Stadium Vote

Open letter to City Council and all other civic leaders,

THE PEOPLE OF ATLANTA DO NOT WANT TO SPEND OUR TAX MONEY ON A NEW STADIUM.

Can you hear us?? We're the people who voted for you to represent our interests and opinions, NOT to do the bidding of the rich and powerful for their own gain at our expense.

You would hear us if you've had a chance to see the petitions that are circulating against the stadium; but apparently Mayor Reed has got wind of them, and is now trying to rush through a vote before they gain any more steam, because he knows very well that the stadium idea would have no chance of passing a public referendum, just as it had no chance of passing the state legislature. 

Shame on him. And shame on you if you allow him to strong-arm you into voting for this debacle.

A few weeks ago Mayor Reed promised "a big public conversation" on the stadium. We haven't had it yet. All we've heard are the deals they've put together. We haven't yet heard the public's response. Now suddenly he's trying to rush a vote. This is outrageous. It is patently obvious that he's rushing the vote because he knows the public does not want the stadium, and a public conversation will make that clear.

In Saturday's (3-16-13) paper, Duriya Farooqui says "We've heard the public."  This is either a blatant lie or a deliberate misrepresentation. If they truly have heard the public, then what they've heard is that WE DON'T WANT IT. But they choose to disregard us and push ahead anyway. They are unethical and immoral. 

The stadium proposal is just another bailout in disguise, with the public assuming the risk for a private venture, so they are guaranteed a profit and/or protection against loss, while the public gets stuck holding the bag.

If Arthur Blank and his cronies want a new stadium, fine. But let the rich guys pay for it. Not one penny of public money or public debt. There's plenty of private money in this town; let them all chip in for their stadium and their skyboxes.

The rest of us want our public funds to be spent on more important things (infrastructure, MARTA, education, fighting crime) that will TRULY attract business and long-term growth to the city.

Mayor Reed insults the intelligence of his constituency by saying it won't cost us anything. Of course it will. It would cost us the hotel-motel tax revenue that is desperately needed for more urgent city needs.

We've heard the arguments for these kinds of projects enough times before that we can recognize BS when we hear it. 

Creating jobs: Sure, you'd create temporary jobs building a stadium. But we'd rather spend our scarce public money creating those jobs repairing and maintaining our crumbling infrastructure, building mass transit, completing the BeltLine, hiring more and better teachers, improving education, and fighting crime.

Spur economic development: We've heard this enough times in the past to know it's usually overstated (except in the case of the BeltLine, which the East Side Trail is already proving to be a gold mine in the making). And anyway, economic development in the area of the proposed stadium has already been spurred by the building of the Dome and Centennial Park; there'd be little additional to be gained.

Falcons leave town: Who cares? Atlanta will be fine with or without them, but we will not be fine if we continue to allow our infrastructure, transportation, and education to deteriorate while wasting precious public money on unnecessary and unwanted projects for rich guys.

Does Atlanta value football more than education, transportation, infrastructure, and public safety? Does Atlanta want to continue heading toward Detroit?  The answer is in your hands.