Sunday, September 08, 2013

Congrats to the Hillsboro Hops!

They just finished an outstanding season and were, by all accounts, a smashing success for Hillsboro, the little town that could.

Unlike the pro-ballpark scammers here in Clark County who can't, apparently, even tell time about the politics of this county, Hillsboro figured it out and got it done... and done right.

Millions of dollars cheaper than the scam Stuart and leave-it tried to ram down our throats over here...  Stadium paid for both those who actually attend... 3rd highest attendance in the league... a fantastic facility.

Us'ns here in the Big City, out-done by some comparative hicks... but hicks who had a clue. 

There's lessons aplenty learned from the debacle that was Clark County's less than mediocre effort to get high school plus baseball here.

The county needs to remember this part, written by the democratian about 60 seconds before they flipped:
But back to luring the baseball team over to this side of the river. That would require a stadium with at least 8,000 seats, which would cost about $40 million. As we’ve editorialized before, there appears to be no way any of that money could — or even should — be provided by taxpayers. That hurdle hasn’t discouraged Leavitt, though. “There’s still a lot of interest in bringing Beavers baseball or Triple-A baseball to Clark County. Private interests are working on a financing plan,” he said. To which we respond: Great! Work away! Which is a nice way of saying don’t come begging to cash-strapped city or county governments.
Except, of course, when they DID come "begging to cash-strapped governments," the democratian rolled over like a $10 hooker is reputed to do..

in[sic] Our View: Bring On Baseball

Plan for moving Yakima’s team to Vancouver has several encouraging aspects

Owners of a Class A pro baseball team want to move to Vancouver, and their plan carries several positive components. Although still in its preliminary phase, the proposal is promising largely because of the limited way it calls for public financing.
A $23 million stadium near Clark College would be supported in part by an “entertainment admissions fee.” Essentially, that’s an entertainment tax, so, if you have money to spend on entertainment, you’d be taxed on it. Unlike a sales tax or a property tax, this shouldn’t be taking bread and milk off your table. This would yield a projected $1 million annually toward the stadium cost. This tax would be paid only at the discretion of the entertainment patron (exemptions could be part of the plan), and an estimated $4 million annual boost to the local economy would result.
Of course, it had precisely ZERO "encouraging aspects" but with a slimeball like Lefty Lou at the helm, what else can you expect?

Regardless: congratulations to Hillsboro and their team.  A spectacular job that those running the show over here were far too clueless to figure out... either by financing... or by location.

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