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Poll shows reluctance to pay for Jays
By LEON M. TUCKER
© St. Petersburg Times,
Sixty-one percent of residents say the city should not kick in anything beyond the $12-million already assembled to renovate the team's spring training facility -- even if the team may leave as a result of the decision. Dunedin Mayor Tom Anderson said the poll results do not surprise him. "I have not received a single phone call or letter suggesting that the city put any more money into this project," he said. "In view of the 9/11 disaster and the severe budget cuts the state of Florida is going through, I would feel very uncomfortable asking for more money for baseball." Twenty-four percent disagree, saying city should spend the money necessary to keep the team, which has been in town since 1977. The Times commissioned the poll as the team and the city have reached an impasse over the spring training project. The two sides last year agreed to renovate Grant Field and the Englebert Complex. But as the project was designed and construction began, the cost rose beyond the $12-million called for in the contract. Then the team asked the city to pay another $500,000, borrow $500,000 more and ask the state to contribute $1-million. The Jays have threatened to leave if the city refuses. And that's what the city has done so far, although city commissioners plan to meet on the matter at 11 a.m. Friday. The citywide telephone poll conducted from Oct. 25 through Monday revealed shallow support for the Blue Jays' position. Two-thirds of the city's residents think the team's request for the additional $2-million in public funding is unreasonable. "They had already agreed to a certain amount of money and now they want more money," said Earle Annis Jr., a six-year Dunedin resident and poll respondent. "I love sports, but too many of these sports teams do this." The scientific poll of 400 residents, conducted by Genesis Marketing Research of Tampa, has a margin of error of plus or minus five percentage points. The poll showed that although seven out of 10 residents say losing the Jays would hurt the city's economy, that concern does not translate into residents' feelings about the city's quality of life or its reputation. "I would like to see them keep the team here and spend the $2-million to do it -- with the state helping," said Barbara Bauer, who has lived in Dunedin for five years. "Living here, I see that influx of money and support to other cultural things in the area. "Besides," she added. "They've been here for so long, it's like they're part of the scenery." Among the poll's other major findings: Sixty-two percent of residents say the the city made the right choice by not asking for more state money when it had the chance last year. While almost half the city's adult residents consider themselves baseball fans, 73 percent of them don't go to Jays games. In a possible indication of the pressures brought on by the events of Sept. 11, 75 percent of residents say it is inappropriate to ask the state for an extra $1-million. "The way the world is now we certainly don't need to plow money into something like this," said Geraldine Ross, an eight-year Dunedin resident. "We are in a recession and people are out of work -- people need help, they don't need ball games." But resident Flip Donoghue, a member of the Blue Jays Booster Club, said he has attended many Blue Jays games and sees the team's presence as valuable to the city. "I'm a strong baseball fan, I believe it is an advantage to keep the Blue Jays here and I think we should do everything in our power to keep them," he said. "There may have been some errors in judgment in how we've gotten in this situation but I think it helps to have the baseball team here because it enriches the city and its culture." The Jays agree. "I don't think we're getting our story out and I think people forget what we do for the community here," said Ken Carson, director of Florida operations for the team. "It's more of a business for us, but from the city's standpoint it's an investment as well as the state, which has lost a lot of tourism -- so I think I disagree with what the fans are saying" in the poll. City officials expect to hear recommendations from the city's fiscal review board and financial advisory committee Friday concerning what to do about the contract with the Jays.
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