July 8, 200818 yr Here is a recap of the rulings yesterday from Sarah Talalay of the Sun-Sentinel: http://blogs.trb.com/sports/custom/busines...tadium_updates/ Marlins Stadium Update No. 3,710 > Posted by Sarah Talalay at 7:38 AM For those following the lawsuit filed by auto dealer Norman Braman that targets the financing of the ballpark and other Miami projects, you?ll have to wait another day for the trial to start. Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Jeri Beth Cohen delayed the trial?s start until Thursday afternoon ? rather than Wednesday morning ? to accommodate schedules. For those keeping score, Cohen also made some rulings Monday that favor the defendants in the case -- the Marlins, Miami-Dade County and the city of Miami. She upheld rulings by original judge Pedro Echarte Jr. ? who recused himself from the case last month ? that prevent the Marlins from having to open their financial books and that Braman doesn?t have standing to challenge whether the city properly advertised the meeting in which city commissioners approved the concept of funding $3 billion of city projects. Cohen also ruled the city-county plan, which seeks to expand the city?s Community Redevelopment Agencies to fund projects including a traffic tunnel to the Port of Miami and museums, is not misusing the tax dollars meant to improve areas designated as ?slum and blight.? That?s one of the main arguments of Braman?s case. However, Braman?s legal team will be allowed to argue that the concept should be put to a public referendum. And among the arguments remaining in the case are whether the county can change the form of repayment of the bonds used to fund construction of the performing arts center and move the $50 million in general obligation bond dollars voters approved in 2004 to renovate the Orange Bowl to the ballpark project. More on Thursday?. I don't have a law degree, but it seems like there isn't much legal standing left for this case. I don't see how he can possibly win the argument that they should have to put this to a public vote. Even if there is a legal reason for which to order that(which I doubt), think of the precedent that would set. It would give anyone the right to sue for a public vote on ANYTHING a city or county decides to do. That would bring local government to a standstill. Hopefully this doesn't get dragged out too long and Braman loses and goes away. Maybe some of you lawyers can expand on what these rulings mean to the case.
July 9, 200818 yr tomorrow's the big day :blink: Trial starts 1pm on Thursday. Hope its done by Friday morning
July 9, 200818 yr tomorrow's the big day :blink: Trial starts 1pm on Thursday. Hope its done by Friday morning Thank God!
July 9, 200818 yr There's a poll at the Herald website regarding the stadium/braman/etc lawsuit. Thought y'all might want to vote. http://blogs.herald.com/random_evidence/20...ns-vs-norm.html
July 9, 200818 yr There's a poll at the Herald website regarding the stadium/braman/etc lawsuit. Thought y'all might want to vote. http://blogs.herald.com/random_evidence/20...ns-vs-norm.html just voted, cant tell you which way, that wouldn't be right-ha ha. 78.8% so far is for the stadium-very scientific.
