ABC'S "WORLD NEWS TONIGHT" SPEAKS WITH MOYNIHAN ON BOND BILL

     The "building binge" of sports facilities was examined by
ABC's John Martin on last night's "World News Tonight." Martin
examined how tax-free bonds paying for stadiums end up costing
taxpayers millions of dollars.  U.S. Sen. Pat Moynihan (D-NY):
"The Treasury loses $50 million a year and rising, because these
are tax exempt bonds even though they are used for a private
commercial purpose."  Martin cites projects and the "lost taxes
over life of the bonds," including the Georgia Dome, where the
U.S. treasury lost $141M in taxes the life of the bond; the
Ravens new stadium, $40M; Gator Bowl, $39M.  Frank Shafroth of
the Nat'l League of Cities said, "In some cases a stadium appears
to do more to ... make a city a live, vibrant place, than
subsidizing a steel factory or a prison or something else."
Moynihan: "If you build a stadium, you don't build a school.
Indeed, you don't build 50 schools."  With nearly 40 public
sports facilities planned in the coming decade the loss to the
U.S. Treasury over 30 years could hit $1B (ABC, 10/7).