http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/25946.html
African American and Latino leaders oppose Kings arena-funding measure
By Dorothy Korber - Bee Staff Writer
Last Updated 5:17 pm PDT Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Several leaders from Sacramento's black and Latino communities spoke out strongly Tuesday against the proposed quarter-cent sales tax to finance construction of a new basketball arena in the downtown railyard.
"You're asking people who could never afford to go to a game - people who can't even afford to go to the parking lot - to subsidize a new arena for the Sacramento Kings," said Betty Williams, president of the Sacramento branch of the NAACP. "Yet every time they go to the grocery store and buy a light bulb, they'll be helping to pay for that arena."
The half-dozen speakers, talking at a press conference at Caesar Chavez Plaza, emphasized a single message: Money raised by such a tax hike could be better spent on schools, crime, flood protection, health care and other social needs.
But Douglas Elmets, a spokesman for the pro-arena campaign, said Williams and the other speakers are missing the point.
"To be quite candid, that is a view that the sky is falling," Elmets said in an interview Tuesday. "It is shortsighted. We're talking about a cost to taxpayers equal to about the cost of a cup of coffee a month. Everyone would benefit from a revitalized downtown. But their vision is to take Sacramento backward."
Under the arena proposal, which goes before county voters in November, half of the $1.2 billion in tax proceeds would be spent on building a new home for the Sacramento Kings. The rest would be earmarked for community projects across Sacramento County.
But the $600 million for the community would not be available for at least seven years, noted Rebecca Sandoval of the local council of the League of United Latin American Citizens.
"With the serious issues facing this town, seven years is a long time to wait," Sandoval said. She called the two arena-linked measures on the November ballot, Measures Q and R, a bad deal for Sacramentans.
Elmets countered that cities would not have to wait till the arena is completed to spend their share of the tax revenues. "That money would be available the very first year," Elmets said, "if a city decided to borrow against its future revenue.
The tax opponents also insisted that taxpayers should not be shouldering this expense on behalf of a private enterprise, the Sacramento Kings and their owners, the Maloof family.
"At the end of the day, this not about a building, it is about enriching a sports franchise," said Grantland Johnson, a labor lobbyist.
Elmets and other supporters of the tax say that a new Kings arena would be the linchpin in revitalizing downtown Sacramento, turning the mostly vacant railyard into a lively entertainment complex.
African American and Latino leaders oppose Kings arena-funding measure
By Dorothy Korber - Bee Staff Writer
Last Updated 5:17 pm PDT Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Several leaders from Sacramento's black and Latino communities spoke out strongly Tuesday against the proposed quarter-cent sales tax to finance construction of a new basketball arena in the downtown railyard.
"You're asking people who could never afford to go to a game - people who can't even afford to go to the parking lot - to subsidize a new arena for the Sacramento Kings," said Betty Williams, president of the Sacramento branch of the NAACP. "Yet every time they go to the grocery store and buy a light bulb, they'll be helping to pay for that arena."
The half-dozen speakers, talking at a press conference at Caesar Chavez Plaza, emphasized a single message: Money raised by such a tax hike could be better spent on schools, crime, flood protection, health care and other social needs.
But Douglas Elmets, a spokesman for the pro-arena campaign, said Williams and the other speakers are missing the point.
"To be quite candid, that is a view that the sky is falling," Elmets said in an interview Tuesday. "It is shortsighted. We're talking about a cost to taxpayers equal to about the cost of a cup of coffee a month. Everyone would benefit from a revitalized downtown. But their vision is to take Sacramento backward."
Under the arena proposal, which goes before county voters in November, half of the $1.2 billion in tax proceeds would be spent on building a new home for the Sacramento Kings. The rest would be earmarked for community projects across Sacramento County.
But the $600 million for the community would not be available for at least seven years, noted Rebecca Sandoval of the local council of the League of United Latin American Citizens.
"With the serious issues facing this town, seven years is a long time to wait," Sandoval said. She called the two arena-linked measures on the November ballot, Measures Q and R, a bad deal for Sacramentans.
Elmets countered that cities would not have to wait till the arena is completed to spend their share of the tax revenues. "That money would be available the very first year," Elmets said, "if a city decided to borrow against its future revenue.
The tax opponents also insisted that taxpayers should not be shouldering this expense on behalf of a private enterprise, the Sacramento Kings and their owners, the Maloof family.
"At the end of the day, this not about a building, it is about enriching a sports franchise," said Grantland Johnson, a labor lobbyist.
Elmets and other supporters of the tax say that a new Kings arena would be the linchpin in revitalizing downtown Sacramento, turning the mostly vacant railyard into a lively entertainment complex.
