I am introducing an ordinance to put the C4C stadium on a ballot. We cannot and should not keep spending taxpayer dollars on an amenity. The below statement from yesterdays Council meeting explains my position. ***** Building a stadium does not fall under the role of government, but in the latest City for Champions financing plan approved by the State, $200 million in local public money would be spent on the downtown stadium. That money would come from city sales tax collections at more than 9,000 cash registers located throughout 90% of our city. The plan also has money coming from our Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority, our Southwest Downtown Urban Renewal Area and our Parking Enterprise. Building a stadium does not fall under the role of government, but City money is already being thrown at the City for Champions stadium. The initial Regional Tourism Act Application cost 75,000 taxpayer dollars. The Summit Economic data cost 45,000 taxpayer dollars. The Sky Sox survey cost 35,000 taxpayer dollars. The Mayor commissioned a Ball-Park Feasibility Study that cost 20,000 taxpayer dollars. Hogan Lovells law firm was paid 28,000 taxpayer dollars for stadium authority legal work and an additional 6,000 taxpayer dollars for other City for Champions legal work. Kutak Rock law firm will be paid 10,000 taxpayer dollars for even more City for Champions legal work. And an outrageous amount of staff time has been spent on the City for Champions stadium—again, a project for which government should have no role, and yet our roads are covered in potholes and we’re told we don’t have money to water our parks. Proponents say the State is paying for most of City for Champions. That’s simply untrue. The State’s portion, at most, would cover 19% of the cost. Mayor Bach has repeatedly said that City for Champions wasn’t his idea. He said private individuals came to him with the idea. How about we let those private individuals, then, take over the planning of the projects, instead of our City staff? And when those private individuals who contacted Mayor Bach have their City for Champions plan together, and if that plan involves the use of any public funds, they can then present the taxpayers with their complete plan. And they can then ask the taxpayers, via a public vote, whether they’d like to use public money for the City for Champions stadium. After hearing from thousands of citizens, I believe that a public vote is the only fair and equitable way to approach a project that does not fall under the role of government, but has, and will most likely continue to, reach into public wallets. For this reason, I will submit for review and discussion at the next Council work session, September 8th, a proposed draft ordinance that would place a measure on the April municipal ballot. The measure, if approved by Council for the ballot, would allow voters to decide to amend our City Charter to include a section that requires prior voter approval of any City stadium and event center. The language is very much like Section 11-70 which simply requires an honest and forthright presentation to voters of pertinent financial information before the City takes on a convention center project. Many of the very excellent reasons that prominent proponents of the 2005 convention center measure supported Charter language that overwhelmingly passed are still absolutely pertinent today. The proposed stadium measure will in no way prevent a stadium from being built, but will make clear that using public funding of any kind to do so, must first be transparently and honestly presented to voters for consideration.
Posted on: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 01:46:32 +0000
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