Marlins Stadium Ready to Build, Workers Sign-Up

It was scheduled for the official construction company for the Florida Marlins new stadium to open up their application on Wednesday morning. After a line of prospective workers looking for jobs camped out at the empty lot where the Orange Bowl used to stand, that process was expedited.

The prospect of a new stadium brings the promise of new jobs - something that is at a premium in today's economy. The stadium is set to be erected for the 2012 season, which gives workers a steady job for at least three years.

The Marlins have made an effort to show some transparency in the building process and have built cameras that oversee the new stadium grounds. These cameras are viewable to the public on their site and should begin to generate traffic once the building process begins.

Baseball fans and concerned South Florida citizens should stand together in this and hope for a successful establishment of the Marlins stadium. A successful stadium could bring various entertainment, sports and other enticing spectator shows to the area. It has even been mentioned that once the stadium is built, the Miami Heat would be willing to discuss negotiations for possibly hosting a future NBA All-Star weekend - something that requires large spaces and multiple venues.

The big picture here is establishing a permanent baseball presence in Miami and expanding the use of the stadium beyond its baseball game capacities. All of these things are job-generating projects that could help stabilize the volatile South Florida economy.

Many people love to talk about the money aspect and how it is a loss for the city, but the civic and social identity aspect is usually ignored. This stadium means more than just "wasted taxpayer dollars," it means another dimension to the South Florida culture. It means another landmark in the Miami region.

Sports along with music, art and other forms of expression are the fabrics of society that bind us together. Many Miami natives can vividly remember the excitement, festivity and, most of all, the unity that two World Series titles brought to the area. With that said, maybe next time you pass by the future site of the Marlins stadium you can think about what it means to us. Our culture. Our identity. Our society.