Health & Fitness
New Falcons stadium depends on church votes but not Atlanta voters
The final vote on the new Falcons stadium depends on two historical churches, but why not all Atlanta voters?
For over two years maybe even since 2006, Atlanta leaders have debated a plan to building a new stadium; by avoiding a public vote by Atlantans on an over $1B project that effects us all.
After months of negotiations, Mayor Kasim Reed and the Atlanta City Council reached an agreement on specific city terms for the new stadium with: Frank Poe, Executive Director of Georgia World Congress Center Authority (GWCCA); Duriya Farooqui, Chief Operating Officer of the City of Atlanta; Brian McGowan, CEO and President of Invest Atlanta; Arthur Blank, Falcons Chair and owner; and Rich McKay, Falcons CEO and President.
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To get a sense of this 2-7 year process, the reader has to look at previous meetings on how Atlanta got this decision and who's the final vote on this stadium.
In February 2013, the Council held public hearings and work sessions with academics, accountants, and legal experts; on how the community would be impacted.
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The February 20, 2013 meeting, focused on the historical information and legislative history of the current Georgia Dome.
At the March 1, 2013 meeting, the Atlanta Council's president Ceasar Mitchell said, “This process was helpful in framing the conversations as the City Council moves forward in our discussions on the critical areas of infrastructure, community benefits, local business inclusion, and job creation.”
Ivory Young, District 3 Council member representing English Avenue and Vine City neighborhoods near the Dome said, “We still have work to do to codify much of what is being discussed. Regarding economic development and human service needs as well as environmental issues, I am fully confident that we are heading in the right direction, but I also fully acknowledge that we must formalize community benefit agreements that will help ensure genuine and sincere leadership on the part of the administration and council that meets the community’s satisfaction.”
Reed believes “a new stadium will lead to the creation of well-paying jobs during its construction at a time when many of our friends and neighbors are seeking employment. This new stadium will also keep the city of Atlanta at the forefront of the hospitality industry in America as we pursue our goal of attracting 40 million visitors annually. It will strengthen the viability of the more than 200,000 jobs that support our tourism and convention business every single day.”
Reed said “We’re going to build a terrific stadium...We have kept our team in downtown Atlanta. It’s a very big deal. Every major American city whose team moved to the suburbs took a significant financial hit...We did the right thing today.”
Reed tells AJC “The agreement we negotiated is one of the best (stadium deals) in America.”
On March 7, 2013, Governor Nathan Deal told City Hall press conference the new stadium agreement with contributed state land, is “truly a public-private partnership.”
The March 18, 2013 meeting, the Council approved by a vote of 11-4 an amended resolution, authorizing $200M in hotel-motel tax, to partially fund construction costs of this new retractable roof stadium.
The Yeas from Council members were: Yolanda Adrean; Natalyn Archibong; Michael Julian Bond; Keisha Lance Bottoms; C.T. Martin; Joyce Sheperd; Carla Smith; Aaron Watson; H. Lamar Willis; Cleta Winslow; and Ivory Lee Young, Jr.. The Nays from: Kwanza Hall; Felicia Moore; Howard Shook; and Alex Wan.
This resolution authorized the extension of the 39.3% hotel/motel tax, till 2050. Out of this hotel-motel taxes, 86% “of the revenue generated by this tax comes from people living outside of Georgia.”
After annual debt payments of construction bonds, the remaining tax dollars from the 39.3% hotel-motel taxes, would go toward stadium maintenance and operating expenses.
By July 2014, the bonds will be finalized and by the summer of 2017, the new stadium should be built.
Before the final vote, the Council had several amendments attached to this resolution. One by Council member C.T. Martin, that the Falcons contribute an additional $20M towards the $50M in infrastructure cost, for a total of $70M.
The Falcons’ infrastructure contribution will reroute and demolish the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive bridge. This financial agreement of $50M in infrastructure costs, will go to off-site roadwork, pedestrian improvements and traffic mitigation.
Council member Carla Smith's amendment was “that no General Fund dollars will be used to finance the construction of the new stadium project or used for cost overruns, operations, maintenance or all related infrastructure costs.”
According to the Council's website “No property taxes or new taxes of any kind would be paid by or levied on City of Atlanta residents or businesses to fund construction of the new stadium.”
Council member Michael Julian Bond’s amendment, wanted Invest Atlanta to facilitate development of a community benefits plan/agreement for the surrounding neighborhoods, prior to issuance of the bonds. This plan will address: economic development, environmental impact, game day activities, public safety, and traffic congestion.
Felicia Moore, Chair of the Council’s finance-executive committee tells AJC “This is unprecedented...We are voting about something that will impact this city for 50 years or more. We need to take our time and make sure all our i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed.”
Councilwoman Keisha Bottoms tells AJC, the major points of this deal have been known for a long period and “I am comfortable with the information I have received.”
Atlanta business owners and neighborhood groups, wanted minority and woman-owned businesses involved in the construction, economic development and infrastructure improvements for the new stadium. The GWCCA and Falcons will develop an Equal Business Opportunity Plan, with “at least 31 percent participation by women and minority business enterprises.”
Invest Atlanta would issue $200M in bonds, where 85 percent would be funded by tourists and visitors. These bonds would be paid back through hotel-motel tax revenue, but where does the other 15% come from?
Good ideal having tourists pay, but still Atlanta is interdependent on tourists to come. If we build it – they may or may not come. Many projects are built to compete with other cities, hoping tourists will come, yet some projects fail becoming dependent on tourists. Just look at the World of Sid and Marty Craft built in Omni Hotel (now with CNN) in the 1970s as a fair ground. It went bankrupt after a year.
