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Play ball? Locals say pitch for stadium is ill-advised By Sean Wolfe Ashland Daily Tidings With education, state law enforcement, and health and human services facing tough economic times, a move to fund a new major league baseball stadium in Oregon is drawing fire and ire from Ashlanders. Following the passage of a proposal by a committee in the House earlier this week - a measure which now moves to the full House for a vote - Oregon would appear closer than ever to coming up with a financing plan to woo the Montreal Expos to Portland. But with schools closing in Ashland, most of the locals interviewed were asking why the Legislature was devoting time to building stadiums. "I think the way sports teams are, it should be a city thing. You never hear about the Illinois Bulls. It's the Chicago Bulls. It's not the Wisconsin Packers. It's the Green Bay Packers," noted Dan Rockwell, a math major at Southern Oregon University. "So the money should come from the city, and not the state. That way the taxes just hurt the city population, not the state population," Rockwell said. Under the stadium proposal, $150 million in bonds would be issued and guaranteed by a quasi-public body. That body could consist of a single wealthy individual, a city government willing to back the bonds, or some combination of the two. However, it would fall to the state to collect the income taxes from the players and funnel the money to the public body to pay off the stadium. Should the state ever lower its income tax rate, that would mean less money would be collected from the players. It would then fall to the state to make up the difference in bond repayments. That potential liability upsets Ashland graphic designer Mike Lee. "This thing is like the proposal for a state tartan. There's all these bills that serve no one - they're just ego-poppers for the (representatives.) The idea that baseball is going to restore the state economy is wrong-headed. How about textbooks for kids? How about food for some people? You have to wonder what world (legislators) think they're living in," Lee said. Two years ago, a stadium proposal using bonds issued from the Oregon Lottery managed to pass the House before dying in the Senate. Sen. Lenn Hannon, R-Ashland, was outspoken in his effort to spike that bill when he was co-chair of the Joint Ways and Means Committee. Hannon's opposition to similar bills hasn't faded, and he recently argued that all income taxes, even from future players, should be used for state services. Gov. Ted Kulongoski, a self-proclaimed baseball fan, has said he supports bringing a team to Portland. But he has yet to speak directly about the proposal. Ashlander Bob Davis, a former advertising executive, questioned whether Oregonians would turn out in sufficient numbers to justify erecting a stadium. "I'm wondering if Portland could even support it. To fill the Rose Garden with 15,000 fans for a Blazer game is a given. But baseball needs 35,000 seats. I don't know if the state has that many people," Davis said. "On the positive side, the local draw might be around 20,000 - which is better than a lot of cities can do. And the area is hungry for it, but I'm not sure fans will be loyal enough to support it. I'm also not sure that the salaries and the pricing are going to be such that once it gets going it's going to be able to support itself," he said. To support the stadium, the current proposal before the House stipulates that the rest of the money for the $350 million stadium would come from private financing, probably from the team owner, hotel and rental car taxes, property taxes and future ticket sales. James Olson, a stonemason and a father, said education should be the Legislature's first priority. "We are taxed more for education more than most states. I think we're like fourth in the nation in terms of what we pay. But what we spend in the classroom comes out to be around forty-third in the nation. Something's wrong with the way we spend money in this state. We're too top-heavy," Olson said. Olson's views were echoed by Jane Almquist, who has owned Evo's Java House for the past seven years. "When I'm driving down Siskiyou with kids in the car, they ask why we have the money to dig up the streets, and can't keep schools open. It's like the 'Emporer's New Clothes.' The kids don't miss a thing," Almquist said, adding the Legislature appears to be losing touch with what ordinary citizens will support. " I don't think people have a real understanding of what working people in this state and in this town are really about, and really do want to fund. The Legislature needs to devote its attention to the basic needs of the people." 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