Friday, August 31, 2007

Welcome!

We are a grass-roots coalition of Santa Clara citizens and interested organizations who oppose the City of Santa Clara's subsidy of a stadium for the San Francisco 49ers. We seek to prevent the use of public assets or indebtedness to build or operate a professional football stadium in the City of Santa Clara.

Our city has long deferred more important projects. We believe that Santa Clara should not tax its citizens, increase its debt, or allocate land or any other valuable assets to build a stadium.

Our concerns include:

Public expenditure of at least $287,000,000 in cash, property, and other assets. This equals to a per resident cost of over $2,500.

Less than 10% facility utilization: The stadium will be empty most days, earning no money for the city.

No Comparison Shopping The City's own consultants, Keyser Marston Associates, concluded in their report that a hypothetical office building would generate 5 times the fiscal benefits to Santa Clara, while requiring no subsidy from the taxpayers.

Little, if any, direct return on investment. Most economists and studies that have addressed this issue and most cities who have funded sports stadiums agree that there is little benefit and often adverse financial impacts in underwriting new stadiums.

Reduction in our municipal power reserve fund. Building on the proposed site would require the city to relocate or reconfigure an electrical substation on the property, an expense not required for utility needs. Spending $20,000,000 on this unnecessary project would reduce our municipal power reserve fund.