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The Birmingham Dome Issue

FitToBeTide

FitToBeTide

All-American
Aug 19, 2001
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St. Florian
Just read a small piece in our local rag about the elusive Domed Stadium in Birmingham, concerning an outgoing councilman. This issue seems to rear its head at least once a year. Any of you locals down there(or anywhere else) have something to say about this latest round? Is this thing imminent? A myth? On life support? Inquiring minds want to know.


:biga2:
 
Summary: The people have said over and over that they do not want the dome b/c they do not trust the politicians that will commandeer the project. The idiots that we ( the people ) have elected, do want a dome. For some reason, the people ( also idiots/all of us ) continue to elect people that share different values.

PS> Herb Winches thinks a dome will make Birmingham an Atlanta.
PSS> Yes, one of the dome's supporters was excused from his duty in a landslide vote. I think the issue is dead.
 
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Here's a thought...


Why not get a corpoartion to help build a dome, like it's done in other major cities? Then, hire a group to manage it instead of politicians.

Think about it...The Mercedes Dome.

Maybe that makes too much sense...
 
That way, it wouldn't cost the taxpayers money, we could bring the SECCG game back to Alabama where it belongs, and get the SEC basketball tournament here, too.
 
As long as people in bham keep people like Larry Langford and Sheila Smoot in office, the dome will always be out there as a trial balloon and boondoggle as it really is....
 
For one I would like to see a dome in Birmingham. I do not live in Birmingham nor do I live in Jefferson County where this issue is going to be decided but I do work in Birmingham and they put a Jefferson County tax on me and a City of Birminghman employment tax on me. Since I pay tax money to the city and county, I would like to have a say as to where my money goes. I say give it to a dome-they are wasting it anyway.
 
Boo

Why build a dome when you have no one to play in it? UAB doesn't count, and Auburn and Alabama both have great stadiums (or a stadium and "the jungle!") that they would rather play in. The days of college football in Birmingham are over. This is a terrible idea. Kind of like Memphis and the Liberty Bowl, but way worse. Birmingham has no shot at landing an NFL team. Plus, Atlanta is a great venue for the SECCG. What is their left? A lower tier bowl game? Steeldogs? Monster truck rallys? If Birmingham can land a pro franchise though, good for them, go ahead and build a dome. But until then, forget about it. You don't build a dome of that magnitude and then go begging for somebody to play in it.
 
Sure. Let's build a dome with a massive convention facility adjoining it. Let's staff it up with City of Birmingham employees receiving full benefits including a pension. Let's forget any low bidder stuff because all the contracts will go to small disadvantaged businesses. 8A companies, and cronies of the city administration. Then, when it's losing millions upon millions of dollars let's go to the state and demand additional tax money EVERY YEAR because the poor people of Birmingham deserve something nice and it would be racist to let the thing go belly up.

While we're at it let's build an amusement park right next door that no one will attend. Whoops. Forgot we already did that one.

Please.
 
the best thing for birmingham is to destroy any and all documents that even have the word dome on them. the city does need a stadium to replace legion field and a new arena, but not a dome. they should build a nice 40-45k seat stadium and tie it into the railroad park that they are building on the southside. also adding a new 20,000 seat arena could help for them to try and bring back the sec basketball tournament, ncaa tournament games and various other basketball games, along with concerts and other events. both of these together would be less than half the price of the dome that they are trying to have built.
 
Crimson Classic said:
Summary: The people have said over and over that they do not want the dome b/c they do not trust the politicians that will commandeer the project. The idiots that we ( the people ) have elected, do want a dome. For some reason, the people ( also idiots/all of us ) continue to elect people that share different values.

PS> Herb Winches thinks a dome will make Birmingham an Atlanta.
PSS> Yes, one of the dome's supporters was excused from his duty in a landslide vote. I think the issue is dead.
Click to expand...

The voters of Jefferson County, and especially Birmingham proper, understand their city much better than do the politicians who run it. They know that building a taxpayer funded dome in downtown Birmingham is akin to taking a homeless man to a clothing store and expecting him to buy himself a new coat. The politicians want it so that they can hold it up every election cycle and say 'here's what I did for Birmingham'. They fail to understand that you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Birmingham will never be anything closely related to Atlanta because the administration could care less about what's good for the city itself. They care only how much they can skim off the top of every little project to put into their own pockets and those of their families. Another big reason a dome won't work is that most safety conscious individuals won't venture into downtown Birmingham at night unless they can sport a shotgun in one hand and a leashed rottweiler in the other.
Lastly, the majority of tax revenue expected to fund this monstrosity would be gathered not from the residents of downtown Birmingham, but rather from outlying communities such as Leeds, Moody, Vestavia and Mountain Brook. Some politicians have even asked that the revenues be extracted from taxpayers statewide. To that I say No, thank you. Leave me out of it.
:cool:
 
