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Matt Yglesias is appalled that Mike Bloomberg's office tried to trade the Yankees 250 free parking spaces in return for a snazzy luxury box with free food and lots of space. I'm sort of appalled, mainly because the Yankees are charging less than a million per box - mega-bazillionaire Mike Bloomberg wouldn't have noticed the expense. But in general, I think these sorts of perks attract a bit too much condemnation. The whole situation reminds me of something Rick Hertzberg wrote over the weekend:
The Carter people made several stupid mistakes right at the beginning of their tenure...A third mistake was to sell off the Sequoia, the Presidential yacht—another gesture of populist humility, yielding another day or two of positive press...a Presidential yacht is one of the most cost-effective items in the federal budget, because it can be used to flatter and persuade impressionable, luxury-loving, bourbon-drinking Congressmen to give their support to worthy measures, support that might otherwise have to be purchased with bridges to nowhere and the like.It's hard to believe that an audience in the Roosevelt Room would be less compelling than a ride on the yacht. But it's not hard at all to believe that the wise usage of a Yankees luxury box would prove an effective way to fete city council types and visiting dignitaries and federal officials and state assemblymen. This is only a good thing, of course, if you agree with the priorities of the mayoral administration in question. But in general, you can imagine a luxury box at Yankees stadium being a very good investment for the city, well worth the cost in public parking.
