Our View - Tuesday

USOC: GOLD MEDAL ECONOMIC PLAN
A public-private partnership that makes sense

Colorado Springs has won the Olympics, and the city should be proud. After months of competition from other cities that were courting the United States Olympic Committee - a gold medal of economic development - the organization has chosen to stay in Colorado Springs.

Athletes and their families like it here, and the USOC belongs in Colorado Springs for obvious reasons. The sun shines more than 300 days a year. The altitude and natural terrain give athletes a competitive training advantage. Chicago, by contrast, offers cold, wet, windy weather and a busy urban atmosphere.

In the old days, the natural amenities of Colorado Springs were enough. But not today, in an era that has local governments writing checks, at the peril of taxpayers, to outright buy the favor of private organizations that come with prestige and payrolls. When Boeing considered moving its headquarters to Denver in 2000, Chicago won the company's favor with bigger financial incentives. And when the USOC indicated a need for newer and bigger facilities, Chicago offered it all plus the moon and the sky. Several other cities also tried to buy the committee's favor, and Colorado Springs ended up as one of three locations under consideration.

It was a dilemma for the Springs, a city that's attractive to families and businesses precisely because it doesn't raise taxes to buy every shiny promise that comes down the pike. We seldom put taxpayers on the line for economic development ventures that are too risky for private enterprise alone. We've said no to convention centers, run-of-the-mill sports arenas, and pie-in-thesky mass transit proposals. Yet we've grown like few other cities in the West, with a low cost of living and minimal tax burden that's attractive to businesses and families.

The USOC, however, isn't any old economic development scam. It's not a commercial sports franchise, or another surplus expo center/hotel that's supposed to save the day. It's one of a kind, it's genuine, and its value is known to Colorado Springs and the world. It's a nonprofit with a track record of representing the United States in its finest light. The organization, along with related amateur sports entities, employs about 400 in the Springs. It brings hundreds of athletes and their families to town year 'round. Economist Dave Bamberger estimates the USOC and Olympic-related sports groups bring $316 million a year to the local economy.

Billionaire owners of for-profit sports franchises have, amazingly, managed to dupe cities into building their stadiums and arenas with tax dollars. Unlike a sports franchise, the USOC can't survive without philanthropy. In need of new and bigger facilities, to fulfill the needs of America's best athletes, the organization legitimately needed assistance.

The committee's request was reasonable, and officials in the Springs were eager to help. The committee needed more office space and new residences for athletes. Dozens of cities were willing to write a check.

In Colorado Springs, however, a public-private partnership worked together to provide for the USOC without raising taxes or raiding Peter to pay Paul. Thanks to private donations and ongoing fundraising efforts, a city, state and private partnership has put together a $53 million incentives package that will meet the USOC's needs and keep the organization here. Under a package approved by the City Council on Monday, a nonprofit will borrow $21 million with certificates of participation that will be sold to investors. The money will buy five stories of a building that will be renovated downtown to provide office space. Massive renovation of the U.S. Olympic Complex, on the USOC's 34-acre campus on Boulder Street, will include new housing for athletes.

The incentives package represents what City Hall, private philanthropy and a business community can do by working together toward a common good cause in a city that eschews buying corporate favor. The incentives package is a textbook model of economic development that involves out-of-the-box thinking and respect for the interest of taxpayers.

Any City, USA, can write a check to woo businesses and white elephant arenas in the name of "economic development." Only a special place - a city with discerning values, tastes, and conservative fiscal policy - gets to house the Olympic committee of the greatest country on earth.

ADOLF HITLER MEMORIAL PARK

Imagine the Statue of Tyranny in New York harbor, staring down the Statue of Liberty. It could feature the face of Adolf Hitler, or Pol Pot.
Or how about a reverent statue of Osama bin Laden as part of New York City's World Trade Center Memorial?

All would be likely if the Supreme Court of the United States somehow upholds a bizarre interpretation of the First Amendment by Denver's 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The appellate court ruled in favor of forcing the Utah cities of Pleasant Grove City and Duchesne City to facilitate monuments on city property that contain the "Seven Aphorisms," beliefs of an organization called the Summum. The alternative was for the cities to remove all other monuments, such as those quoting the Ten Commandments. The judges obviously ignored constitutional law, probably in order to look progressive.

The First Amendment forces government neutrality toward private speech, preventing censorship. It prevents Congress from establishing an official religion, but it does not prevent government expression. If it does, then governments break the law with manger scenes at City Hall, and by flying the American flag - for some, a highly controversial symbol. The federal government breaks the law by honoring Holocaust victims with a memorial on federal land, neglecting to honor Hitler, who loathed religion.

Governments have free speech, and typically express majority values - such as "liberty good" and "Holocaust bad." If we force neutrality on government speech, prepare for memorials to anything imaginable.