College Park residents try to stop Atlanta Hawks development arena

[HawkItus]

 

 

ATLANTA-NEWS

 

By Arielle Kass - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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The Atlanta Hawks are redeveloping Philips Arena and plan to build a College Park arena for their development league with funding from the city. Ben Gray / AJC FILE PHOTO

Posted: 5:35 p.m. Friday, January 26, 2018

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John Duke is trying to stop an arena.

In College Park, where he lives, members of city council are planning a Tuesday groundbreaking for the $42 million facility, which is slated to be the home of the Atlanta Hawks’ development team when it opens next year.

But Duke argues that the arena will cost the city more than it will gain. He’d rather see the money go to bike trails or employees who pick up litter in College Park than to a building he said will compete with the Georgia International Convention Center, also owned by the city.

“You’re in a hole, and you just keep digging a hole,” Duke said. “It’s a status thing. It’s just a community’s way of keeping up with the Joneses.”

Some in the city see the arena project as a way to enhance the fortunes of the convention center, bringing more development to an area that could use the economic boost. But Duke, and other detractors, say it’s a boondoggle that won’t pay for itself, and that College Park cannot afford. Friday, Duke was in Fulton County Superior Court, trying to convince a judge that the city didn’t meet the requirements to be able to issue $35.8 million in bonds to pay for the project, in the hopes that a delay would stop the process long enough for members of council to reconsider their support.

Duke has the help of at least one member of city council, Roderick Gay, who was the lone vote against the proposal when the city voted to move forward with building the arena. Since then, the primary supporter of the arena was voted out of office, and both Duke and Gay think if there’s a way to delay approval of the city’s bonds th ere’s a way to rethink the whole project.

They may be tilting at windmills.

Ambrose Clay, the College Park Mayor Pro Tem, who Gay said might change his vote if given a chance to reconsider, declined to say how he might vote if the development authority had to reconsider.

But Clay, who some consider a potential swing vote that could kill the deal, said he’s a proponent of the arena.

“I am definitely in favor of going forward,” he said of the project. “I see it as very advantageous to the city.”

Clay said the arena project is a chance to improve the convention center area, adding another, complimentary use. The Hawks are an anchor tenant, but will use the facility less than 10 percent of the time, he said. That leaves plenty of opportunity for sports or other events to use the space the rest of the year.

College Park’s city manager, Terrence Moore, is also a proponent. The arena’s presence expands the city’s offerings, he said. Moore said his conversations with residents have showed a lot of support.

But about a dozen College Park residents showed up in Fulton County Superior Court Friday afternoon to support Duke’s attempt to stop the validation of $35.8 million in bonds. One, Alan Gravitt, said he doesn’t think financially successful teams, like the Hawks, should be asking for city money. Besides, he said, College Park — population 15,000 — is no Atlanta. Its resources are no match for its neighbor, which has been involved in several stadium deals.

“It’s a vanity thing, to say we’ve got an arena,” Gravitt said. “Concerts under the flight path? It’s going to be loud.”

The arena, near Camp Creek Parkway and I-85, has the capacity for 3,500 during a basketball game, and as many as 5,000 for concerts or other activities, Moore said. He said it would not compete with the convention center, which has ballrooms and exhibit halls.

Judge John Goger didn’t approve the development authority bonds Friday, but asked the city’s development authority to go back and reconsider waiving a requirement that the bonds be audited, the basis of Duke’s complaint. An attorney for the development authority said he expected them to approve the change next week. The decision to forgo the audit, attorney Earle Taylor said, was made to save money.

But higher interest rates if the bonds are delayed would cost more than $3 million, he said — better to simply agree to the audits. Taylor said the federal tax overhaul has made loans like these less advantageous for banks like SunTrust, which are issuing them for the city.

By siding with residents who want to stop the process, Clay said, Gay is simply increasing the possible cost to the city. But Gravitt hopes that there are enough members of the development board frustrated with the arena that they’ll decline to reconsider the audit requirement. Maybe that will delay the process long enough so the city’s interest rate expires and it has to go before council again — where, the opponents hope, the will to build the arena will have changed.

Gay, the councilman who voted against the project, said the community didn’t have enough of a chance to weigh in. Residents don’t support it, he said, and he thinks the project is unsustainable.

