Rock 'n' roll (and subsidies) will never die
Oh, I used to be disgusted and now I try to be amused.
That old Elvis Costello line leapt to mind when I read that the Steelers and Continental Real Estate want a $4 million subsidy to build a $12 million indoor/outdoor concert venue by Heinz Field.
It's the nature of professional sports teams to seek millions of dollars from government, of course. But in a city emerging from junk-bond status, in a state ignoring the pension tsunami ahead, and in a country were the national debt ticker has cleared $9.5 trillion, there comes a point where a citizen must ask, "Aren't we entertaining ourselves to death?"
Mind you, the site is perfect for this amphitheater that holds 5,500 people, its indoor incarnation that shrinks to 2,600, and the rock club that can hold up to 400.
Western Pennsylvanians will know where to find it, and the completion of the $435 million light-rail extension to the North Side in 2010, the rising number of well-heeled residents Downtown, and even the ever-lengthening riverside bike trails make it an even stronger bet.
But if, even after all that government infrastructure, this complex and its corporate boxes can't be built without state aid, what were all those other economic catalysts for?
The developers say this just can't be done without government help, and the taxes -- real estate, parking, amusement, liquor, etc. -- spawned from hundreds of events each year makes the government's "return on investment ... undeniable.''
Since I don't know anything about the concert business except that the tickets don't seem worth my money anymore, I called Steve Leeper. The former executive director of the Sports & Exhibition Authority now runs the Cincinnati Center for City Development.
It turned out Mr. Leeper favored this deal years ago and still does. A $4 million grant always was part of the plan because the place can't generate enough income to pay for itself, he said. It's meant to bring traffic to support the private development around it, in the same way that Downtown theaters have inspired restaurants.
In fact, the $4 million grant was awarded years ago. But the money was transferred to the parking garage that was built to replace the lots lost to other North Shore development.
So now the garage is up and this thing needs another $4 million. But it's still not clear why state taxpayers should be interested in getting people to party on the North Shore rather than somewhere else. It seems neither wise nor fair, and possibly redundant.
Let's start with the slots parlor going up a few hundred yards down the Ohio River. Under the state licensing agreement, the casino is required to have a $3.5 million riverfront amphitheater.
Maybe that was just a brush stroke to make the casino's presentation look better. But then there is Sandcastle in West Homestead. It has been trying to launch a 5,500-seat riverfront amphitheater for the past two years with the concert promoter Live Nation, which had produced live outdoor shows at Station Square through 2006. (The city has been without an amphitheater since.)
I called Pete McAneny, president of Kennywood Entertainment, which operates Sandcastle, to ask what he thought about the state kicking in $4 million for an amphitheater somewhere else.
"Pretty cool if you can get it,'' he said. "I wouldn't know how to go about it, that's for sure."
SouthSide Works also will have a modest amphitheater as part of the $10.5 million riverfront park that is well under way. Federal, state and foundation grants are helping to tie the park in with the existing Southside Riverfront Park and trails, and it will include a covered stage. The music festival in a SouthSide Works parking lot last weekend, which featured Gnarls Barkley and Bob Dylan, seems a good omen.
As for nearby indoor competition, there's Duquesne University's A.J. Palumbo Center, with concert seating anywhere from 2,900 to 5,300 (and open 20 years without a state subsidy); the New Hazlett Theater in Allegheny Center (can seat 550 for concerts) and, potentially, that former porn palace, the Garden Theater on North Avenue (with roughly 800 seats, though I don't expect anyone will sit down without some assurance there are new cushions).
The Garden Theater is, of course, part of a government-sponsored revival; it cost millions just to wrest it from XXX hands. And it will be a long time before it has the allure of the riverfront.
Truth be told, I'd like nothing better than to walk from my North Side home down to an Elvis Costello concert on the riverside, but if that means taxpayers kicking in $4 million, I'd rather wait for him to come back to the Palumbo.
That old Elvis Costello line leapt to mind when I read that the Steelers and Continental Real Estate want a $4 million subsidy to build a $12 million indoor/outdoor concert venue by Heinz Field.
It's the nature of professional sports teams to seek millions of dollars from government, of course. But in a city emerging from junk-bond status, in a state ignoring the pension tsunami ahead, and in a country were the national debt ticker has cleared $9.5 trillion, there comes a point where a citizen must ask, "Aren't we entertaining ourselves to death?"
Mind you, the site is perfect for this amphitheater that holds 5,500 people, its indoor incarnation that shrinks to 2,600, and the rock club that can hold up to 400.
Western Pennsylvanians will know where to find it, and the completion of the $435 million light-rail extension to the North Side in 2010, the rising number of well-heeled residents Downtown, and even the ever-lengthening riverside bike trails make it an even stronger bet.
But if, even after all that government infrastructure, this complex and its corporate boxes can't be built without state aid, what were all those other economic catalysts for?
The developers say this just can't be done without government help, and the taxes -- real estate, parking, amusement, liquor, etc. -- spawned from hundreds of events each year makes the government's "return on investment ... undeniable.''
Since I don't know anything about the concert business except that the tickets don't seem worth my money anymore, I called Steve Leeper. The former executive director of the Sports & Exhibition Authority now runs the Cincinnati Center for City Development.
It turned out Mr. Leeper favored this deal years ago and still does. A $4 million grant always was part of the plan because the place can't generate enough income to pay for itself, he said. It's meant to bring traffic to support the private development around it, in the same way that Downtown theaters have inspired restaurants.
In fact, the $4 million grant was awarded years ago. But the money was transferred to the parking garage that was built to replace the lots lost to other North Shore development.
So now the garage is up and this thing needs another $4 million. But it's still not clear why state taxpayers should be interested in getting people to party on the North Shore rather than somewhere else. It seems neither wise nor fair, and possibly redundant.
Let's start with the slots parlor going up a few hundred yards down the Ohio River. Under the state licensing agreement, the casino is required to have a $3.5 million riverfront amphitheater.
Maybe that was just a brush stroke to make the casino's presentation look better. But then there is Sandcastle in West Homestead. It has been trying to launch a 5,500-seat riverfront amphitheater for the past two years with the concert promoter Live Nation, which had produced live outdoor shows at Station Square through 2006. (The city has been without an amphitheater since.)
I called Pete McAneny, president of Kennywood Entertainment, which operates Sandcastle, to ask what he thought about the state kicking in $4 million for an amphitheater somewhere else.
"Pretty cool if you can get it,'' he said. "I wouldn't know how to go about it, that's for sure."
SouthSide Works also will have a modest amphitheater as part of the $10.5 million riverfront park that is well under way. Federal, state and foundation grants are helping to tie the park in with the existing Southside Riverfront Park and trails, and it will include a covered stage. The music festival in a SouthSide Works parking lot last weekend, which featured Gnarls Barkley and Bob Dylan, seems a good omen.
As for nearby indoor competition, there's Duquesne University's A.J. Palumbo Center, with concert seating anywhere from 2,900 to 5,300 (and open 20 years without a state subsidy); the New Hazlett Theater in Allegheny Center (can seat 550 for concerts) and, potentially, that former porn palace, the Garden Theater on North Avenue (with roughly 800 seats, though I don't expect anyone will sit down without some assurance there are new cushions).
The Garden Theater is, of course, part of a government-sponsored revival; it cost millions just to wrest it from XXX hands. And it will be a long time before it has the allure of the riverfront.
Truth be told, I'd like nothing better than to walk from my North Side home down to an Elvis Costello concert on the riverside, but if that means taxpayers kicking in $4 million, I'd rather wait for him to come back to the Palumbo.