Cuomo Lights $5 Million In Tax Money On Fire For The Super Bowl

The Daily News, Post and Times are always railing about how tax money shouldn't be wasted on municipal employees, that there are better things to spend the money on.

They mean on stuff like this:

New York taxpayers are underwriting several parties in the coming days, including picking up $500,000 of the bill for reporters to eat and drink at a Super Bowl media bash at Chelsea Piers in Manhattan on Tuesday. Taxpayers also furnished $1 million for a vehicle to drive around the metropolitan region to promote the NFL championship game between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks.

And they're paying $2.5 million for fans to "celebrate all things football" in Times Square in the coming days.

The spending comes from $5 million Gov. Andrew Cuomo secured in the state budget for the New York/New Jersey Super Bowl XLVIII Host Committee. The East Rutherford, N.J.-based committee is putting on the NFL championship game Sunday at MetLife Stadium in the Garden State.

$1 million dollars for a vehicle to drive around and promote the most-hyped sports game of the year?

What's the point of that, exactly?

Oh, and $500,000 to fete reporters at a "media bash" at Chelsea Piers on Tuesday.

How come so expensive?

Here's why:

The state's contribution will pick up the tab for a number of things aimed at driving traffic to the Manhattan region, including the media party for more than 5,000 guests, including 3,500 journalists.

Spending $100 per head, the state will corral media members at "an unprecedented platform to feature and promote New York State products purveyors and wineries" with an I Love NY taste station.

Josh Vlasto, Cuomo's chief of staff, said more than 100 vendors that make New York products will be participating in the events; several will be giving out freebies.

Oy.

Cuomo and Company claim that the Super Bowl is bringing in all this extra money to the area, so the tax money expenditures are worth it.

But NJ.com ran a story reporting that the actual economic impact on the metro area from the Super Bowl will be 75% less than what the NFL projected when they were in the process of making the deal to have NYC/NJ host the game.

The article reported that NYC would make out much better than NJ, since NYC was bearing fewer costs and many of the big spenders attending the game would be spending most of their cash in NYC and not, say, Jersey City.

And which businesses were expected to do exceedingly well from the game?

"Strip clubs tend to do well," Matheson said. "I think most of those are locally owned."

Local restaurants and limo services could also capture some of that money and keep it in the local economy.

No word on whether Cuomo is promoting NY strip clubs as part of his "I Love NY" taste station.

In any case, happy Super Bowl week, everybody!

Know that some of your hard-earned tax money is going toward promoting this crap and loading people up on free food and booze.