Baltimore is not Beijing.

We have a slightly less authoritarian one-party government than the Chinese communists. We also shouldn’t be building Olympic-priced sports facilities with public money. Certainly not facilities more expensive per person than the entire Beijing Olympics.

That’s precisely what the city and state’s overspending Democratic leadership wants to do. The Baltimore Development Corp. plans to tear down the 1st Mariner Arena and replace it with a state-of-the-art facility for $300 million. BDC wants to replace the current arena with a new one in the same spot, leaving us without a viable arena for at least three years. Oddly, planners want to tear down 1st Mariner after what is projected to be its best year ever.

That $300 million is more of a sticking point. No one knows where it will come from. Sure, the BDC wants to see the proposals before talking money, but until then, $300 million is virtual cash. It’s unlikely Baltimore will draw an NBA or even NHL franchise, so we might never find enough private money. Build it, and they will tax us to pay for at least part of it.

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The cost doesn’t sound expensive to politicians who spend dollars with no sense. But $300 million works out to $53.43 per person in Maryland, with a population of fewer than 6 million people.

Compare that with the most expensive Olympics ever — Beijing 2008. The Los Angeles Times recently claimed the games would cost an amazing $43 billion. Given the Chinese population of more than 1.3 billion, the mega-games are a bargain at just $32.33 a person. The new arena would cost almost two-thirds more per person than the entire 2008 Olympics.

State-of-the-art? It better be a work of art at that price. Maybe NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue was right, we should build a museum. That might be the only place to find the soon-to-be-homeless home team Baltimore Blast. The team loses its venue if this deal happens.

Maybe BDC should have listened to Blast owner Ed Hale. He now wants to build his own stadium, possibly in Baltimore County. That’s good urban development. Chase away your star tenant without having a better option.

The Examiner’s Andrew Cannarsa had a telling quote in an article about the arena. “It’s a risk, and everyone involved understands the risk,” said M.J. “Jay” Brodie, the BDC president who chaired the panel that recommended the existing site.

What “risk”? It’s not Brodie’s $300 million we’re talking about. We’re ultimately talking tax dollars. Not Brodie dollars.

Why use tax dollars at all? If an aging facility like 1st Mariner can make money, then a new arena should do even better. Help someone like Hale build it and keep the existing facility running until the new one is ready. That’s actual planning. Not hoop dreams.

When politicians talk about Olympic-sized spending; it’s time to tell them somebody else needs to carry the torch.

Dan Gainor can be seen each week on Friday afternoons on the new Fox Business Network. He is T. Boone Pickens’ fellow at the Media Research Center’s Business & Media Institute, a career journalist and media commentator. He can be reached at gainorcolumn@gmail.com.