Why do taxpayers pay billions for football stadiums?

Over $7 billion in public money has financed construction and renovation of NFL football stadiums. Billionaire owners claim public investment in their private football franchises will bring an economic boom to local economies. It doesn’t. Stadiums and their upkeep wind up costing cities millions of dollars. As long as city residents crave hometown teams to worship, taxpayers are going to keep footing the bill.

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Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-rbD

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America’s Hottest City Tries to Cool Down

Phoenix, Arizona is trying to cool off. America’s hottest city is planting trees. A Vox video by Joss Fong.

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Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-xXF

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Manhattan in Two Minutes.

A two minute time-lapse reconstruction of the 400 year evolution of the Lower Manhattan skyline. Video by Myles Zhang.

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Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-xMu

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The Growth of London

The Growth of London, from the Romans to the 21st Century, visualized in a time-lapse animated map, by Ollie Bye. Music by Marten Moses.

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Big Highways Make Traffic Worse

Expanding highways doesn’t do what you think it does. A Vox video.

More:

“What’s Up With That: Building Bigger Roads Actually Makes Traffic Worse,” Adam Mann, Wired

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City Traffic: A Solution

One solution to city traffic: congestion pricing. A Vox video.

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Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-vbF

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New York City: Empire in Decline?

 

Even before the rich fled New York City during the pandemic, native New Yorker Mara Gay asked if the Big Apple has run out of big ideas. A New York Times video Op-Ed.

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Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-ui2

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US cities were segregated by design.

The 20th Century segregation of America’s cities was not a natural event, explains Richard Rothstein. Unconstitutional schemes and policies ruined cities and left minority residents to languish. We still live with the consequences.

More:

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How our Government Segregated America, Richard Rothstein, 2017.

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The World’s 10 Largest Cities, 1500-2019

The 10 largest cities in the world from 1500 to 2019, based on population (measured in multiples of thousands). A Rankings Hub video.

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Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-ugc

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Guy In Charge of Fixing Cities Admits He Hasn’t

Retired neurosurgeon and noted pyramid expert Ben Carson, President Trump’s Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, has a perfect record at HUD — he’s done absolutely nothing. HUD is also charged with enforcing the Fair Housing Act, which Dr. Carson has diagnosed as “communist.”

Ben Carson MD once worked for a living at Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore, in Maryland’s 7th Congressional District, so he could authoritatively echo President Trump’s description of that ivy-infested hellhole. Of course, he commuted to Hopkins from his palatial home in leafy Upperco, Maryland. As Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Dr. Carson has felt duty-bound to increase his own supply of housing, and has acquired additional estates in Vienna, Virginia and Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

In a move reminiscent of his own gaffe-prone 2016 campaign, Dr. Carson showed up unannounced for a press event at a Baltimore church and was miffed to be shunted into an alley. Guess that physician “God Complex” survived retirement. In any case, the Trump Administration’s dubious claims about investing in Baltimore rest on the so-called Opportunity Zone scheme, tax incentive payoffs to the developers gentrifying Charm City.

More:

“Ben Carson says as a pediatric neurosurgeon, he hesitated to send children back to ‘infested’ homes in Baltimore,” John Wagner, Washington Post

“Baltimore Church Gives Ben Carson the Boot As He Scrambles to Demonstrate What He’s Done for That City Lately,” Dara Sharif, The Root

“Ben Carson defends Trump, compares Baltimore to cancer patient,” Katy O’Donnell, Politico

“‘Not my Baltimore’: In Cummings’s district, a rich tapestry of problems and gems,” Paul Schwartzman, Washington Post

“Why your city should imitate Baltimore. (Yes, we said Baltimore.),” Philip Bane, Smart Cities Council

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Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-tx7

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

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