Walking around in the Little Havana section of Miami, it's impossible to ignore the hulking steel and concrete structure that will become the new home of the (Florida) Marlins baseball team. There are so many similarities to when the Skydome was going up in Toronto. Both were supposed to revitalize their run-down neighbourhood. Both are/were millions over budget. Both feature retracting roofs --- in Toronto for the cold/rain, in Miami for the heat/rain! Both resulted in a new city taxes to finance what should have been a privately funded project. Skydome opened months late in its first year ---- see for yourself if you think this stadium will open on time this April. Although the taxpayer kicked in most of the construction costs and overruns, all operating revenues will go to the team because they are supposedly losing money!
In Toronto, the team name stayed the same but the Skydome changed names. In Miami, the building has yet to be named but the team will change their name from the Florida Marlins to the Miami Marlins. That's what the Miami taxpayers get for their $400 million.
And the neighbourhood? In Toronto, Skydome (I'll call it by its current name only when the current owner pays back the taxpayers) is now the centre of a trendy bustling area. But here in Little Havana, the locals think they'll still have to cross over to the city for their future.
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