That’s ‘YOUR’ money their donating folks and I, as a Salt River client and entrapped customer of a monopoly, am insulted by it. Personally, I wouldn’t give two cents to attend a Super Bowl game, but that’s besides the point. The City of Glendale has trickled away millions of $’s of their tax payers hard earned monies on sporting events and venues, unfortunately that’s their problem. But I sure don’t relish the fact that a public utility is using my hard-earned cash to help finance a sporting event supported by a minority of the utility’s paying customers. Next time SRP wants to raise it’s rates, give a second thought to where the money may be spent. Gee, I wonder if it has anything to do with a SRP executive being on the Super Bowl Committee?
Barry Jones
Queen Creek
Cubs1908 posted at 3:22 pm on Tue, Jan 8, 2013.
*they're donating...
truth posted at 3:33 pm on Tue, Jan 8, 2013.
What I can't understand is why the conservative party ignores the waste of tax dollars on professional sports. Every level of government waste billions of dollars on professional sports and the tax payers receive nothing. Mesa loses $1 million dollars a year on the Cubs, Glendale lost $2 million on the last Super Bowl, England is in the hole for $15 billion on the Olympics, and not one word from the conservatives. The conservatives would fight to the death to prevent someone from receiving needed health care, or food stamps, but nothing from them about billions of dollars for millionaire sports players and their owners. It is a insult that SRP would ask for a rate increase and give a million dollars to millionaire sports players. It is a insult and immoral when SRP ask us to donate money for people who can not afford their energy bills and do this to us.
DonMey posted at 3:41 pm on Tue, Jan 8, 2013.
If they have money to throw away like this, why did they need to raise rates by 4% a few months ago?
Bluepoet posted at 3:47 pm on Tue, Jan 8, 2013.
Barry, if you really want to get even with the evil SRP, then set up a solar system for your home and/or business, and make them "buy" any excess power back from you.
Meanwhile, you may want to consider that a Super Bowl, however much a waste of time and interest it may be, generates a heck of a lot more money than it costs.
It's called community investment, and many companies and private individuals have been known to engage in this practice. You paid for your power consumption...SRP now takes its profits from selling you that service, and invests it. Hey, it costs a lot of money to run those ads and keep the PR wheels greased.
Actually SRP is one of the best public utilities out there, value-wise...just ask APS customers how much they'd like to switch to SRP....
truth posted at 4:48 pm on Tue, Jan 8, 2013.
Bluepoet, Yes it creates a lot of money for corporation welfare, for sports owners and players, hotels, resturants, ect, but not for tax payers who pay the bills. Glendale said "we can't afford another Super Bowl". Did you know a Super Bowl game has only 15 minuts of actual play time.
Did I mention the $700 billion tarp money in 2009 to head off a world depression?
DonMey posted at 4:52 pm on Tue, Jan 8, 2013.
Blue - When your landlord won't rent you an apartment without an electric bill, and you have no choice in who your provider is, advertising is an absolute waste of money.
sockratties posted at 6:23 pm on Tue, Jan 8, 2013.
If NFL owners and players had to foot the bill for building stadiums and holding events they would still do it because there's a lot of money to be made. Professional sports is an entertainment industry. They cleverly force cities and related affiliations to compete for events like Super bowls by providing concessions and freebies. SRP is in the same trap as Glendale and to some extent all cities in the area who will incur costs that may exceed tax and income offsets.
While it is not unusual for cities to make offers to lure industries, few are as blatantly obscene in their exploitations as pro sports.
Cerulean posted at 7:10 pm on Tue, Jan 8, 2013.
“SRP will provide $200,000 worth of electricity generated by solar power for the Super Bowl.”
They will put signs everywhere advertising that SRP is a clean energy company.
Most of SRP’s electrical energy comes from antiquated coal fired generating stations. Coal burning is the worst culprit in co2 and mercury pollution.
Rich posted at 8:53 pm on Tue, Jan 8, 2013.
When your government is the product of the combined wisdom of individual ignorance, its major product has to be bread and circuses. Feed them and keep them entertained. In the end the power under the system is theirs. Obamacare, entitlements, and as you point out, Superbowls. You might start to entertain the concept that the system isn't all it should be.
Dale Whiting posted at 4:37 am on Wed, Jan 9, 2013.
Boy, am I laughing now! [beam]
Dale Whiting posted at 4:37 am on Wed, Jan 9, 2013.
When I moved to the Valley of the Sun more than 35 years ago, I left St. Louis and its Cardinals behind, for good, I hoped. [beam]
Dale Whiting posted at 4:40 am on Wed, Jan 9, 2013.
I followed the LA Rams. [beam]
Dale Whiting posted at 4:40 am on Wed, Jan 9, 2013.
Then, the Cardinals moved to Phoenix and settled down in Tempe. [sad]
Dale Whiting posted at 4:41 am on Wed, Jan 9, 2013.
Eventually the Rams moved to St. Louis. In appreciation of that move, St. Louis gave the Rams what it would not give Bidwell, a new stadium. [sad]
Dale Whiting posted at 4:42 am on Wed, Jan 9, 2013.
