Friday, May 20, 2011

Event Center Envy Across the Border

KELO-TV did a story last night regarding Lincoln, Nebraska's process in deciding the location of their new event center. It seems the city faced a similar location struggle Sioux Falls is currently facing - where to put it that makes sense for the entire city.

Lincoln was faced with organizations supporting 5 different locations, no one wanting to budge and all locations in more remote areas of the city with limited hotel, restaurants, or shopping nearby.

The story states former mayor Coleen Seng knew it was her responsibility to bring all of the parties together for the benefit of the entire community.

Key points outlined by the former Lincoln mayor, council member and Lincoln business leader:
  • The task force agreed and recommended the downtown location because of its overall benefit to the entire community. 
  • "The facilities that have been built to date on the outskirts of a community do not pay for themselves. That brought about the conclusion very quickly that it needs to be down in the core of the city where the tax revenue will help pay it off," Campbell said.
  • They go to a game and they go home or they get back on the interstate. That's what we're trying to avoid.
  • “It's really just the vibrancy that you create for an area. People coming in, going out to eat before the show, taking in a show, and then maybe spending the night here in Lincoln. That's the ancillary vibrancy that we think you get from location," Marvin said.
  • "How you pay for it is a critical, critical element," Campbell said.
What more can you say about a community with leadership like that? A mayor who did not dictate the position but allowed the community to drive the process and bring it to a vote. A process that allowed input, that required listening to all factions in the community, that fostered consensus and ultimately support for an event center.

I think Yvonne Hawkins said it best today in her column: Sioux Falls could use a good politician right about now.

11 comments:

  1. Don't become to convinced that Sioux Falls and Lincoln are that comparable. Lincoln has a major university on one end of downtown and State government on the another. There population base within 60 miles is much larger than ours. They have I-80, we have I-29 and I-90.

    Oh, and Spring comes three weeks sooner and Fall lasts three weeks longer.

    I know, I know, Sioux Falls is the greatest place in the world to live. All those fools in San Diego just don't get it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. What I appreciate about the the Lincoln EC is how upfront and honest local politicos were with Joe SixPack. They listed line by line what that EC would cost, not piece mealing it to us one dollar at a time. Here is their cost...line by line.


    ARENA CAPACITY ~16,500
    ARENA SIZE ~450,000 sq ft
    TOTAL PROJECT COST (EST) $339,749,343
    Arena $180,797,782
    Roadways $28,910,857
    Utilities $5,236,704
    Env. Remediation $7,504,500
    Prep/Stormwater Mitigation $10,827,792
    Railroads $49,325,000
    Amtrak $1,705,500
    Parking Facilities $35,792,765

    They admitted they needed to upgrade streets to the tune of 28 million to handle traffic. They admitted they needed to upgrade parking to the tune of over 35 million. AND they admitted a class act EC would cost over $11,000 per seat. Unlike here, wher the good mayor still tells us we can get a class EC for $8300 a seat.

    Augie and USF combined have one seventh the enrollment of UNL. Located on the north end of DT. The Interstate empties nearly at the door of their EC. And I'd forgotten all about Lincolns roll in state government and state employees with money to burn.

    LINCOLN IS NOT SF. And to compare them is disingenuos.

    Just a curiosity question. Can a college student from say...Luverne Minnesota, enrolled at Augie, and living on campus, vote on a local issue like this?

    Polly Amalo

    ReplyDelete
  3. Was there a comparison between Sioux Falls and Lincoln? I don't think so. The comparison is more about the struggle to build an EC in these two communities and the leaders. The similarities are the discussions about building in a downtown location vs. Outskirts of the city.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think Polly Amalo needs to write his own blog.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jill said...
    Was there a comparison between Sioux Falls and Lincoln? I don't think so. The comparison is more about the struggle to build an EC in these two communities and the leaders. The similarities are the discussions about building in a downtown location vs. Outskirts of the city.
    ~~~~~~

    Jill, with all due respect, the kelo story ended at the beginning with this statement.

    ...The discussion doesn't center around whether there's a NEED for the facility, but rather on WHERE it should be located...

    There are over 103,000 registered voters in Sioux Falls. Most are struggling to make ends meet. Most shake there heads in amazement that the discussion here is all about WHERE, and not where it belongs, 'Who's gonna pay for it'? Jill, I suspect you live in a different reality than the vast majority of registered voters in this town. That disconnect is going to leave you with a huge surprise IF this thing is allowed an up or down vote on IF we even want one.