The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation would invest $15M into the Castleberry Hill, English Avenue, Vine City, and other neighborhoods to “accelerate quality-of-life improvements; improve health, education and welfare of current residents; address equity and social justice issues associated with new residential and commercial development; and attract new investment, new jobs and new residents.”
This $15M reinvestment for neighborhoods, would be controlled by the Blank Foundation. All funds would be invested in projects starting in 2013 for these communities by December 2020; so after 2017 no more projects. A nonprofit will dictate who gets that $15M for their neighborhood. Will it be spent wisely?
Blank said March 18, 2013 “The agreements approved today represent the fruits of more than two years of collaborative discussions leading to a solution that serves the best interests of all involved, including the neighborhoods surrounding the new stadium.”
Blank tells the Council, “The city of Atlanta and state of Georgia have a history of building strong public-private partnerships in areas that contribute to economic development. This project is no exception.”
Blank and the Falcons may spend $800M on construction for the new stadium, but there’s $50M for infrastructure costs and $15M on improving the surrounding neighborhoods; at $865M.
The Falcons organization plans of $20M for land acquisition, would also include development costs and equal business opportunities in the design-construction of this new stadium. Part of this $20M will be used for the acquisitions of the two churches and gypsy vacant lot on their preferred south site off MLK Jr. Dr., near the current Georgia Dome.
This $20M for site acquisition, has Blank and the Falcons paying a total of $885M.
The March 7 and 15, 2013 meeting, the AJC reported this new stadium deal depended on these three properties. Favored by both Blank and Reed as their preferred site for the stadium, next to the Dome on Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive and Northside Drive. The state may acquire these properties, like they did in 1992; one being the Friendship Baptist Church.
Reed tells the Atlanta Business Chronicle “It’s very important to me that Friendship be treated in a manner that’s in keep of its 150-year-old tradition...That’s the caveat” for the south site.
If the south site deal near CNN Center/Omni and MARTA fails, then the new stadium will move to the north site. The alternative location north of GWCCA and less than a half-mile north of the churches on Ivan Allen Boulevard and Northside Drive; which GWCCA already owns.
Friendship Baptist Church, established in 1862 and an independently organized in 1866 by Rev. Frank Quarles; became Atlanta's first autonomous black Baptist congregation. Friendship is known by some as the “mother church,” for helping to create several other congregations.
Since the original church members were not able to buy the property, they worshiped in a railroad boxcar sent from Chattanooga, Tennessee; which became the first classroom for Atlanta University. Friendship also educated former slaves; housing other first classes for other colleges.
In 1879 Morehouse College, an African American male college; moved from Augusta, Georgia to Atlanta and held classes in Friendship Baptist Church. In 1881 Spelman College, an African American female college, started classes in the basement of Friendship.
Lloyd Hawk, Chair of Friendship's board of trustees tells 11 Alive “The property is hallowed ground,” but have been in talks with the Council, GWCCA and the Falcons.
Hawk tells 11 Alive “We want to do not only what's good for the church but what's good for the community. We're here to serve the community and not vice versa.”
Other than Friendship, the other property is Mt. Vernon Baptist Church.
In 1915, Mt. Vernon started out as a storefront church and moved several times, even in 1955 for road expansion; but finally moving near the Dome.
On March 26, 2013, GWCCA was invited to speak at Mt. Vernon.
Mt. Vernon and Friendship are historical congregational churches, which face the decision to vote to sell out for the stadium, but at what costs?
In January 2013, Mt. Vernon's pastor Rev. Rodney K. Turner meet with congregation members to first discuss the selling of their property, but it was up to the congregation.
According to AJC, tax records show Friendship’s property is worth over $1.2M, while Mt. Vernon’s is over $1.4M. If the two churches were sold, the sale maybe much higher than $2.6M, and remember the Falcons has $20M for land acquisitions and other projects.
Some Atlantans fear Reed and other Atlanta leaders are “bulldozing two historic congregations at the will of business leaders” and is “another example of black neighborhoods victimized by major development projects.” This happened in the 1990s by eminent domain, with the building of the state-owned Dome and the Olympics.
Joe Beasley, a civil rights activist tells AJC “Friendship has been there so many years. There’s so much history...Black institutions get in the way of bulldozers and poor communities just get abused. It would be good to have the stadium in Atlanta, but the community shouldn’t lay down and play dead just because three or four people make a decision.”
Is this a failure of all parties being represented, or just relying on a few voices?
Steve Carr, a 30 year resident of Atlanta is skeptical saying “We have 150 years of the business community running this city...They displaced people to build Turner Field. They displaced people to build the Atlanta Civic Center. And they displaced people to build the Dome, which is already serviceable. This city has a long history of being unfair.”
Jonathan Ganz, an Atlanta lawyer that attended the NFC Championship and SEC Championship tells AJC; “As I sat in that Dome for both of those games, not once did I think this is an inadequate facility.”
By August 2013, the Council and the GWCCA will work out a deal to buy these two churches.
The Atlanta Falcons is responsibility for $885M in construction, from the private sector. Yet the Falcons is part of the NFL, which is a nonprofit with tax-exemptions; compared to their players and staff that owe taxes.
William Perry of Common Cause Georgia, tells the AJC “We wanted Atlantans to decide if public funds should help build it. Be it a binding or an advisory vote, we believed a referendum was necessary for people to find out exactly how much public money would go toward the project.”
Perry believes that Atlantans needed to vote on this new stadium, not leaders. Georgians voted on extending sales taxes on sewer repairs. Cobb County residents voted “to extend their education SPLOST.” In 2012, voters voted against T-SPLOST for Georgia's transportation initiative.
If the new stadium deal is now dependent only on two churches, to vote on selling. Why were Atlantans not allowed to vote on this as well, and be represented?