I’m desperately trying to hash out the government sleight-of-hand that’s going on with Winston-Salem’s new taxpayer-funded baseball stadium. It’s enough to make you cross-eyed.
Earlier this week the City Council unanimously voted to swap just over $1 million in federal money slated for street improvements surrounding the stadium for the same amount in city money, which Dash owner Billy Prim can now use as he sees fit. Funny that the underlying assumption seems to be that the money is Prim’s to swap.
Today I happened to notice an interesting fact in today’s Winston-Salem Journal article on Forsyth County Commissioner Gloria Whisenhunt’s (proper) questioning of the appropriateness of maintaining the lobbying services of the Ferguson Group, which is connected to commission chairman Dave Plyler.
Never mind the fact that the commission is spending $60,000 of taxpayers’ money to lobby for — you got it right —- taxpayers’ money. Here’s what jumped out at me:
The city-county wish list that (Ferguson Group partner Leslie) Mozingo is working on includes a request for an additional $2 million in street improvements near the downtown Winston-Salem ballpark, and $20 million to build a connecting road from Martin Luther King Jr. Drive to Salem Avenue through the south end of the Piedmont Triad Research Park.
My gut reaction was to think that the $1 million in federal dollars the city was swapping was on a ‘wish list,’ meaning there’s a good chance the city would eat the $1 million it gave Prim. I think the fed money was already in the hopper, and the Ferguson Group will be lobbying for an additional $2 million for street improvements. But there’s something else I don’t understand:
Deputy City Manager Derwick Paige said, the grant did not apply to Broad Street because Broad Street originally was not one of the primary conduits to the stadium. That meant developers could not use the federal money to pay for enhancements related to Broad Street.
City officials, in a decision separate from the ballpark, had planned to spend about $2 million improving Broad Street. Development plans now call for the stadium’s main entrance to open onto Broad Street, meaning some of the city’s planned improvements are no longer necessary, said Wanda Merschel, the city-council member who represents the Northwest Ward — which includes the new ballpark.
Because developers could not use the federal grant money for Broad Street improvements, the city agreed to a trade. The city would take $1,103,240 from the federal grant money. The ballpark developers would take $1,103,240 from the city.
I read that several times, and it’s very complicated. The logical assumption is Prim would use the city money to improve Broad Street since he can’t use the fed money. Yet Merschel says some improvements to Broad Street are no longer necessary, giving Prim leeway to use the money “for work inside the stadium site.” But if the fed money isn’t designated for remaning improvements to Broad Street, then who will end up paying for them?
The way I see it, the city is looking for ways to funnel government money to stadium without looking like it’s doing so. It’s a little-known fact that Prim was talking to the city about funding the stadium’s $16 million overrun. Mayor Allen Joines said the proposal was never seriously considered, but the city knows it’s on the hook for this project, big-time. There’s no turning back.
