Stadium and Art projects await mayor

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/9903440.htm

Stadium and arts projects await mayor

Miami-Dade's new mayor will have to contend with at least three big-ticket public-private projects -- a baseball stadium, a museum complex and the performing arts center -- when he takes office.

By ANDRES VIGLUCCI

aviglucci@herald.com

Should Miami-Dade County invest $100 million in a new major-league baseball stadium? Ante up $275 million in bond money to help build a pair of new waterfront museums? And what about the Performing Arts Center, plagued by delays and overruns -- can the county keep a lid on costs and finish it by 2006?

Call these the $700 million questions. That's how much county tax money might be tied up in three big, complex and controversial civic projects by the time the next mayor of Miami-Dade County takes office -- be it former police Director Carlos Alvarez or two-term Miami-Dade Commissioner Jimmy Morales.

The new mayor will have to grapple not just with the future of Miami's baseball team, but also the fate of long-sought cultural projects with the potential to revitalize downtown, generate new tourism and, if proponents are to be believed, secure the city's place on the short list of great world cities.

In principle, both candidates support the idea of public investment in private projects like the PAC, so long as there is a clear public benefit. Both agree the PAC, despite its troubles, will prove to be a community jewel and must be completed.

But they have opposing views on the proposed Museum Park and the new Florida Marlins stadium. Morales backs a proposed bond issue on the Nov. 2 ballot that would help build the museums, while Alvarez says other needs should take precedence.

Alvarez favors public financing for the Marlins stadium, considered critical to keeping the team in Miami, while Morales opposes it. The $100 million public-financing deal was approved earlier this year by the Miami-Dade Commission, and it's unclear whether Morales could rescind or scale it back if elected.

WEIGHING IN

While many decisions on those projects will be made by the County Commission and, in the case of the stadium and the proposed Museum Park, by the city of Miami, the county mayor can weigh in on details of planning and financing that could spell success or failure for the projects.

The three key projects are:

• The Marlins stadium. The county would tap tourism taxes to cover about a third of the $367 million cost. The county would own the stadium, to be built on city-owned land next to the Orange Bowl, and the Marlins would run it. To complete financing, the Marlins must obtain a $30 million tax break from the Florida Legislature.

• Two new buildings for the Miami Art Museum and the Miami Museum of Science in city-owned Bicentennial Park. If Miami-Dade voters approve a $550 million bond issue for libraries and cultural facilities, taxpayers would provide $100 million toward construction of the $175 million art museum and $175 million toward the $267 million science museum. Museum backers would raise the balance -- as well as substantial endowment funds to help cover operating costs -- from private donors.

A city of Miami resolution granted each museum four acres of the 29-acre park, plus the right to four more acres each for outdoor exhibits like a sculpture garden.

• The Performing Arts Center, now under construction just north of downtown Miami, which is $67.7 million over budget and 20 months behind schedule. All but $80 million of the current $412 million cost of the center's dual opera and concert halls is public money.

A plan approved earlier this year by the Miami-Dade County Commission, which Morales voted for, covered overruns and brought in high-priced consultants to take over management of construction from the county.

County officials and museum proponents fret the PAC's well-publicized problems might turn the public against such public/private ventures.

County officials and stadium and museum backers are applying some lessons from the PAC experience, hoping that will allay taxpayers' concerns.

The Marlins and the art and science museums have pledged not to ask for more public money if project costs balloon.

Almost certainly, neither the stadium nor the museums will happen without substantial public money.

Stadium proponents say the team is likely to leave for another city willing to pony up if it can't get public financing. To lure the Expos from Montreal, for instance, Washington, D.C., agreed to a publicly subsidized $440 million stadium.

The Marlins say baseball generates tangible and intangible benefits, boosting a city's profile and attracting thousands of fans who support local businesses.

IMPORTANT EXPOSURE

''Baseball provides local, national and international exposure you just can't measure,'' said Marlins president David Samson. ``It creates excitement, makes that area a destination 85 times a year.''

But opponents of the ballpark say the Marlins and county officials have failed to spell out any public benefits.

Experts say publicly subsidized sports facilities rarely bring significant economic benefits to an area unless they are part of a broader development plan, and Marlins critics note there isn't one for the proposed East Little Havana site.

''There's nothing else there,'' said former Miami mayor and unsuccessful county mayor candidate Maurice Ferr?.

``Show me one stadium that has been an economic driver anywhere in America. There isn't one.''

PAC and museum backers, on the other hand, contend cultural centers have helped regenerate urban centers around the world, drawing throngs of visitors to places as disparate as Cincinnati and Bilbao, Spain.

Proponents say Miami, like other young U.S. cities, lacks a tradition of private giving -- but public investment can act as a spur for it.

`NOT FAIR'

''Sure, we could wait another two or three generations, but that's not fair,'' said Michael Spring, the county's cultural affairs director.

``Government can play a role of catalyst, make deals with the private sector and build great facilities.''

But some critics say the public shouldn't be asked to shell out tax money for museums they contend will consume too much precious park land and serve a narrow slice of the population.

''I see a lot of this money going to elitist organizations, from my perspective. I see all this park land going away,'' said Greg Bush, an activist and University of Miami professor who has criticized the proposed size of the museums. ``I think it's really important to stand up for this last open space in downtown Miami.''

Art museum backers say they will respect open space.

The sculpture garden would be free to the public and integrated into the park, and the museum also promises public planning sessions on park and building designs.

''We want broad public input. We want a beautiful park,'' said MAM director Suzanne Delehanty.

``If the park isn't beautiful, the museum fails.''