It had been my hope that a citywide election that decided the fate of a multipurpose event venue would draw the curtain down on the drama that preceded it.
Silly me.
I’m hearing some street talk that the “fun” is just beginning.
On Nov. 3, voters approved a non-binding referendum that called for construction of the MPEV, which includes a ballpark, at an estimated cost of $32 million.
A majority of City Council members sent the issue to the ballot hoping — I am certain — that voters would reject it. Well, they didn’t.
So, will the council march ahead and follow the will of the majority that spoke in favor of this project?
Quite possibly … not in the near future.
The Local Government Corporation — which is tasked with implementing city policy regarding downtown initiatives — has a new lineup. Most of the LGC comprises individuals who are aligned with the council majority; one of the new LGC members happens to be City Councilman Randy Burkett, who’s arguably the most vocal anti-MPEV spokesman on that body.
Complicating the issue is the absence of three critical senior city administrator who should be playing a key advisory role in counseling the council and the LGC. City Manager Jarrett Atkinson soon will be gone; the assistant city manager’s office has been vacant since the retirement of Vicky Covey; City Attorney Marcus Norris quit and now is working for a large private law firm in Amarillo.
Who’s on board to advise the council and the LGC? Who is there to prepare requests for proposals to demolish the old Coke distribution center that sits on the property that eventually — maybe — will include the MPEV?
How is the city going to draft plans? And will those plans be completed by architects who can keep the costs somewhere near the price tag that voters approved earlier this month? Suppose the price tag comes in at, say, $50 million. Do the City Council and the LGC then say, “Dadgum, we can’t build it at that price”?
The city has made a tremendous emotional commitment to rebuilding, revamping and rehabilitating its downtown district. The effort — contrary to what critics have alleged — been done in a vacuum. The public has been brought along the entire way.
The individuals who comprise the City Council majority, though, sought to put the brakes on that effort with this referendum.
It is my fervent hope that the election we’ve just completed wasn’t a waste of time, effort and — oh yes — public money.
OK, so the election didn’t produce a smashing mandate. However, it was enough of a mandate — meaning a clear majority of those who voted — to keep the process moving forward.