July 14, 2006
Louisville approves arena funds ... or not
The Louisville city council voted yesterday to approve the construction of a city-funded downtown basketball arena to be the new home of the University of Louisville's hoops squads, but several questions still remain.
First off is how much city money will be involved. The Louisville Courier-Journal reports that city taxpayers will be on the hook for "between $196 million and $216 million over 30 years," which in present-value terms is worth about $90 million. However, if the arena doesn't break even - and they seldom do - the city could be on the hook for an additional $3.5 million a year, bringing the present-value city cost to about $140 million.
In addition, the council tacked on a provision that would allow local construction unions to have input on the arena's construction - prompting an immediate outcry from local Republican leaders, who called on Mayor Jerry Abramson to veto the bill, even after some of them had voted for it. Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher said he had "concerns" about the labor provision, and some local African-American leaders complained that it might lock minorities out of jobs, presumably because the local unions are white-dominated, and the local minority-run businesses are non-union.
"Tonight we go home wondering what's going to happen tomorrow," council president Kevin Kramer declared last night. Doesn't everybody? Well, almost everybody?
