Cleveland food/drink entrepreneur Alan Glazen is one of the partners behind Erie Island Coffee, the ABC taverns in Ohio City and University Circle, and the XYZ Tavern in Gordon Square.
The former ad man was also one of the people who worked on passing the so-called “sin tax” in cigarettes and alcohol, which was put on the ballot and narrowly passed in 1990 to fund the Gateway Project (the Indians stadium and its next door arena) and extended in 1995 to fund a new stadium for the Browns.
Originally intended primarily to pay for the construction of the sports palaces and run out in 2015, the county has approved rushing a renewal onto the May ballot this year to lock in the funding, which we’re now being told is to pay for significant upgrades such as fancier scoreboards.
Now Glazen is advocating to slow down this runaway train, step back, and have a more extended discussion on what we’re paying for and why — and the validity of placing all the costs on taxpayers while all the revenue streams go to the team owners. He’s said that he’s come to know that some of the promises made by those behind building the stadiums were not accurate and not made in good faith. (Who can forget their dubious claim that Gateway would create “28,000 good, permanent jobs” — not construction jobs or low-paying service industry jobs?)
Glazen has started a Facebook page called It’s a Sin to start some of this conversation. It’s already gotten very lively. The page is open to anyone who wants to join the discussion, pro or con or questioning, without lobbing personal attacks at anyone who disagrees with them. That page is here.
6 Responses to “Local Entrepreneur Starts Sports Sin Tax Renewal Discussion Group”
observer
1)SIN tax passes
2) sports teams continue to lose …best hope is lose LESS and somehow get into some kind of playoffs or least Division champion
3) beer bratwurst parties and parkinglot partyfest continues…
4) Stadium food,drink prices stay steady or go up in price &/or go down in size…
5) pray money actually spent to repair whut supposed to….
6) CONTINUOUS bizarre hijinks that provide entertaino for rest of us…on the field or off….
7) THIS thing doesnt land on general taxpayers….bad enough rest of it is…
observer
THANKFULLY in meantime enough politicos and NGO nonprofits get into trouble,audited,fined,jailed,license yanked,shrunk in size &/or state takeover….which I am SURE SOME local biz leaders would love to see happen…THEY area already twiddling their thumbs waiting for the screwups and another 275 F*I agents go thru or fair city,area…
observer
IF want to get to the heart of the matter….BROWNS and maybe rest of em pander to some funky yesteryear mindset or something to do for machismo Sunday TV crew or SOMETHING and soon as can figure out that mantra be halfway home…CONSIDERING what just went thru with Great Recession and all the preceding be intereresting to see if a 1990 vote could be replicated TODAY….I tend to doubt it but never know…
WE SEEM to get THIS close via a Lebron or a ’97 Indians Playoff or whutever to intice just enough support,money,’eyeballs’ to keep all this going…this continuous ‘hope’. MAY even be halfway true…the draw of…
In grand scheme of things…NOT big tax money…Psychologically and politically it stinks but hey…IF able to drink the hardstuff which is usually pricy to begin with then HEY..
observer
SOME said scoreboards DETRACT from experience,etc. far as actual game goers…suspect lot of it is the TV ad revenue,’eyeballs’ thing but I aint a pro in this biz model….
NEVER believed twaddle bout 28K jobs….horsepock…and then SOME…
observer
Got tooo many builders,construction unions and rest of it and ANY project that comes along…supposedly ironworkers had enough or MORE then enough work to do…here and elsewhere…ARE enough bridges to other such that NEED work believe me…
observer
HOW much of THIS is pandering to the MED MART mavens is anyones guess but suspect FAIR amount of THAt is in the pile toooo…..IF iffff those numbers always trotted out there area halfway reliable. TIME will tell on THAT how THAT pans out….mixed bag…Gonna take a few yrs before dust settles and have a fair, accessible halfway honest accounting for that….NOT sure if on cusp of a whole new rising biomed revolution or if sorta missed the boat…