Mall of America not a wise way to spend money

Published Friday, March 23, 2007

After fighting for years over the question of whether all Minnesota taxpayers should chip in to help pay for new professional sports stadiums in the Twin Cities, a similar fight is emerging over the Mall of America, which wants the state to help pay for an expansion project. We hope lawmakers have the good sense to tell the mall, “no, thanks.”

The Mall of America has undoubtedly been a successful tourist attraction. Its proximity to the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport has helped it draw untold numbers of visitors from other states and from abroad. And it no doubt has been good for the economy in the Twin Cities. But has the mall provided any particular benefit to Minnesota overall, especially to Greater Minnesota? We do not believe so.

A bill now before the Senate would provide more than $100 million of state money to help the mall build a parking garage, part of the mall’s plan to double its size in coming years.

Just as with the plans to build new stadiums for sports teams owned by mega-rich individuals, we question why state taxpayers should chip in their money to help the Mall of America improve its profitability.

Big state investment in for-profit ventures seldom brings any significant returns for taxpayers who foot the bill. Such “partnerships” tend to sound good, when they have been built up by the private owner’s lobbyists, but years down the road can not be shown to have paid off.

Plans for public funding of a mall expansion are in the early stages. We hope they do not move much past that point.