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Originally Posted by RonnieFoos
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Even though the Phoenix City Council has approved the $230 million deal to renovate Talking Stick Resort Arena, some area residents want that decision to be made by voters.
A group called Common Sense Phoenix filed paperwork with the city of Phoenix late last week for two potential ballot measures related to the deal. Phoenix-based Petition Partners was hired to collect at least 27,400 signatures in less than a month. Petition Partners did not return calls to the Phoenix Business Journal, but its owner, Drew Chavez tweeted over the weekend that it had collected around 3,250 signatures.
Chavez's tweet:
Day 2: Almost 2k on each of #Phoenix @Suns referendums today. 3250ish total to date on each.
Tim La Sota, a Phoenix attorney, is representing Common Sense Phoenix. He told the Sports Business Journal that if the measures get enough signatures, they would appear on the November 2020 ballot, if the Council doesn’t call for a special election sooner.
Renovations on the arena are supposed to take place during three summers in 2019, 2020 and 2021. If these petitions get enough votes and are upheld, this will delay construction and could ultimately block the deal.
Under the deal passed Jan. 23, Phoenix agreed to pay $150 million to renovate the city-owned Talking Stick Resort Arena, while the Suns pitch in $80 million, plus all overrun costs. The deal was designed not to be voted on since it is funded through an existing tax and did not make any tax changes.
“The action of the council was an administrative, non-referable act, and the courts will ultimately decide,” said Jordan Rose, a Scottsdale attorney who represents the Suns.
Rose said there is little known about Common Sense Arizona. The group is not affiliated with Common Sense Media, a nonprofit organization that recently started working in Arizona.
“This petition company is not inexpensive to gather that many signatures – someone will be spending hundreds of thousands of dollars – so this is absolutely not some grassroots effort,” Rose said. “While the huge money interest behind this clearly wants to remain secretive and under the cover of darkness, we will be able to find out their true identities in court.”
Rose said that the Suns do not plan to file a lawsuit to stop the measure but said the issue will bear further scrutiny if the initiatives raise enough signatures to be submitted.