{"id":11457,"date":"2015-10-30T18:09:40","date_gmt":"2015-10-30T18:09:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=11457"},"modified":"2015-10-30T18:09:40","modified_gmt":"2015-10-30T18:09:40","slug":"city-vote-looms-what-lies-ahead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=11457","title":{"rendered":"City vote looms &#8230; what lies ahead?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"twitter-share\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?via=jkanelis\" class=\"twitter-share-button\">Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/amarillo-MPEV.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-11231\" src=\"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/amarillo-MPEV-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"amarillo MPEV\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/amarillo-MPEV-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/amarillo-MPEV.jpg 986w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s good to look forward, yes?<\/p>\n<p>Amarillo voters are going to the polls Tuesday to decide a critical issue for their community: whether to build an multipurpose entertainment venue that includes a ballpark.<\/p>\n<p>I want the ballpark to be approved. I&#8217;ve been all in on the project from the beginning. Nothing has changed my mind about its feasibility, its potential or its actual benefit to the city.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve devoted much of this blog of late to making that case. Frankly, the issue has generated a lot of interest in the blog &#8230; for which I am quite grateful.<\/p>\n<p>What lies ahead after the votes get counted?<\/p>\n<p>I am certain the MPEV will provide plenty of grist for future commentary.<\/p>\n<p>If the MPEV vote goes the <em>wrong<\/em> way, that is, if voters say &#8220;no&#8221; to it, I plan to keep beating the drums for some sort of venue that will be built on that abandoned property across the street from City Hall.<\/p>\n<p>Coca-Cola vacated the site and relocated at a new business park. The old distribution center is vacant. It would make a fantastic location for an MPEV.<\/p>\n<p>If the MPEV vote goes the other way, and is approved by voters, there will be plenty of affirmation coming from High Plains Blogger &#8212; depending, of course, on whether the City Council ratifies the vote and proceeds with construction of the $32 million project.<\/p>\n<p>The referendum is a non-binding vote. The council isn&#8217;t bound <em>legally<\/em> to abide by its result. Politically, it&#8217;s another matter. The five-member council comprises three members who don&#8217;t like the MPEV as it&#8217;s been presented.<\/p>\n<p>Yet they were elected this past spring after pledging to <em>listen<\/em> to their constituents. Do you get my drift here?<\/p>\n<p>No matter the outcome on Tuesday, I remain supremely confident that this issue specifically &#8212; and downtown Amarillo&#8217;s path toward restoration and revival &#8212; will give us all plenty to discuss.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"twitter-share\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?via=jkanelis\" class=\"twitter-share-button\">Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s good to look forward, yes? Amarillo voters are going to the polls Tuesday to decide a critical issue for their community: whether to build an multipurpose entertainment venue that includes a ballpark. I want the ballpark to be approved. I&#8217;ve been all in on the project from the beginning. Nothing has changed my mind &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=11457\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">City vote looms &#8230; what lies ahead?<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[288,290,1436,2122,3153],"class_list":["post-11457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-amarillo-city-council","tag-amarillo-city-hall","tag-downtown-amarillo","tag-high-plains-blogger","tag-mpev"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11457"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11458,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11457\/revisions\/11458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}