“I wish it could get reversed and come back before council,” he said. “It just does not make financial sense.”

In addition to the bonds, College Park will pay $9 million from its general fund reserves.

“You’re just piling on here,” Duke said. “You put yourself in a financial jam.”

 

[hazer]

NIMN attitude...

[NBASupes]

I see what they are saying. How is this going to help the community when this will just bump the COL higher and it's not like their income is changing. It's not. At the end of the day, if I was a citizen, especially Black and lower middle class, why should I be open to this when it's only going to harm me in the long term? Until white folks make Black people whole, the Black population is only worth 1% of all wealth in America. Meaning, if you sneeze, they will catch pneumonia economically. So, issues like this, most cities should be proactive v. the gentrification plans as it only has a negative impact. 

[lethalweapon3]

Butting out of this as a former CPK resident with critiques on both sides of this fence, but just wanted to clarify that, no, their City Manager is not THAT "Terence" Moore (and, thank goodness).

~lw3

[JTB]

2 hours ago, NBASupes said:

I see what they are saying. How is this going to help the community when this will just bump the COL higher and it's not like their income is changing. It's not. At the end of the day, if I was a citizen, especially Black and lower middle class, why should I be open to this when it's only going to harm me in the long term? Until white folks make Black people whole, the Black population is only worth 1% of all wealth in America. Meaning, if you sneeze, they will catch pneumonia economically. So, issues like this, most cities should be proactive v. the gentrification plans as it only has a negative impact. 

Why not just play in the hawks arena right?...can’t be that big of a deal

[NBASupes]

10 hours ago, JTB said:

Why not just play in the hawks arena right?...can’t be that big of a deal

Cost 

[Blunt91]

The team should be somewhere like Macon, GA and not 15 miles outside Atlanta.

[NBASupes]

19 minutes ago, Blunt91 said:

The team should be somewhere like Macon, GA and not 15 miles outside Atlanta.

It's too far from Decatur. I think a good spot would be a smaller place like Monroe, Loganville, or Winder. 

[Watchman]

1 hour ago, NBASupes said:

It's too far from Decatur. I think a good spot would be a smaller place like Monroe, Loganville, or Winder. 

The Winder Uppers.  It has a certain ring to it.

[bleachkit]

Teams are free to build a stadium, but expecting taxpayers to foot the bill is not a good deal for those communities. Usually the amount of jobs and investment created is not worth it generally speaking.

[Vol4ever]

42 million for a developmental league team????

Stuff is outta hand today.  Of course outrageous ticket prices for the average fan and crazy player salaries.  It's all out of hand.  

[Wurider05]

Quote

Until white folks make Black people whole,

I am already whole son. that blame whitey shit is as old as Betty White. I am not attacking you but rather that self defeating -welfare mentality that many black folks have. I control my life. Opportunities are out there if you want them. making black folks whole again with a reparations check is not going to fix anything. Slavery was f*cked up but it happened. i don't know anyone that is a slave other than a slave to ignorance. People like to f*ck up their own lives and blame other people. Look in the mirror and 99 times out of 100 you will see that person that is holding you back. MLK, Malcolm X. Medgar Evers and many others fought for the right to be treated equal not better but equal.  As for the arena, tax payer money should not be used unless it is voted on by the people. We forget sometimes that is our money not the politicians'.

[NBASupes]

7 hours ago, Wurider05 said:

I am already whole son. that blame whitey shit is as old as Betty White. I am not attacking you but rather that self defeating -welfare mentality that many black folks have. I control my life. Opportunities are out there if you want them. making black folks whole again with a reparations check is not going to fix anything. Slavery was f*cked up but it happened. i don't know anyone that is a slave other than a slave to ignorance. People like to f*ck up their own lives and blame other people. Look in the mirror and 99 times out of 100 you will see that person that is holding you back. MLK, Malcolm X. Medgar Evers and many others fought for the right to be treated equal not better but equal.  As for the arena, tax payer money should not be used unless it is voted on by the people. We forget sometimes that is our money not the politicians'.

Black people aren't whole in America. Do you even know what being whole is? 

[AHF]

We have a political board. The recent vein on this thread belongs there so discontinue on here.  Thanks!