POLITICAL AND $$ ISSUES MAY PUSH BACK PLANS ON FISH BALLPARK

          The Marlins' "timetable to pick" a $400M stadium site
     has "quietly slipped to middle or late" January as the team
     "tries to defuse political and financial problems that
     threaten the project," according to Charles Elmore of the
     PALM BEACH POST, who reports that to "play in a new"
     ballpark by 2003, the team "needs a plan in place" by March
     7, 2000 to get FL legislative approval, followed by a fall
     referendum before local voters.  Elmore writes that the
     Marlins are "proposing tourist taxes" to pay for 80% of the
     stadium, but hotels and rental-car agencies are "fighting
     the idea" (PALM BEACH POST, 11/24).
          LUXURY OR NECESSITY? Ft. Lauderdale Vice Mayor Carlton
     Moore writes an Op-Ed in today's MIAMI HERALD and asks,
     "Where does a baseball stadium stand in Fort Lauderdale's
     hierarchy of needs?"  Moore: "Would $400 million be better
     spent as an investment in business, housing, schools and the
     people of our community or for the entertainment of 45,000
     fans?  That is the question" (MIAMI HERALD, 11/24).