The “No Downtown Stadium – Jobs and Streets First!” effort sent letters this week to the boards of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown Partnership and the San Diego County Taxpayers Association, outlining its position…
We are leading the “No Downtown Stadium – Jobs and Streets First!” campaign, and we are writing to encourage you not to support the Chargers billion-dollar-plus tax increase to build a downtown stadium and Convention Center annex.
The Chargers tax measure is not going to pass in November. While important, public opinion is not the only point to consider when making your decision. The Chargers stadium plan threatens our tourism economy and the small businesses that rely on a thriving tourism economy.
Also, other than Congressman Scott Peters, none of the candidates the Chamber has endorsed supports the team’s plan.
Here are the latest poll results on the Chargers measure, taken from a citywide survey in mid-April of 600 likely voters:
- Definitely Yes: 17%
- Probably Yes: 17.6% 35% YES
- Probably No: 20.1% 58% NO
- Definitely No: 37.8%
It is important to note that only 20% of San Diegans consider themselves “big Chargers fans” and many of them are Republicans, who are generally tax-averse. Among big fans, only 15% see a downtown stadium as the city’s top priority; 25% list streets and infrastructure. The poll also found the most ingrained opposition to the Chargers tax comes from very reliable voters.
Click here to read a memo from the polling firm, Competitive Edge Research & Communication, summarizing the results. Click here to see KUSI’s coverage of the poll results.
The percentage of big fans is the lowest it has been in two decades, due largely to the Chargers efforts last year to leave for Los Angeles and sabotage any stadium progress in San Diego while publicly criticizing the Mayor and other civic and community leaders, who put together a fair and workable stadium plan that would help the team earn tens of millions of dollars more a year.
We are pro-Chargers and pro-stadium. We are opposed to the Chargers tax measure because it is a bad deal for San Diego. Here are our 5 primary concerns:
1) It asks too much of taxpayers. This would be the most debt the City has ever taken on at one time, and it would be one of the largest tax increases in San Diego history. Just as concerning is the fact that the team’s $1.8 billion price tag is a guess, because the Chargers proposal does not include a thorough financing plan.
2) It threatens Comic-Con and tourism jobs. The Chargers measure would raise our hotel tax by more than 50% to 16.5%, saddling San Diego with one of the highest hotel taxes in the country. It would drive some conventions to cities with lower hotel taxes, which would hurt our tourism economy and lead to a loss of tourism jobs. This is why numerous tourism leaders oppose the Chargers plan. Comic-Con, the American College of Surgeons, the Tourism Authority, the Convention Center and others have said they strongly prefer an on-site expansion of the Convention Center to an annex. It is a bad investment that would not resolve the space problems our largest conventions grapple with. Conventions would pay top-tier room rates for second-tier convention space.
3) San Diegans want their streets repaired and after-school programs fully funded. The City has too many priorities to justify subsidizing a stadium. Voters want smooth roads, funded after-school programs and clean and safe parks, among other things.
4) The Chargers plan is too risky. The team will tell you its measure is a tax on tourists but the truth is San Diego taxpayers would be on the hook if the proposed hotel tax increase does not meet expectations. An economic downturn and/or lost conventions would negatively impact hotel tax revenues.
5) There is a higher and better use for the proposed stadium site. A detailed focus plan of south East Village, scheduled for release at the end of July by a group of local architects, will highlight this point. But please know the Chargers plan would erect a 350-foot tall and 4½-block wide wall in the middle of a neighborhood. Parking, traffic and related problems would immediately surface in East Village, Barrio Logan and Sherman Heights.
The No Downtown Stadium committee was formed June 17. Coalition building began about two weeks ago and the team includes key members of the American Institute of Architects – San Diego, founding members of the East Village People (a group of architects and land-use attorneys), community leaders from Barrio Logan and Sherman Heights, Associated Builders and Contractors San Diego and the local Republican Party. We are a diverse, nonpartisan group of San Diegans.
We are raising money and plan to launch a media relations and online advertising campaign. We expect the Chargers to outspend us by a margin greater than 10-1 so we are accepting financial contributions of any amount. Please click here to contribute to the campaign.
Please let us know if we can answer any questions. Many thanks for your time and consideration!
Sincerely,
Chris Cate, City Councilman
Rob Quigley, Architect
Lani Lutar, President of Responsible Solutions LLC and former President and CEO of the San Diego County Taxpayers Association
April Boling, campaign chair and former board chair of the San Diego Convention Center and the city’s Pension Reform Committee