Crimson-Blitz said:
Sure. Let's build a dome with a massive convention facility adjoining it. Let's staff it up with City of Birmingham employees receiving full benefits including a pension. Let's forget any low bidder stuff because all the contracts will go to small disadvantaged businesses. 8A companies, and cronies of the city administration. Then, when it's losing millions upon millions of dollars let's go to the state and demand additional tax money EVERY YEAR because the poor people of Birmingham deserve something nice and it would be racist to let the thing go belly up.

While we're at it let's build an amusement park right next door that no one will attend. Whoops. Forgot we already did that one.

Please.
Click to expand...
But they could always use it to house people who are displaced after a hurricane! :biggrin:
 
Bama Reb said:
The voters of Jefferson County, and especially Birmingham proper, understand their city much better than do the politicians who run it. They know that building a taxpayer funded dome in downtown Birmingham is akin to taking a homeless man to a clothing store and expecting him to buy himself a new coat. The politicians want it so that they can hold it up every election cycle and say 'here's what I did for Birmingham'. They fail to understand that you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Birmingham will never be anything closely related to Atlanta because the administration could care less about what's good for the city itself. They care only how much they can skim off the top of every little project to put into their own pockets and those of their families.
Click to expand...

Very good points. I don't trust our local government to manage a project of this magnitude, either.

Bama Reb said:
Another big reason a dome won't work is that most safety conscious individuals won't venture into downtown Birmingham at night unless they can sport a shotgun in one hand and a leashed rottweiler in the other.
Click to expand...

The area surrounding Legion Field is as dangerous as anywhere in the city. People don't go downtown because there's no reason to go there.
 
TiderinMiss said:
Here's a thought...


Why not get a corpoartion to help build a dome, like it's done in other major cities? Then, hire a group to manage it instead of politicians.

Think about it...The Mercedes Dome.

Maybe that makes too much sense...
Click to expand...

TiM,
Corporations aren't building these stadiums. Owners kick in some but taxpayers are footing most of the bill. After the construction is over naming rights are then sold to corporations and that money in turn goes to the owners as well. Stadiums are one of the biggest fleecings that happen to the public. We love our sports don't we?
 
Several points I'd like to make.

The tax payers have not rejected a dome, after the failed maps program polls indicated Birmingham voters did want the dome, they just didn't want the multi-million dollar pork package they tried to piggy back on top of it so that every crack head in Birmingham would have a new basketball gym to play in and there would be a nice jogging trail around the city so muggers would have slow moving targets to prey upon.

The city of Birmingham is dead in the water and will remain that way until they do something to jump start it. The Birmingham area as a whole is doing ok, but most of that cash is south and east of town.

I hear all the government is corrupt arguments and I agree, but so what, show me a city anywhere in America and I'll show you corruption. its the nature of the beast, You work with it or fail. thats your choice.

I do not agree with the pro football arguments or lack there-of. Birmingham can make good use of such a facility with convention traffic. The BJCC and Winfery complexes are packed the gills 12 months out of the year, we have one of top two or three sports race tracks in the country at Barbers, We have a bass pro shops coming soon to the area, we have a major player in the custom motorcycle industry moving in, we have the biggest mall in the State, we are in the heart of Nascar and BASS country, Heck we have three American Idle finalists from the area!!! Nashville should be wheezing by now! There are plenty of things to work with around here, what we don't have is a leader who can make it happen, and we have a voting public that is like a heard of sheep and can be manipulated easily by a third rate marketing firm and a few TV commercials talking about fat cats stealing your money.
 
Confederate Motorcycles.

And by the way, the Nashville Arena (a.k.a. the Gaylord Entertainment Center) has perennial revenue problems due to lack of events - and they are the home venue for both the Nashville Predators and the Nashville Kats. It seats 19,000 or thereabouts.

Question: What in the wide, wide world of sports would Birmingham do with at 60,000 seat football-capable domed stadium?

Answer: Be further in debt.

Without a professional (read NFL, not XFL or WLAF or USFL, or any other FL) football team to inhabit said dome, it will not succeed. In fact, the very idea of building a dome without a NFL team contractually obligated to play in it is just stupid, regardless of the scumbag politicians involved.
 
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