July 9, 200818 yr There's a poll at the Herald website regarding the stadium/braman/etc lawsuit. Thought y'all might want to vote. http://blogs.herald.com/random_evidence/20...ns-vs-norm.html 81.9% :o
July 9, 200818 yr Greg Cote of the Miami Herald has a really good editorial on the Braman lawsuit: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_n...ory/599483.html Braman lawsuit threatens more than Marlins stadium Posted on Wed, Jul. 09, 2008 BY GREG COTE gcote@MiamiHerald.com We are an overly litigious society whose nuisance suits and frivolous suits keep lawyers in expensive suits. Sometimes the plaintiff is a person who scalds himself with hot coffee but decides suing McDonald's for millions is nobler than cursing his own carelessness. And sometimes the plaintiff is a 75-year-old Miami multimillionaire who got rich selling cars but now wants to slam the brakes on progress. Norman Braman does a lot of good around here. Let's admit that first. He is a philanthropist whose generosity has touched education and breast-cancer research. He was instrumental in realizing a Holocaust Museum in Miami Beach. It doesn't mean he always is right, though. And it doesn't look like he is right in Braman v. Miami-Dade County, his lawsuit that goes to trial Thursday in Miami-Dade Circuit Court. Braman's effort, if successful, would derail the county's $3 billion redevelopment ''megaplan'' for Miami -- the area's long-needed and most ambitious public-works initiative in decades, one that includes a new Marlins baseball stadium. Here is local government, for all of its history of scandal and inefficiency, trying at last to think big and be big, and finally haul Miami into the 21st Century in terms of urban revitalization and renewal. And here are the Marlins, after 11 years of trying, through three ownership groups and several evolutions of county and city commissions, finally on the cusp of breaking ground on a ballpark all its own. Only to have the whole grand package jeopardized by one guy's nuisance suit. This continues Braman's dubious track record of suing over how local government spends money. In 1982, he led a campaign to defeat a city sales tax that would have renovated the Orange Bowl for the Dolphins. It was what led Joe Robbie to soon after announce he would build a stadium and move the team north. It was a harbinger of years of OB neglect that would lead to the Hurricanes also moving out and the old stadium being demolished. With that, Braman had drawn his line against public dollars for stadiums. Yet barely a decade later, in 1993, he owned the Philadelphia Eagles and offered to build a stadium only if the city would donate the land. Evidently, Braman had by then developed a moral distinction between getting public money and getting public land. In 1999, Braman helped defeat a one-cent sales tax earmarked for a $1 billion mass transit plan for Miami. Hmm. Imagine that. A car dealer fighting mass transit! No vested interest there, right? Now Braman is aiming his slingshot at big government again, but unlike the Biblical David, the little guy is no hero. He is just a rich little guy with a slingshot and a team of lawyers, slinging a lawsuit because, well -- because he can. (And perhaps because part of the Miami megaplan includes streetcars. Imagine! The car dealer is against mass transit again! What a coincidence!) This trial's judge will rule against Braman (it says here) because so much of the suit's premise is on shaky legal footing. For example, he claims the megaplan should have been subject to a public vote, and yet the courts already have ruled the county/city vote was legal and not requiring a public referendum. He also claims it is unconstitutional to pledge public credit to a private enterprise (such as a baseball team), and yet the Florida Supreme Court ruled otherwise in the 1990s, allowing $318 million in public money to build a stadium for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and explaining the expenditure would be ``substantially beneficial to the public.'' ''Beneficial to the public'' is fundamental here. This is about our civic responsibility to see the larger picture and put the public good over individual wants. A Marlins fan should support a new, 37,000-seat retractable dome stadium (even if not thrilled about the OB site in Little Havana), but even nonfans should appreciate the benefit of how a thriving big-league sports team can knit a community. Similarly, you do not need to be a connoisseur of opera or ballet to see that a performing arts center improves our overall quality of life, just as you do not need to be a parent to support better schools. This $3 billion initiative, now on trial, would rejuvenate Overtown and transform Bicentennial Park into a waterfront jewel, among many other projects. As for the new Marlins ballpark, the club would pay roughly $155 million of the $515 million cost, and the rest would come from tourists' hotel bed-tax dollars. That is a pretty painless deal for us locals, wallet-wise. So let's get out of the courtroom and into the future, shall we? Let's swat this silly trial that sits on our ambition like a mosquito. Let's get to building a better Miami.
July 10, 200818 yr Great article, already emailed him to thank him, and that picture of Braman, he looks like he could keel over and die any day lmao! :cheers
July 10, 200818 yr With all due respect to Mr. Cote, every item in his article could have been taken from all of your (everyone on this board) posts on the subject-BECAUSE WE UNDERSTAND and have understood since the beginning.
