TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 The Tampa City Council has approved its share of funding for a new Tampa Bay Rays ballpark.<\/p>\n
In a 4-3 vote on Thursday at City Hall, the council approved its $80 million portion of funding in the team\u2019s $2.3 billion stadium and entertainment district at the Hillsborough College site on Dale Mabry Highway. The council made the vote at 6 p.m.<\/p>\n
Alan Clendenin, Naya Young, Luis Viera and Bill Carlson voted yes. Carlson had previously said he was a “no” vote but now says he likes the terms of the current deal versus the original proposal.<\/p>\n
Charlie Miranda, Guido Maniscalco and Lynn Hurtak voted no.<\/p>\n
“I want to thank our City Council members who voted today to move this transformational project forward. They recognized an extraordinary opportunity to secure the Rays’ future in Tampa and advance a development that will create jobs, spur investment, and deliver lasting benefits for our community,\u201d said Tampa Mayor Jane Castor.<\/p>\n
In a statement sent about an hour after the vote, the Rays said:\u00a0\u201cToday\u2019s affirmative vote by the Tampa City Council is incredible news for the entire Tampa Bay community. The Tampa Bay Rays are grateful for the leadership and support of the City Council members to approve an investment that, when accompanied by the private funding guaranteed by the Rays, will secure the future of Major League Baseball in Tampa Bay while creating a landmark destination neighborhood that will serve our region for generations. We look forward to tomorrow\u2019s Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners meeting and the opportunity to continue advancing a project that will deliver lasting benefits for the Tampa Bay region.\u201d<\/p>\n
The city\u2019s approval now hands the ball to the county commission.<\/p>\n
On Friday, commissioners will have their own vote.<\/p>\n
An approval there will set funding in place for the project and move toward the construction phase.<\/p>\n
Team officials have continuously said they want to be in the new facility in time for the 2029 season.<\/p>\n
The city is set to provide $80 million in funding, with Hillsborough set to contribute $796 million.<\/p>\n
The project funding is expected to break down as such (according to numbers released by the Rays):<\/p>\n
The Rays would contribute more than $1.3 billion.
\n$360 million would come from county Community Investment Tax funds.
\n$303 million in Tourist Development Tax bonds and reserves would be used.
\nAnd another $103 million would be paid for through other county resources.
\nTampa would contribute $80 million, and the remaining amount would be drawn from other public funds and investment earnings, and federal funds.<\/p>\n
A public comment period during Thursday\u2019s meeting lasted more than two hours, with dozens of people speaking who were pretty evenly divided.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs taxpayers, we do not want our money going to fund a billionaire\u2019s pet project,\u201d said one resident, Carmen Edmonds of Tampa.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a deal you\u2019ve got to get done. It\u2019s a must-get done. It\u2019s for the jobs. It\u2019s for the community,\u201d said another Tampa resident, Todd Simi.<\/p>\n
\u201cI say no to investing any taxpayer\u2019s money on this project,\u201d said Tampa resident Pam Canella.<\/p>\n
\u201cBetween St. Pete and over here, people have been trying to work this out. I think now is the time to do it,\u201d said Michelle Dyson of Tampa.<\/p>\n
Councilman Miranda had the most pointed remarks against the deal, stating that the Rays deal makes the city a pass-through for loaning and money and says it shortchanges taxpayers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 The Tampa City Council has approved its share of funding for a new Tampa Bay…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":384460,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[274,558,770,28,2287,115,139,29208,275,135,137,136,278],"class_list":["post-384459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-app-top-stories","tag-business","tag-community-news","tag-florida","tag-local-politics","tag-news","tag-orlando","tag-rays-stadium","tag-spectrum-news-staff","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/384460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}