It appears the Minnesota Vikings stadium saga has just made it through another big hurdle, though it's done so with varying legitimate degrees of success multiple times over the last few months. Still, any progress is a good sign, as it brings with it potential to actually get something done. The Star Tribune is reporting that Minneapolis City Council's majority is now populated with stadium supporters.
Previously, Mayor R.T. Rybak had sent a letter to all members of the City Council, expressing his desire to get a majority supporting a new football stadium for the team, and has separately met with some of the members who have been outspoken against said stadium. It looks as though his hard work has paid off, and now things can get moving a little easier.
One of the major sticking points with the stadium detractors in Minneapolis has been the fact that the stadium funding could become an issue for public voting. There was language in the City's charter that suggested anything that requires above $10 million in funding, but it appears that there's ways around this, like which "fund" the city's contribution comes from.
Similar issues arose for the San Francisco 49ers and their new stadium in Santa Clara. Detractors of that stadium plan tried to bring it to a vote once the dollar amounts came out, but the public had already approved funding for the stadium over a year prior to that, when the exact dollar amount wasn't known (it still isn't). That stadium project is moving full steam ahead.
So what does this ultimately mean for the Vikings? It means that the Legislature can still take things into consideration, though they technically have passed multiple deadlines. As it stands, the Vikings already should have had their case clear one Legislative committee, and aren't eligible to get things looked at further, outside of special permissions. They should get those special permissions, which are not rare under the circumstances, but the Legislature's time is now limited, and things need to get moving immediately to see progress in 2012.
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