July 10, 200818 yr Greg Cote of the Miami Herald has a really good editorial on the Braman lawsuit: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_n...ory/599483.html Braman lawsuit threatens more than Marlins stadium Posted on Wed, Jul. 09, 2008 BY GREG COTE gcote@MiamiHerald.com We are an overly litigious society whose nuisance suits and frivolous suits keep lawyers in expensive suits. Sometimes the plaintiff is a person who scalds himself with hot coffee but decides suing McDonald's for millions is nobler than cursing his own carelessness. And sometimes the plaintiff is a 75-year-old Miami multimillionaire who got rich selling cars but now wants to slam the brakes on progress. Norman Braman does a lot of good around here. Let's admit that first. He is a philanthropist whose generosity has touched education and breast-cancer research. He was instrumental in realizing a Holocaust Museum in Miami Beach. It doesn't mean he always is right, though. And it doesn't look like he is right in Braman v. Miami-Dade County, his lawsuit that goes to trial Thursday in Miami-Dade Circuit Court. Braman's effort, if successful, would derail the county's $3 billion redevelopment ''megaplan'' for Miami -- the area's long-needed and most ambitious public-works initiative in decades, one that includes a new Marlins baseball stadium. Here is local government, for all of its history of scandal and inefficiency, trying at last to think big and be big, and finally haul Miami into the 21st Century in terms of urban revitalization and renewal. And here are the Marlins, after 11 years of trying, through three ownership groups and several evolutions of county and city commissions, finally on the cusp of breaking ground on a ballpark all its own. Only to have the whole grand package jeopardized by one guy's nuisance suit. This continues Braman's dubious track record of suing over how local government spends money. In 1982, he led a campaign to defeat a city sales tax that would have renovated the Orange Bowl for the Dolphins. It was what led Joe Robbie to soon after announce he would build a stadium and move the team north. It was a harbinger of years of OB neglect that would lead to the Hurricanes also moving out and the old stadium being demolished. With that, Braman had drawn his line against public dollars for stadiums. Yet barely a decade later, in 1993, he owned the Philadelphia Eagles and offered to build a stadium only if the city would donate the land. Evidently, Braman had by then developed a moral distinction between getting public money and getting public land. In 1999, Braman helped defeat a one-cent sales tax earmarked for a $1 billion mass transit plan for Miami. Hmm. Imagine that. A car dealer fighting mass transit! No vested interest there, right? Now Braman is aiming his slingshot at big government again, but unlike the Biblical David, the little guy is no hero. He is just a rich little guy with a slingshot and a team of lawyers, slinging a lawsuit because, well -- because he can. (And perhaps because part of the Miami megaplan includes streetcars. Imagine! The car dealer is against mass transit again! What a coincidence!) This trial's judge will rule against Braman (it says here) because so much of the suit's premise is on shaky legal footing. For example, he claims the megaplan should have been subject to a public vote, and yet the courts already have ruled the county/city vote was legal and not requiring a public referendum. He also claims it is unconstitutional to pledge public credit to a private enterprise (such as a baseball team), and yet the Florida Supreme Court ruled otherwise in the 1990s, allowing $318 million in public money to build a stadium for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and explaining the expenditure would be ``substantially beneficial to the public.'' ''Beneficial to the public'' is fundamental here. This is about our civic responsibility to see the larger picture and put the public good over individual wants. A Marlins fan should support a new, 37,000-seat retractable dome stadium (even if not thrilled about the OB site in Little Havana), but even nonfans should appreciate the benefit of how a thriving big-league sports team can knit a community. Similarly, you do not need to be a connoisseur of opera or ballet to see that a performing arts center improves our overall quality of life, just as you do not need to be a parent to support better schools. This $3 billion initiative, now on trial, would rejuvenate Overtown and transform Bicentennial Park into a waterfront jewel, among many other projects. As for the new Marlins ballpark, the club would pay roughly $155 million of the $515 million cost, and the rest would come from tourists' hotel bed-tax dollars. That is a pretty painless deal for us locals, wallet-wise. So let's get out of the courtroom and into the future, shall we? Let's swat this silly trial that sits on our ambition like a mosquito. Let's get to building a better Miami. Sure beats that piece of crapola David Hyde spewed out a couple of weeks ago in the Sun-Sentinel, singing the praises of Norm Braman and his wonderful lawsuit. But then again, that's David Hyde for you, never missing an opportunity to take a shot at the Marlins on any sort of subject.
