BTW, I don't see a need to label any opinion on either side ignorant, I thought that wasn't allowed here? Just because someone doesn't agree with your view doesn't mean their opinion is wrong.
Sorry, but the term "ignorant" is NOT a derogatory label. Unfortunately, some folks, perhaps you, believe it is a synonym for "stupid" which it ain't. It refers to someone's lack of information or education on a subject. And, as I said, that's the fault of those that lead this charge to get a new arena approved. Ignorance also does not equate with being right or wrong. There IS no right or wrong here, merely folks from all walks expressing opinions about what is best for them and the community....their own perceptions of right and wrong.
I happen to believe that the majority of the Sacramento public has formed an opinion about this whole new arena situation WITHOUT adequate education and the complete, accurate picture about its true needs, true community benefits, and simply about what it will BE. That's ignorance brought on by those in charge.
True, maybe those in charge never worked up enough details to feed us adequately and got caught up bickering about something for which each had totally different concepts of time, place, fianancing, etc. Nevertheless, the vision, the why, the benefits (regardless of price and who pays), the reality of dire need as opposed to something that would be nice to do, the risk to the community if not done (again regardless of price), the risk to the economy if not done, and the future image of the city (and resulting impacts) if not done -- all these things could have already been flushed out for the public had our leaders had their collective acts together.
Last night they were talking about the Arena on 1140 and I would say 90% of the Callers (rough guess) said they wouldn't support any general sales tax. These are Kings Fans, calling into the Kings Station, that is not a good thing.
If what is being bandied about is true about a 1/4% sales tax increase, have any of those opposed evaluated their personal cost if such a thing kicked in? Did they stop and think how much they would pay at 8.00% in the County as opposed to 7.75%? I doubt it seriously. They think "new" tax and think enormous sums of money flying from their pockets. Stop and think about what your annual salary is, what % of that goes to TAXABLE goods and services purchased, then divide that by 100 and then again by 4 and you get your ANNUAL additional outlay.
If you spend $20,000 a year on taxable goods and services, then your outlay is $50 per annum. If it's $40,000 per year, then it's $100. etc etc etc. If it's more than that, then you're VERY well off.
Yes, indeed, this will also place some eventual pressure on new home prices, rental prices, and even insurance costs, things that do not have a sales tax attached to them per se, but so be it. There are tradeoffs of community and personal benefits and financial worth increases to be considered that will need to be brought forward.
Maybe the County gazillionaires are pissed, but I'm not.
The Maloofs and CO have 2.5 months after/if they get a measure on the ballot to
A) Convince the Voters we need a new arena
B) Convince the Voters to pay 70-75% with public funds
C) Show the voters how this will lead to further growth and put additional money in our city.
A) is the greatest need and what I have been harping about for a long, long time.
B) is not etched in any granite from any player in the negotiations, as far as I have read. It remains to be seen and is conjecture at this point as to what each side will agree to try to burden.
C) is the easiest one to accomplish.
Not only convince, but change the majority opinion. One problem is they are asking for a tax increase on people that don't use the arena. Right or wrong as far as what money gets back to the city, this is how these people/business see it.
Wrong IMHO. I live in SAC County (barely) but I favor both a County and regional support structure (spanning outside the County but much less from outside the County but nearby). It doesn't matter if a Rocklin resident doesn't use the new arena. Where does she/he make a living? Why does Rocklin exist?
What % of the Yuba City population makes their living in Sacramento County?
Davis? West SAC? El Dorado Hills? Auburn?
Naturally, these cities will not likely accept any financial responsibility for community enhancements in downtown SAC, even though the economic vitality of SAC represents those communities' lifebloods and they would drastically downturn if something happened to Sacramento.
So I say, simple ... special tax them over and above County residents for whatever they get from or use in SAC in terms of big ticket items: wages, concerts, Kings games, RiverCats games, purchasing cars, renting cars, acquiring building supplies, and maybe even buying major electronics. Then they can't complain, because they only get taxed on what they get and take from the community.
Bet they'd LOVE that, eh???
Too bad it's too difficult to special tax them on dining, small retail stores, and every small ticket item. I'd do it.
How's that for radical thought???
I gotta feeling that someone out there in KF Land might respond to this.