Then, when Bidwell demanded a stadium, I suggested that rather than we raising $200 million for his new stadium, we raise $50 million and give it to him on condition that he move out of state. [beam]
Dale Whiting posted at 4:42 am on Wed, Jan 9, 2013.
But no, Glendale took the bait. St. Louis got Warner and its first Super bowl. Eventually we got St. Louis's hand me down and a Super bowl. [sad]
Dale Whiting posted at 4:43 am on Wed, Jan 9, 2013.
Now neither city has anything to brag about. Let the Super Bowl come. It's business for Glendale Municipal Airport, the best municipal airport around![beam]
Dale Whiting posted at 4:43 am on Wed, Jan 9, 2013.
Spam, spam, spam.[beam]
Arizona Willie posted at 7:54 am on Wed, Jan 9, 2013.
The same people who are NOW complaining about a business spending profits it makes producing and selling electricity on things they disagree with ( donating to the Super Bowl ) ... these same people think it is just fine to prohibit a union from spending union dues ( profits it makes representing workers just like sports agents represent their clients ) on thing some workers might not agree with.
If unions can be forced to get individual permission from each member to spend some portion of their dues on political activities, why can't corporations be required to get individual permission to spend profits on activities the customer doesn't agree with?
If that can't be done, then the requirement for unions to get each individual members permission to spend a portion of union dues on political activity MUST be removed.
It is blatant discrimination to have such a requirement placed on unions but not on business.
SRP should have to have written permission from each customer to spend a portion of the profits they receive from serving them in order to spend money on anything not directly related to producing and delivering electricity.
bubba posted at 9:52 am on Wed, Jan 9, 2013.
I think for this is the first time in these comment sections everybody here seems to agree with the core opinion of this letter.
bubba posted at 9:54 am on Wed, Jan 9, 2013.
Could this be an example of common sense winning out over ideologs ???
bubba posted at 9:58 am on Wed, Jan 9, 2013.
Correction, ideologies may be the more correct term.
Cerulean posted at 11:14 am on Wed, Jan 9, 2013.
Dale Whiting, it is good to see you laughing. [wink]
Arizona Willie posted at 9:11 am on Thu, Jan 10, 2013.
Barry Jones: If you sell someone a used car ... is the money they paid you still THEIR money?
Is the money your employer pays you still HIS money?
Does your employer tell you how to spend every dollar that he has paid you?
What would you say if he tried?
Claiming they are spending OUR money is a blatant lie. It is NOT our money anymore.
Once you pay a bill to a company -- it is the COMPANY'S money.
Once you pay your taxes -- it is the GOVERNMENTS money.
Whether or not we should have anything to say about how corporations and the government spend every dollar they receive from us is another subject.
But it raises my hackles when I see people claiming the money spent by either the government or a business is OUR money. Now if the government or a business insisted your write a check to the Super Bowl to help them pay for it ... then it WOULD BE " our " money. But if a union spends union dues on political work or a company spends money supporting the Super Bowl or the Government puts in a highway that you don't think is needed, they are spending THEIR money ... not ours.
It is no more our money than your salary belongs to your employer.
You have no more right to dictate what is done with it than your employer has to tell you to buy Cheerios for breakfast with HIS money.
Rich posted at 9:09 pm on Thu, Jan 10, 2013.
While agree with you Willie, when someone I have to pay, who is supposed to be regulated blows a wad on frivolity, who do I blame? The government says they regulate them, so where did this frivolity come from? Just further proof that your government is organized crime, and asking them to anything more than they already do is kind of like renting a burglar your spare bedroom.
Arizona Willie posted at 7:46 am on Fri, Jan 11, 2013.
Rich, companies spending THEIR money on " frivolities " is usually covered under ' promotional expenses '. However, companies like SRP who have a monopoly should not be allowed to charge off ' promotional expenses '. There is absolutely no need for them to advertise because people and companies in their domain have no < realistic > choice but to purchase from SRP or APS, as the case may be.
But, just how does the " government " benefit from SRP donating to the Super Bowl?
Republicans ( and you seem to be one ) are always claiming the government regulations " stifle " business and should be eliminated.
Yet here you are, complaining that Government regulation is not strict enough.
Turn in your Republican Club secret decoder ring.
You just became a Democrat.
Rich posted at 9:43 pm on Fri, Jan 11, 2013.
Willie,
Just to get past your ridiculous prejudices, I am a registered "Whig", a book I wrote on George Jean Nathan and H.L. Mencken is used heavily by Libertarians, which is a ridiculous political movement in that individuals can not be a party. Government should do what it can, and leave alone what it can't. The bureaucratic system can handle about 15% of the GDP, when they become more, they become crooks, leeches and counter productive. When this happens, if it's hard, and can become unpopular, they step away. Don't do what they can, and then create a killing field out of a school with absurd signs that say 'gun free zone' Democrat? No. Not a member of La Cosa Nostra either. Though I will admit to believing members of the mafia are better people than Democrats, at least that is my experience.
sockratties posted at 10:02 am on Sat, Jan 12, 2013.
Last year SRP spent $4.2 million and APS spent $3.2 million on advertizing. It's like watching USPS ads on TV. At least the postal service can say it competes with UPS and FedX. SRP and APS are monopolies. You don't have a choice. They say they're spending the money to convince people to use power responsibly. We have to take their word for that.