July 10, 200818 yr As someone who has argued before Judge Cohen in the not too distant past, she is careful and deliberative as to the arguments of both sides. She reads all the motions and the supporting case law. She is not one to give into superficial emotional appeals. So assuming that the law is on the county's side, and their attorneys are competent in articulating their postition, I think it will end up well for the Marlins in the end. At least I hope.
July 10, 200818 yr Yeah it shouldn't take that long for the judge to realize that Bramman is just suing to prevent the cable cars to be put in place so he can sell more cars. And the obvious fact that he is the devil incarnate, but we can save that for another day.
July 10, 200818 yr So this was supposed to start at 1pm right? Does anyone know what's going on? A suprise: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_n...ory/600482.html Judge halts megaplan trial, orders settlement talks Posted on Thu, Jul. 10, 2008reprint print email Facebook Digg del.icio.us AIM BY CHARLES RABIN crabin@MiamiHerald.com The judge presiding over a lawsuit aiming to derail a new baseball stadium for the Florida Marlins opened the trial Thursday with a surprise: Ordering the parties to try to work out their dispute in mediation, and saying court won't resume until Monday. ''At this time I am ordering all the parties back in mediation,'' Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Jeri Beth Cohen told a packed courtroom at just before 1:30 Thursday. Her order may indicate that the parties -- which had scrambled Tuesday and Wednesday to broker an agreement -- may in reality be close to reaching such an accord. Auto dealer Norman Braman's lawsuit attempts to undo a new ballpark for the Marlins and a massive public works project in Miami. Representatives of Miami, Miami-Dade and Braman's legal team worked late into the night Tuesday and Wednesday with arbiter Bruce Greer to try and stave off what would likely be a spirited court battle. Those familiar with the proceedings said the last minute negotiations centered around an offer to build a community center next to the stadium and more public use of what will be a county-owned ballpark. But no closure was reached -- at least not yet. Braman is suing over what he perceives as the misuse of public funds in the building of a $515 million ballpark in Little Havana -- along with a host of projects that include a port tunnel, a park, a streetcar system and a $484 million construction debt payoff at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts that uses Community Redevelopment Agency money. City and county leaders back the plan as a needed investment in the urban core, and they have won several preliminary court battles with the wealthy businessman. Yet those same leaders are concerned Braman could drag the court proceedings on, perhaps to the point that one of the plan's architects, Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, will no longer be in office after his term runs out in 2009. Braman has threatened to take the case to the state's Supreme Court if he fails at the lower levels. This could be very good news. Avioding a drawn out trial would be ideal. The fact they are negotiating indicates to me, that Braman knows he has no case and this will give him a way to save face. Any lawyers on here have a take on this?
July 10, 200818 yr So this was supposed to start at 1pm right? Does anyone know what's going on? A suprise: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_n...ory/600482.html Judge halts megaplan trial, orders settlement talks Posted on Thu, Jul. 10, 2008reprint print email Facebook Digg del.icio.us AIM BY CHARLES RABIN crabin@MiamiHerald.com The judge presiding over a lawsuit aiming to derail a new baseball stadium for the Florida Marlins opened the trial Thursday with a surprise: Ordering the parties to try to work out their dispute in mediation, and saying court won't resume until Monday. ''At this time I am ordering all the parties back in mediation,'' Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Jeri Beth Cohen told a packed courtroom at just before 1:30 Thursday. Her order may indicate that the parties -- which had scrambled Tuesday and Wednesday to broker an agreement -- may in reality be close to reaching such an accord. Auto dealer Norman Braman's lawsuit attempts to undo a new ballpark for the Marlins and a massive public works project in Miami. Representatives of Miami, Miami-Dade and Braman's legal team worked late into the night Tuesday and Wednesday with arbiter Bruce Greer to try and stave off what would likely be a spirited court battle. Those familiar with the proceedings said the last minute negotiations centered around an offer to build a community center next to the stadium and more public use of what will be a county-owned ballpark. But no closure was reached -- at least not yet. Braman is suing over what he perceives as the misuse of public funds in the building of a $515 million ballpark in Little Havana -- along with a host of projects that include a port tunnel, a park, a streetcar system and a $484 million construction debt payoff at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts that uses Community Redevelopment Agency money. City and county leaders back the plan as a needed investment in the urban core, and they have won several preliminary court battles with the wealthy businessman. Yet those same leaders are concerned Braman could drag the court proceedings on, perhaps to the point that one of the plan's architects, Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, will no longer be in office after his term runs out in 2009. Braman has threatened to take the case to the state's Supreme Court if he fails at the lower levels. "Braman is suing over what he perceives as the misuse of public funds" WHAT!?!?!?!? :blink: What a total Jack-off this guy is.
