Sacramento should vote on the arena

We want the Kings to stay in Sacramento. But we want it to happen as a result of a community consensus that the city’s plan to subsidize a new downtown arena for the team will benefit everyone, and not as a product of fast-and-loose deal-making between city officials and a small group of well-connected developers. That’s why we support the efforts of Sacramento Taxpayers Opposed to Pork, or STOP, to put the arena plan to a public vote on the June 2014 ballot.

Many legitimate questions have been raised about the plan, including the true cost of the project (anywhere from $258 million to $334 million—or even more, depending upon whom you ask), its environmental impacts, how it will affect city parking rates, whether it will produce the promised downtown development and how arena spending will impact other city services.

The best way to make sure these questions will be answered to the community’s satisfaction is to put the plan to a public vote. We encourage readers to sign the STOP petition to help make that happen.