a man who is already worth $4.4 billion. There always have been. And I think our leaders at the county, including Mayor Carlos Gimenez, have known this all along.

There has to be a different play in the works.

I called the mayor’s chief of staff Genero “Chip” Iglesias (Ladra doesn’t have an inside line to Gimenez anymore) to find out if there had been any thought given to a Plan B or Plan C should the bill not survive Tallahassee. He implied that they had not.

Gimenez issued a statement late Friday that conceeded defeat, sorta, but didn’t provide any hint at the future direction this may still take.

“The State Legislature did not take action on the bill to provide an additional 1% mainland tourist tax for the Dolphins’ stadium renovations,” Gimenez said in a written statement released to the media, adding that — “in accordance with the resolution calling the special election” — he had the May 14 vote cancelled. (Naturally, Sweetwter and North Miami voters can still cast ballots for their municipal races).

Also cancelled, the final Miami-Dade Democratic Party forum scheduled for Saturday between State Rep. Jose Javier Rodriguez (D-Miami) against the deal and corporate attorney Roland Sanchez-Medina, Jr., in favor of it. And it is too bad because Ladra was looking forward to that debate. I told Miami-Dade Democratic Party Chairwoman Annette Taddeo Goldstein that they should turn it into a victory party. But she is way more diplomatic than Ladra.

Rather than look to the future, Gimenez sounds like he is still defending his original move to negotiate an “unprecedented” deal and take it to the voters — even without the legilature’s approval. A gamble gone bad.

“It is important to point out that the special election did not cost tax payers any money, as the Dolphins paid the County $4.7 million to cover election expenses,” Gimenez said in his statement. “In fact, we estimate that there will be over one million dollars left over that can be used to meet other County needs.

“I would like to thank those voters who took advantage of early voting to express their opinion on the stadium issue.  My priority from the beginning of this process has been to give our voters the final say,” Gimenez said.

But, regardless of what was not said in that statement, Ladra fully expects our chief negotiating leader to try “a different tack” on the stadium modernization. There can be other, perhaps better deals negotiated as an outcome of today’s brave move by House Speaker Will Weatherford to ignore the pressure and sit on the bill.

Maybe one that gives the couny profit sharing or turns over the stadium as a public facility — two issues that have comeup time and time again. “I could have supported it, then,” Taddeo told me. Ladra might have, too.

Maybe they can talk to one of the developers or members of the Latin American Business Association that supported this meaure to develop what looks like hundreds of undeveloped land around the stadium and provide that the tax and impact dollars generated by these new businesses go to the modernization of our stadium.

Maybe they can partner with private corporations — Coca Cola, Verizon, Carnival Cruise Lines and Publix come to mind, for some reason — to do something that is a true community effort without going into the taxpayers’ pockets.

Maybe the celebrity partners can finally step to the plate. Or to the scrimmage line, as it were.

Maybe the bill in its current form — which was ill advised and badly implemented in the first place (whoever is advising Ross and Dolphins CEO Mike Dee has done them a disservice) — is dead in the water, but the stadium plan can be revised and revisited from a multiple number of avenues.

And while the vote on May 14 is null and void, due to the bill’s long and painful death in Tallahassee, the election could, possibly, go on. Are we sure the resolution language forces the county to cancel, Mr. Mayor? After all, Mr. Ross has bought and paid for it. More than 52,000 people have already voted absentee. Why not go through with it? Even if it doesn’t change anything, it provides us with the opportunity to survey a huge number of people. It would be easy for our local electeds to sell that to us and to themselves. Suddenly, letting the people decide becomes letting the people speak. Why take away their voice?

Actually, Ladra is all for it. Because while the Dolphins people seemed to be confident and downright cocky about the referendum’s chances, they were also quite sure they had the votes they needed to get it through the House as late as Friday morning, and I think an overwhelming no vote from the street would send the message loud and clear to any other different fishes thinking that they could take a swim up the same creek: Any kind of second inning has to be fair and transparent.

And if not, it doesn’t count anyway. Back to square one.

And like me, Sorenson and many others also beieves that we will still be in line for a Superbowl very soon. “Without the renovations, we’ve already had 10 Superbowls,” Sorenson said. “This is Miami. They don’t want to go to Green Bay or St. Louis. It’s cold there.”

Even Ross hasn’t given up ship.

“In the weeks ahead, I will do all I can to convince my fellow owners to bring the Super Bowl back to Miami Dade,” Ross said in his statement. Not that it would be impossible. That he would do what he could.

“The Bid Committee has done a tremendous job to give us a great shot, and my only hope is that it is enough to overcome the terrible message Speaker Weatherford has sent to the NFL tonight. In addition, I will continue to do all I can to build a winning team for the people of Miami Dade.”

In his statement, in which he criticized Weatherford, he also hinted that he hasn’t given up on the political process. “In the future, I will look to play an important role in fixing the dysfunction in Tallahassee and will continue to work to create good jobs in Miami Dade and throughout South Florida,” Ross finished.

Hey, I know a bunch of people who would support that.