Tell your elected reps what you think about giving about $ 1.5 billion in the form of a public subsidy to a billionaire sports team owner so that he can move his teams across the Potomac to Alexandria.
Here's why it matters.
The Virginia General Assembly must approve any legislation to establish a sports authority that can issue bonds for this project and purchase the land at PY for the arena. Our local state representatives, including Del Charniele Herring, must be convinced to oppose this funding in the upcoming session starting in January.
There is no evidence that this project will create thousands of new jobs and billions in new revenue. Roger Noll, a Stanford economist, who has looked at the project, says the projections are an "illusion." The City's AEDP has hired consultants who have prepared economic reports that are simply not believable.
Mayor Wilson claims in his recent newsletter that there is [sic] no City or Commonwealth tax dollars being invested in the arena. But is this true?
THE REALITY: https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/12/15/capitals-wizards-potomac-yard-arena-finances-virginia-dc/
...But state and local officials acknowledged this week that Virginia would in fact make an upfront investment of $150 million to $200 million of redirected existing transportation funds, through a separate agreement between Virginia and Alexandria that has yet to be negotiated.
...The plan also calls for $106 million from Alexandria, including $56 million to cover half the cost of the concert hall. Alexandria Mayor Justin M. Wilson (D) assured residents of the nearby Del Ray neighborhood in a remote meeting this week that they would not be subsidizing a billionaire. But is that what we are doing!
... Stephanie Landrum, chief executive of the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership (AEDP), acknowledged in an interview that the city would tap existing reserves for its contribution, including funds from its capital improvement and general budgets.
... The study does not fully account for who would be on the hook for the full $1.4 billion in debt, saying that the commonwealth and Alexandria would each “backstop” $560 million of debt.
The study included no such analysis for how Alexandria, which has a capital improvement budget of $2.4 billion, would bear such an amount of borrowing should the sports authority for some reason default on its bonds.
... Another $50 million in city dollars would go to build underground parking, creating revenue that could be used to pay back debt.
In short, this arena will be financed by us all. We should not be using scarce public dollars to subsidize a billionaire sports team owner. The studies all show that these sorts of projects are not the economic engine that elected officials like Mayor Wilson are claiming.
Then there are all the "undisclosed" impacts: traffic, noise, air pollution, crime, costs associated with climate change, impact to wetlands, etc.