Monday, November 22, 2004

NASCAR Shocked at Inability to Gouge Taxpayers The good people of Marysville, Washington have wised up and realized that a NASCAR track isn't worth the trouble. They were considering giving up $200 million in taxpayer-funded bonds to help build a new racetrack in Snohomish County (north of Seattle.)  But then the natives began to rebel.  People started to talk about the amount of traffic that would surge into Marysville on race days.  Fears of 30-mile traffic jams began to mount.  Locals started looking at the history of NASCAR, and at the false promises that the track would only be busy a few days a year.  But mostly, the talk was about money.  You have to understand - Snohomish County has been burned hard by the Boeing Company - shaky, sneaky, corrupt Boeing. They live and die by Boeing. They are the epitome of a yo-yo economy.  And Boeing is able to get just about anything from the state if they start making noises about leaving town.  (Which, of course, they'll never do.)  Last year the heels at Boeing got over $3 billion in taxpayer bucks and untold other gifties in order to build a new class of plane in Everett - without guaranteeing that a single new job would appear.  They pledged to keep employing the Boeing employees in Everett, but they didn't promise to create one new job.  And I think maybe the people in Snohomish County are a little tired of giving away their money with no strings attached.   Good for them.  It's about time that someone realized that just because a big sports league promises big bucks for a new sports arena, it doesn't make it true. 8:26:48 PM     comment []