July 15, 2004

K.C. arena opponents form group

Opponents of Kansas City Mayor Kay Barnes' proposed $250 million downtown arena have formed the Coalition Against Arena Taxes to work to defeat the plan, which comes up for a public referendum on August 3. The group includeslocal car rental companies, which are fuming about being hit with a $4-a-day surcharge on rentals to help pay for the plan. "I'm confident we can match the pro-tax crowd dollar for dollar," Enterprise Rent-A-Car general manager told the K.C. Star; if he's right, history says he has nothing to worry about - it usually takes at least a 100-1 spending margin to win an arena spending referendum.