With the Atlanta City Council set to vote soon on a funding plan for a new downtown stadium, several local tax organizations, led by Common Cause of Georgia, want the council and Mayor Kasim Reed to put the proposal before the public in a referendum.
Common Cause chief William Perry said a referendum “would force those who support public funding of the new stadium to be responsive to the people of Atlanta and state their case to everyone as to why the project is worth the public investment.”
He spoke at a City Hall press conference and sent letters to council members.
Reed’s office and two council members rebuffed the idea.
Under current terms of the plan to build a new home for the Atlanta Falcons, $200 million in public money, generated through bonds backed by Atlanta’s hotel-motel tax, would go into construction. The rest of the $1 billion tab would be paid by the Falcons, the NFL and personal seat license sales.
The Falcons want a new retractable roof home to replace the Georgia Dome for the 2017 season. The stadium would be built near the Dome, which would be demolished.
“Let the people decide,” Perry said. “This is a huge decision that has not had a lot of public input.”
The city is not required to hold a referendum on the matter of how to spend the money.
Sonji Jacobs Dade, Reed’s director of communications, said critics “had ample opportunities to pursue other ways of using the hotel-motel tax dollars by asking the members of the Georgia General Assembly to sponsor legislation … There have been discssions about the stadium for more than two years and during that time they did not seek alternative avenues for using hotel-motel tax dollars.”
Councilman Michael Julian Bond wrote a letter of response to Common Cause, disagreeing with its request.
“This is a special tax with a specific use and purpose,” said Bond, who lives in the stadium area. “If we were raising taxes or asking for money, I would be more sensitive to what they are proposing. But this is an economic development decision – the kind we make around here on a routine basis.”
Perry noted that cities where two of the last three major stadiums were built, or are currently under construction – for the Dallas Cowboys and the San Francisco 49ers – held referendums. The third – for the New York Giants and New York Jets – was 100 percent privately funded.
“I don’t understand why the people of Atlanta are not being given the same chance,” Perry said.
Last week, Reed and Falcons owner Arthur Blank updated the plan to include $65 million from the team and Blank’s foundation for infrastructure costs and neighborhood projects.
The deal is still subject to City Council approval and the completion of a detailed agreement between the Falcons and the Georgia World Congress Center Authority.
“We have an opportunity to get this one right,” said Councilman C.T. Martin, who is against a referendum. “I believe that the spirit of openness and wanting to do this deal in an open, efficient and fair way for everybody involved.”
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