Stadium bill gets chilly reception

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Advocates of a statewide vote on subsidies for stadiums received a chilly reception Tuesday from a House committee where stadium-aid proposals are pending.

Rep. Jim Murphy, R-St. Louis, has proposed a constitutional amendment requiring a statewide vote before the Legislature could appropriate money to pay off bonds for a major league sports facility.

The proposal is aimed at the St. Louis Cardinals project, whose developers are seeking up to $210 million in state aid over the next 30 years to pay off bonds used to finance a new ballpark.

Murphy and his backers were sharply questioned and criticized by members of the House Commerce and Economic Development Committee, which is expected to hear testimony next week on the Cardinals plan.

Many members on the committee said it was the Legislature's responsibility -- not that of all voters -- to determine how to spend state money.

"They send me here to make important decisions for them," said Rep. Tom Villa, D-St. Louis. "They don't understand the overall ramifications of a downtown stadium for the St. Louis Cardinals."

Rep. Tom Dempsey, R-St. Charles, who opposed a Cardinals stadium bill last year in the same committee, said lawmakers have access to more information than the public and so can make a better decision -- even if that decision is to reject state stadium subsidies.

"It's not a matter of trusting you or distrusting you, it's a matter of letting the people speak for themselves," said Kathleen Carico, a lobbyist for the group Missourians for Tax Justice.

Plea for chance to vote

The Rev. Larry Rice of the New Life Evangelistic Center in New Bloomfield brought several residents from St. Louis and elsewhere to Tuesday's committee hearing to plead for a chance to vote.

"If Missourians are allowed to vote on this, it would restore integrity to our state," said Craig McNelly, a minister in Joplin. But McNelly wasn't too encouraged. "It seems like everybody up here is against what we're trying to do."

The Cardinals stadium proposal also includes plans for the team to help develop a neighboring residential and commercial development called the Ballpark Village. All told, the project is estimated at $646 million.

Project supporters have touted its economic benefits, claiming it would generate about $21 million annually in tax revenues, provide thousands of jobs and shore up downtown St. Louis.

But Murphy contends the new stadium would have no positive economic effect, and could have a negative one. He cites several studies, including one published last year by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

Like the arguments of supporters, "our opposition to the stadium proposition is completely economic," Murphy said.