    Polly Amalo

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous said...
    I think Polly Amalo needs to write his own blog.
    ~~~~

    I cannot read tone. Are you suggesting I butt out? I come here to comment for one reason. Jennifer, along with l3wis, blog about our city, good and bad. I also suspect the vast majority of followers here are government employees, or former. I fall into that same realm, but have never lost sight of my roots. Too often we as a group think everyone has the amenities in life afforded us. Things like pension checks, healthy 401k plans, and a secure future. Not so in the real world. In the real world the glasses seen thru are not so rosy. I'm just here to say the picture honest mike paint, the picture BID paints do not pass Joe SixPacks smell test.

    You all despise a rubber stamp as a city council member? Why do you expect the same of those who comment here?

    Polly

    ReplyDelete
  7. I disagree with the comment..."103,000 registered voters in Sioux Falls and most are stuggling to make ends meet"... are you kidding me ? Who do you get your economic news from ..Teressa Stehly ??? I am tired of the "poor me, little man can't get ahead " mentality of some people. I am a supporter of DT events center and I will spend a bunch of money at the new DT EC. That will help servers in restaurants and bars, and will help all sorts of other people who claim they will never use the EC

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous said...
    I disagree with the comment..."103,000 registered voters in Sioux Falls and most are stuggling to make ends meet"... are you kidding me ? Who do you get your economic news from ..Teressa Stehly ???
    ~~~~

    No....I'm not kidding you. Roughly one in eight SF registered voters are senior citizens on fixed
    incomes that are not keeping up with inflation. Senior citizens, unlike the younger crowd, get out and vote. They don't need no stinking facebook page for motivation...they just vote, and vote with their pocketbooks. How bout your crowd? They gonna be there to vote? Like they were with Drake Springs? While you were down smoking your $20 victory cigars at Stogeez, Stehlys initiative rendered your DT dream DOA.

    13,240 SF workers in the office and administrative field make LESS than $13.03 an hour. They gonna be with you down at Stogeez celebrating your BID victory? Or are they gonna be at the polls telling you where to stick your victory cigar?

    Same with the 7,790 sales and related workers in SF who make LESS than $11.98 an hour.

    Same with the 5,660 transportation and material moving workers in SF who make LESS than $12.98 an hour.

    Same with the 2,620 customer service cubicle warriors in SF who make LESS than $12.30 an hour.

    Same with the 2,510 retail sales persons in SF who make LESS than $9.85 an hour.

    And how bout those 11,950 food prep workers whose average salary is $9.17 an hour? Oh yeah...that's right. Those 11,950 workers are just highschool kids looking for some gas money. Yeh....RIGHT.

    Polly Amalo

    ReplyDelete
  9. Polly,

    Not sure if your numbers are exactly right, but I think you are on track. Just because people make even more money than you state does not mean they aren't just barely making the monthly bills. You buy too much house(to raise your family right), too much car (to drive your kids around) and pretty soon Oh Oh..I need to buy food and gas and clothes too. Oh Sh*t

    These people don't go out and eat much, maybe occasionally go to a BB game, Hockey, Movie, and that is a treat. A concert is an "EVENT". That is how the young "family" lives in SF. You 21-35 year old single/nk are living in the other world.

    I have been in the family world and would not trade it for anything, BUT we did not hang at the restaurants and bars spending money and would probably have not voted for something that might raise our taxes just because it was good for Sioux Falls.

    ReplyDelete
  10. "Not sure if your numbers are exactly right"

    As per South Dakota Department of Labor.

    Polly

    ReplyDelete
  11. Here's what the Civic Leaders are saying in both Lincoln, NE and Mitchell, SD:

    "Direct economic impact (ie ticket sales) doesn't pay these places off, you need to maximize the secondary impact (ie spinoff developement & associated sales/property taxes) if you want a SHOT IN HELL of making your Events Facility successful"

    Doesn't matter population as this principle has been applied everywhere from Bemidji to LA. Polly won't hang out there and that's his choice, but statistics show that people will spend their discretionary income on Sports or Entertainment whether they are local or travelling, that's their choice and if people weren't choosing to do so you wouldn't see all the recent facilites (95% of which are in downtowns) being built and/or paid off.

    When your potential tax revenues are 700% or so greater at one site over the other, all of a sudden it make sense for someone like Polly (but with an open mind) to support the project even if they never set foot in the place. He hates the idea of a Dunham or Lloyd putting up a hotel and (gasp) making a profit in doing so, but when that activity occurs it makes the pie bigger without raising rates. A lot of those Joe Six packs are working construction, so how about we put a plan on the table that keeps a bunch of them working after the Events Center opens its doors?

    ReplyDelete