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by Ron Pie
“Big Lies” comes to Tempe. No, this has nothing to do with presidential or Senate elections. It’s about the Tempe Entertainment District special election proposed by Las Vegas billionaire Alex Meruelo on May 16.
He claims his Arizona Coyotes stadium project is “privately” funded, yet he’s asking for taxpayer contributions in the form of sales tax revenue, plus the authority to impose new taxes on Tempe businesses, residents and guests, as well as an unprecedented property tax Waiver of 30 years plus 8 years.
It is disappointing that some “prominent” Tempe citizens have accepted this “wagger” and I think it is tearing our community apart.
I have dedicated my life to serving Tempe families, students, children, seniors — everyone in our community. In 99% of my positions—paid, elected, and voluntary—I feel good about where we’re going and why we’re going. This is not the case here.
It is deeply disturbing to see a proposal to plunder the public coffers that support all of our communities, and it is even more disheartening to see the excesses, lies and hostility of developers and private interests fueling these proposals. We are better than this.
The Arizona Coyotes, owned by Bluebird Development owner Alex Meruelo, are the same organization kicked out of the hockey rink built by GLENDALE.
The facility has cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, and they owe millions more. Finally, Glendale took action after the billionaire failed to pay his bills.
Since the team left the arena, Glendale has made money, not lost revenue. They also put pressure on Tucson over payments at Roadrunner Arena, home of their Farm Team.
Nationally renowned financial analysis firm Dun and Bradstreet said the financial stability of Meruelo and Coyotes was highly questionable. In fact, the independent finance firm rated both entities as “high risk” of default and overall failure. In other words, their ability to deliver on the good promise made to Tempe is questionable.
Compare that to the financial analysis the Coyotes are pushing from Beacon Sports, a company that aims to facilitate stadium financing at all costs.
The project was met with skepticism from the start, as the city’s “request for proposals” appeared to have been drafted by the Meruelo group itself. Unsurprisingly, only Coyotes and Meruelo’s company, Bluebird LLC, a business registered as a “foreign entity” with the Arizona Corporation Commission, responded to bids that were handwritten for them.
In addition, the Coyotes’ attorney and lead negotiator made significant donations to council candidates’ campaigns and made other commitments, such as continued support and use of the proposed arena’s VIP suite.
Numerous well-known studies in the United States have shown that taxpayer subsidies for professional sports have little, if any, positive financial impact on the cities involved. The impact on the local economy has proven dismal.
Alan Sanderson, an economist at the University of Chicago, has observed that if the purpose of public sports stadium financing is economic growth, it is more effective to throw money from the sky at will.
The data provided by the Tempe 1st civic group has not been convincingly refuted. It is completely untrue to say that the project is entirely privately funded – if Tempe accepts this very bad deal, the hundreds of millions of dollars of public money that will go to corrupt billionaires and casino operators is irrefutable.
Perhaps the most important question is why the billionaire needs taxpayer subsidies if he expects the project to be profitable.
Unless and unless an out-of-state billionaire presents facts to refute the data presented here, and a volunteer coalition of actual Tempe residents called “Tempe1st,” we citizens of Tempe must vote no on all three votes, Negative vote, negative vote proposition.
Ron Pies is a longtime Tempe resident who has previously worked for the city in various capacities. He is a former Tempe Community Service Director and a former Kyrene Board of Management member.
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