Local View, 5/2: Time is right for a new Haymarket arena
Lincoln Journal Star
May 2, 2010
By Don Wesely
This is our moment. This is the moment in time for Lincoln to build a new arena. Lincoln has faced crucial crossroads like this in the past. Sometimes we took action, sometimes we did not.
In 1999, we were considering building a new baseball park in Lincoln. The University of Nebraska needed new baseball and softball facilities. NEBCO was considering bringing a minor league baseball team to Lincoln for the first time since 1961. A joint project was possible but only at that moment in time.
Opponents argued against a new baseball park. Don't need it. Wrong location. Can't afford it. Environmental problems. They were the same arguments we hear today in opposition to a new arena. We took action anyway. Today, beautiful Haymarket Park stands across from Memorial Stadium and greets us every time we drive into downtown Lincoln on I-180. It is a big improvement over the car tow lot and salt dome that were there before.
Haymarket Park has proven its opponents wrong. Clearly Lincoln did need a new baseball stadium. The Haymarket was the right location for the stadium with an inspiring view of downtown Lincoln and close to restaurants and bars. The city could afford it and paid its share of the costs with no debt or tax increase. The location of the stadium over a former landfill site didn't result in significant environmental problems.
A new arena in the Haymarket will prove current critics wrong as well.
There can be little doubt we need a new arena in Lincoln. Pershing Center is totally inadequate. The Devaney Sports Center needs expensive expenditures to improve it. This is the moment in time for the city and university to join together and build a new arena. If we don't act now, the moment will pass. If the arena vote fails, the university will move in a different direction. A joint project will be lost.
The Haymarket is the right location for the arena. With restaurants, bars and hotels nearby, the arena will have a greater economic impact benefiting Lincoln. It will also make Lincoln a more dynamic city.
The city can afford the arena. A financing plan for the arena is in place that requires no property tax increase. Opponents don't believe that is possible. They are wrong.
Opponents were wrong when they said city property taxes would go up to build the largest public works project in Lincoln's history, the Antelope Valley Project. Over the past 15 years of the project, the City property tax rate has declined significantly. The city's property tax rate for the 1994-95 fiscal year was 0.4062 and the rate for the 2009-10 year is 0.28788. This experience shows the city can partner in the construction of the arena and not increase property taxes.
Environmental issues can all be addressed for the arena just as they were for Haymarket Park.
In the past Lincoln missed opportunities like we have at this time with the arena. In the 1960s, building a shared airport between Lincoln and Omaha was considered but dropped. Also in the 1960s, Lincoln had the opportunity to route the new interstate so it helped traffic in town with federal funding but instead sent it far to the north of the existing city. In the early 1970s, a plan was proposed for a beltway around Lincoln that would have been just to the south of Pine Lake Road and just to the east of 84th Street. Opponents succeeded in having these proposals stopped. Let's not miss our opportunity now to build a new arena.
It all comes down to you, the voters of Lincoln. This is your moment. This is the time to approve a new arena. I encourage you to vote yes for the arena on May 11.
Don Wesely was mayor of Lincoln from 1999 to 2003.