July 10, 200818 yr I don't know what to make of it. Hopefully he drops the ballpark issue and just focuses on the other stuff. I want to see some renderings and a shovel in the ground. We need to start building now.
July 10, 200818 yr So this was supposed to start at 1pm right? Does anyone know what's going on? A suprise: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_n...ory/600482.html Judge halts megaplan trial, orders settlement talks Posted on Thu, Jul. 10, 2008reprint print email Facebook Digg del.icio.us AIM BY CHARLES RABIN crabin@MiamiHerald.com The judge presiding over a lawsuit aiming to derail a new baseball stadium for the Florida Marlins opened the trial Thursday with a surprise: Ordering the parties to try to work out their dispute in mediation, and saying court won't resume until Monday. ''At this time I am ordering all the parties back in mediation,'' Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Jeri Beth Cohen told a packed courtroom at just before 1:30 Thursday. Her order may indicate that the parties -- which had scrambled Tuesday and Wednesday to broker an agreement -- may in reality be close to reaching such an accord. Auto dealer Norman Braman's lawsuit attempts to undo a new ballpark for the Marlins and a massive public works project in Miami. Representatives of Miami, Miami-Dade and Braman's legal team worked late into the night Tuesday and Wednesday with arbiter Bruce Greer to try and stave off what would likely be a spirited court battle. Those familiar with the proceedings said the last minute negotiations centered around an offer to build a community center next to the stadium and more public use of what will be a county-owned ballpark. But no closure was reached -- at least not yet. Braman is suing over what he perceives as the misuse of public funds in the building of a $515 million ballpark in Little Havana -- along with a host of projects that include a port tunnel, a park, a streetcar system and a $484 million construction debt payoff at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts that uses Community Redevelopment Agency money. City and county leaders back the plan as a needed investment in the urban core, and they have won several preliminary court battles with the wealthy businessman. Yet those same leaders are concerned Braman could drag the court proceedings on, perhaps to the point that one of the plan's architects, Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, will no longer be in office after his term runs out in 2009. Braman has threatened to take the case to the state's Supreme Court if he fails at the lower levels. This could be very good news. Avioding a drawn out trial would be ideal. The fact they are negotiating indicates to me, that Braman knows he has no case and this will give him a way to save face. Any lawyers on here have a take on this? Ah of course, another delay.
July 10, 200818 yr This is good news that the trial won't be delayed until September. I think we should be confident that the Marlins will win, because it's happening next week and not in September like Braman wanted. Go Marlins I agree. The fact that it is all taking place in the middle of the baseball season is probably a good thing. Hopefully that wont change. What I dont understand is why have'nt the Marlins or the city mention anything about increasing tolls to fund any additional costs???? What I do understand is that the city always finds a way to make things happen when it wants things to happen. No doubt they are going to get the stadium. Regardless of who argues or disagrees. A good idea would be to do all the building now, and let time heal any wounds/pay back any debts. Who cares about debts, most people have them.Sigh. I recommend that as you get older you attempt to keep your own debt as low as you can. Time unfortunately does not heal the wounds of debt. Time does just the opposite, in fact. Any debt that you incur, unless paid off quickly, only compounds and increases with interest each year. As for where the additional money will come from in case of cost over-runs, which are a virtual certainty. It's too early to tell. Best case, the Marlins manage to sign a construction agreement that clearly lays the liability for the cost overruns on either Hunt(the construction company), or the Marlins. That's the key, a signed,sealed , and elivered contract that addresses this issue. Otherwise, the cost overruns will somehow come out of the general operating fund of the county, and that means less quality and quantity of things like schools, emergency services, hospitals. But, for now, it's best to just hope for that construction contract to be completed at the 515 million dollar figure. Thanks.
