They received PPP and ERTC money through the pandemic. The rationale they are using is pretty weak (concern that the Phillies would abandon the team) as the Iron Pigs have been in the top three minor league teams in attendance. Most Major League teams would jump at having their AAA team here. Would be nice if we could send unused money back.
lehighvalley.org
Don's actually a good guy and spokesman for the region, but this is all political platitudes. The Iron Pigs are not leaving the area because they can't get ARP money to expand the dressing rooms. Pespi Cola Park is only 12 years old....MLB is requiring upgrades for the AAA parks. The $3 million isn't rescuing anything. MLB (and the Phillies) are not going to exit one of their best AAA markets because upgrades like these. These capital projects are usually part of the budgeting process and the fact that they draw so well, it's a pretty weak argument .“There have certainly been a lot of studies done nationally about the impact of sports stadiums,” Cunningham said. “I tend to look beyond if there’s a dollar-for-dollar payback on the economic investment, and look at what it means to the community as a cultural asset, as a place where people gather, as a place that people identify with and are proud of. Communities and cities need to build those types of things.”
Ultimately it's a balance between the harsh reality of business, profit and loss, and funding cultural undertakings. If we did all the things we would like to, we would be financially bankrupt. If we did none of those things, we would be cultural bankrupt.
There is saying in live theater, "if you want make a small fortune in theater, start with a large fortune." Stadiums tend to go the same way.
PBS39 show highlights economic impact of Lehigh Valley IronPigs
The economic and cultural impact of Coca-Cola Park and the Lehigh Valley IronPigs were the subject the PBS39 show Lehigh Valley Rising.
Do you file suit with everything you disagree with that may be in violation of the law?
Passionate? No. Just posting another example of government waste and irresponsibility.
It’s two years later and the money hasn’t been spent. I’m just asking a question as to why minor-league baseball team “needs” this money.
I understand the timing issues in many of these cases. But there has to be some solution that is better than billions of dollars of tax payer money -- a good chunk of which is already paid by folks saturated in taxes -- going towards fraud. And it is also why I understand folks are skeptic when government passes one of these massive bills that supposedly goes towards fixing a obvious problem. Like Biden's Infrastructure bill, that I know you are fond of. Count me all in on fixing roads, bridges, tunnels and the like. That's one of the things that tax payer $ should go toward. But skeptics, like me, wonder how much of that goes towards promptly addressing those issues, as opposed to handouts to favored groups (unions, green energy investments that politicians have interest in politically or even monetarily, picking "winners" versus "losers" for government contracts based on political support/favor as opposed to the best solution, etc).
I know if enough from speaking with them to know this was clearly not in the spirit purpose of AMR money.
www.pandemicoversight.gov
Lol. You’re being honest…You know there is a difference between doing something that is illegal versus something not in the spirit of the law.That's even better if you have confirmed the mismanagement.
Here ya go, here is a formal complaint for you to fill out.
Hotline | Pandemic Oversight
This isn't meant with snark. I am being 100% honest that you should fill this out if you know the people and have confirmed it was clearly not for the purposes as laid out in the bill.
Is this is the best you got?
prob golfs with these people lol. you gave him a pretty simple way to deal with a "problem" he claims upsets him. clearly he doesnt want to actually fix it. he cant do that to his buddies!
It could be worse. The money could have been sent to fix countries in South America so migrants wouldn't come to the USA. Be happy its at least being spent in your own backyard.
If you have a Wall Street Journal account, take a look at the article today on COVID-related unemployment fraud. I would post it here but don’t believe that’s allowed. $46 billion in fraud, and counting. Estimates of possibly $100 billion in total, if not more. The IG brought these issues to the Labor Department’s attention like 2 years ago, and it doesn’t seem like anything is being done to stop it in any real way. Legislation apparently that has been proposed by a group - not sure specifics - is being consistently blocked.
So having lax procedures for March - April 2020, or immediately thereafter, I get under the circumstances. Once we got into the fall 2020 and beyond this stuff should have been clamped down. Your point on the immediacy concerns is a good one - you need to get $ in unemployed folks pockets quickly. But once we get a certain amount of time outside that bubble, stuff needs to be reigned in.
If we go after them and actually recoup the ill-gotten gains, or send people to jail (or fine them) as a future deterrent, I'm on board. But the WSJ article I read made it seem as if we are basically 19+ months into the IG advising the Labor Department of this, and changes to legislation is being held up by politicians not too keen on actually addressing this wrong. Hope you are right.
