Re “Taxpayers on hook for $11.25M for NFL training camp,” Free Press Feb. 22-24 edition:

For taxpayers to be on the hook for $11.25 million dollars for the Washington NFL team’s training camp is asinine. This type of taxpayer money never should have been spent while schools are crumbling and need fixing. With the meals tax going up to help our beloved schools in Richmond, this money could have been better used.

Many minority businesses do not seem to get a fair shake when the training camp is here. Many restaurants and stores say that they have a very marginal bump in sales when the team is in town.

My question is what have the citizens of Richmond gotten out of this besides a pro football team that is here for only a few weeks?

I am of the opinion if better terms cannot be renegotiated with all parties involved, we need to cut our losses and move on. This was a very costly learning experience.

Never again should anyone do a sales job without everyone being directly involved, including the citizens. It seems now the great citizens of Richmond are being asked to pay the brunt of this costly mistake. Some type of checks and balances need to be put in place to ensure this never occurs again. A diverse group of citizens need to be asked to sit at the table before a project like this moves forward because it affects all of us in the end.

To this type of mishap, I say, “Never again.”

ERNEST PARKER JR.

Richmond