July 10, 200818 yr Honestly, a community center near the park would be nice, however plans like that never happen. A five million dollar stadium in Little Havana is the best thing since the introduction of fine Cuban cuisine.
July 10, 200818 yr You want to bang your head against a wall by the second or third paragraph :banghead but you know I've been through this and as the article indicates they've been meeting behind closed doors for a while and for all the bluster may be close to a solution without wasting the court's time. That she gave them until Monday speaks to the short leash she has them on. If I had to guess, the Marlins, County and City (and maybe even MLB in some fashion) will wind up splitting the $50 million General Obligation Bond contribution originally slated for renovations to the OB that was transferred to the new stadium project (thus completely undermining Brahman's case and eliminating any moral high ground he may try to take re: let the people vote), they push some dollars around, redraw some redevelopment boundaries and throw some money towards the PAC from another source, and everyone goes home a winner with bragging rights as to who was the victor. Frankly I would have thought as far as the $50 million goes they would have found a way around that by now anyways. The Fish are out seeking financing for their portion anyways, they can find their piece, or the whole piece if they have to and spread it out over 35 years, and MLB can come through with a promise of an All-Star game in 2001 or 12 that will generate a windfall in tax dollars and moneys spent throughout South Florida that week. It's not so much what you're going to eat for Thanksgiving as it is how you're going to carve the turkey.
July 10, 200818 yr Here is the latest AP article. Perhaps i'm reading too much into the quotes, but it seems as though Braman has softened his stance and seems to be looking for a settlement so he can save face. http://www.jacksonville.com/apnews/stories...D91R63701.shtml Thursday, July 10, 2008 Story last updated at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 10, 2008 Trial delayed for talks in Marlins stadium lawsuit By CURT ANDERSON AP Legal Affairs Writer MIAMI - A judge ordered surprise settlement talks Thursday in a lawsuit challenging a $3 billion public works financing plan that includes money for a new Florida Marlins ballpark. Before a packed courtroom expecting opening statements, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jeri Cohen said city, county and Marlins officials should try to work something out in mediation with auto dealer and opponent Norman Braman. She asked for a progress report Monday morning. "I was as surprised as all of you here," Braman told reporters after Cohen's announcement. "I have no problem with that. I think she's giving positive advice,and we'll follow it." George Burgess, the Miami-Dade County manager and a key architect of the so-called Miami "mega-plan," declined to get into details of the talks but said the goal is to avoid an expensive court fight. Attorneys involved in the talks also refused to discuss them. "Any time you can settle something without going through a long, protracted trial, that's a good thing," Burgess said. The cost-concious Marlins have tried in vain for years to win approval of a new stadium without paying for it entirely themselves. The team is currently in second place in the National League East despite having the lowest payroll in baseball, playing homes games before sparse crowds at Dolphin Stadium. Under the plan, the Marlins would begin play in 2011 in a 37,000-seat, retractable-roof stadium on the site of the just-demolished Orange Bowl in Little Havana. Total cost is $515 million, plus a $94 million adjacent parking garage. Braman, a wealthy philanthropist, art collector, auto magnate and former Philadelphia Eagles owner, claims in his lawsuit that the financing plan illegally takes money intended to cure urban blight and help the poor. In addition to the Marlins ballpark, the proposal would build a new truck tunnel to the Port of Miami, build a new museum park, begin a downtown trolley line and pay down debt for a just-opened performing arts center. All well and good, Braman says, but use of this type of redevelopment money should first be approved by voters in a referendum. City and county officials say use of the money is legitimate because each project will contribute to Miami's revitalization and create new jobs. Braman would not say Thursday if he still insists on a referendum to drop the lawsuit. "If we can resolve this in the best interests of the city, I can live with it," he said.
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.