Dec 13, 2007 8:18 pm US/Eastern
Agreement For Marlins Stadium Passes In Miami
Proposal Also Includes A New Downtown Tunnel & Other Improvements To The City
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
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A plane flies over the Orange Bowl during NC State homecoming game, one of the final games played at the historic stadium. Nov. 3, 2007. It may become the site for a new Marlins stadium
Bonnie Laden, CBS4
For once, a plan that both Miami-Dade and The Florida Marlins agree on might be voted on by the county, providing the Marlins with a new home at the site of the old Orange Bowl Stadium.
A new so-called global agreement was secretly hammered out between the mayor and some city commissioners only to be revealed Wednesday night. The multi-billion dollar deal would provide money for a new Marlins Stadium, a tunnel connecting truck drivers to the Port of Miami, and a museum park that would include a new art museum and a science museum.
The deal was passed in the City of Miami Commission Thursday, but now County Commissioners must approve it in order to go forward.
This is being called one of the most ambitious proposals ever to be passed in record time by the city, but some are weary of the inside politics that went on to hammer out the deal.
"I think it was a setup," said Commissioner Tomas Regalado. "I think it was one of those where you either take it or leave it. It was blackmail to city commissioners."
Regalado was the only commissioner to vote against the agreement.
Earlier this week Miami-Dade manager George Burgess delivered a plan to the team and officials of Major League Baseball Tuesday, joined by 5 county commissioners, and heard from Marlins President David Samson, for the first time, that the team would be willing to play at the site of the soon-to-be-demolished Orange Bowl if a deal can be brokered.
Burgess said the plan, which requires the Marlins to come up with $155 million for the new stadium up front, ``minimizes risk to the county.'' That amount is 3 times what the team was being asked to contribute in past proposals.
The global agreement would also include the building of a streetcar line that would travel between some of the city's busiest areas and money to bail out the struggling Miami Performing Arts Center and Parrot Jungle Island.
One commissioner is upset that a usually neglected area of Miami, continues to be so.
"I've given you all everything else," said Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones. "Let the people of Overtown get what they deserve to have. How may times do I have to say it."
A visibly distraught Spence-Jones stormed out after uttering these words.
Next week the Miami-Dade Commission will take up the issue.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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