40,000 Sign Against Taxpayer-Subsidized King’s Arena

Tue, Dec 10 2013 by Neal Hobson

In Sacramento, California, a planned basketball arena for the NBA’s Sacramento Kings is the flashpoint of citizen action.  Two citizen groups, Sacramento Taxpayers Opposed to Pork and Voters for a Fair Arena Deal are opposed to the fact that the arena would be largely financed through a taxpayer subsidy totaling $258 million.

The two groups have gathered 40,000 signatures, almost double the number required to place the issue of the subsidy on next June’s ballot.  The groups are expecting to have enough valid signatures to qualify the referendum despite opposition groups claiming they have 15,226 “rescissions” from citizens who reportedly want their signatures removed from the petition opposing the subsidy, though no signatures have yet been validated.

The subsidy opposition groups have raised thousands of dollars from two primary sources, the Western Electrical Contractors Association and Sacramento-area businessman Chris Rufer, who donated $15,000 combined over just the past weekend and almost $60,000 in total.

http://www.sacbee.com/2013/12/09/5985223/opponents-of-arena-subsidy-say.html