Councillor Christine Scales also had her say in an email on Cricket. Her email was addressed to members of the Council's Public Works Committee.
Due to my concern over the Mayor's spending of Rebuild Indy
funds for a cricket stadium, I have reviewed the Public Works meeting and City
Council minutes for Proposal 337 of 2011. Council Democrats repeatedly raised
concerns that there was a lack of specificity in the proposal as to the
types of projects for which the Rebuild Indy funds would be used. Republicans
made comments such as historically, projects were never provided at that point
in the budget period. Also stated was that the passing of this proposal
was necessary to insure that the funds would be protected and used for
infrastructure purposes, as well as to address abandoned housing demolition
costs," as promised"-i.e from the water company sale.
As I read over the minutes, I see that the majority of funds
were directed to Character 4 into the Rebuild Indy Subfund of the Consolidated
County Fund for capital expenses. Has there been an accounting of what funds
have been used thus far and for what specific purposes? It appears that Rebuild
Indy funds are indeed now being used in a way that Proposal 337 was intended to
protect it from being used for. How can $1.5 million for renovation of
the west wing of the City Market be described as an appropriation for roads,
sidewalks, curbs, abandoned housing?
How does over $6 million for a cricket stadium fill that
description?
I provided My fellow Republican Caucus members with articles
describing the lack of success of the only cricket stadium in the country
sanctioned by the International Cricket Association. It is located in
Lauderhill, Florida(Broward County). The stadium had all the elements needed
for guaranteed success. The metropolitan area it is located in, boasts a
population of over 500,000 Caribbean nationals. Cricket is their passion. The
overall population of the metropolitan area is almost 6 million. There
are hundreds of cricket teams and leagues all across Florida. The climate
is conducive to year round play. Yet the stadium hosted few major cricket
tournaments. City officials blame the US American Cricket Association for its
problems. Cricket matches and tournaments need to be sanctioned by USACA.
The city of Lauderhill has struggled for years to have their proposals
for matches and tournaments approved by the USACA.
I uncovered an even more recent article from the Sunday
Sentinel than the ones I sent out to caucus members on Sunday. In it
Mayor Kaplan, of Lauderhill Florida, questions why Mayor Ballard would build a
cricket stadium unless he has received a firm, long term commitment(contract)
from the USACA for a set number of tournaments for a period of years. It
is likely that without such, Indianapolis will guaranteed find ourselves in a
similar situation to theirs.
In the difficult fiscal times we find ourselves in, I don't
believe that spending millions on a cricket stadium should be a budgeting
priority. I believe we were"played" by not having the Proposal 337's
final language more specific about what types of projects the Rebuild Indy
monies could be used for. It's now obvious that "Capital
Outlay" has come to mean whatever one wants it to mean.
The Public Works Board meets tomorrow, Wednesday, May8th, to
award a contract for the World Sports Park. I urge Public Works Committee
members to contact Public Works Board members and ask them to vote against the
awarding of this contract with the use of Rebuild Indy funds.
I will forward copies of the related articles in another
email.
The names and email addresses of Board members are listed below my name.
Thank you for your consideration.
Christine Scales
City County Councillor, District 4
Current Board Members
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