Tampa takes another step toward Rays stadium

A crucial bond vote for the Rays Stadium in Tampa now out of the way. What comes next? Yesterday, the city paved the way for $80 million of bonds that would go toward the $2.3 billion stadium. However, there are still several critical votes ahead for both the city and the county. And FOX 13's Evan Axelbank is here now to bring us up to date. Hey, Evan. Well, Linda, yesterday's bond vote was the latest, and it was a close call and only saved because a city councilor called in after it failed the first time and voted for it to go ahead. But that's not all. City Council has a crucial vote on October 29th for the Community Benefits Agreement. That is a binding vote that must go forward for the deal to be finalized. The Rays are promising affordable housing, minority jobs, and youth sports fields. The city must also hold votes to establish the special taxing district and to specifically direct the money that the area generates to the Rays. They also must seek a court ruling as to whether it's okay to go into debt to make the bond payments. That debt could total $60 million additional to the original loan. As for the county's much larger share of $796 million, they have a hearing on November 10th to discuss and vote on whether to use the sales tax on the project. The mayor took exception to a sentiment that was expressed by naysayers yesterday saying that it should be solely up to the supporters to adhere to the agreement. The decision has been made whether you supported it or not to bring the Rays over here. And so now as we go through these formalities, trying to be a blockade in that process, there's no success at the end of that action. So I think people just need to get on board. We're bringing the raise here. I don't think that there's anything coming up here that I would describe as a do-or-die vote. I think we are beyond the point of no return on this deal. Now, that doesn't mean that individual commissioners may not vote against certain items moving forward, but I think that we've made the definitive decision, and now we're implementing what we decided to do. The next question is when groundbreaking is going to be. Well, the mayor says she expects that in the next month. The Rays have been spending their own money thus far on making final site designs. One thing to watch here is how Councilor Vieira is replaced on Tampa City Council. He's a supporter of the project, but is resigning on November 2nd because he is running for state house. Well, the council is going to have to appoint someone to replace him, and given the 3-3 tie among remaining members, that could be a sticky and consequential fight, Linda. Oh, for sure. It'll be interesting to see what happens. All right. Evan Axelbank, thank you.