A 38 day baseball season will not work for GBAD. Baseball needs to start and investment company where the highly paid, and I mean highly paid, players build stadiums for the minor leagues. Why they haven’t thought of it I don’t know. The losses would offset their other gains, and keep the pipeline full of superstars. Create a way for players to travel, too.

Their convention operating expenses exceed their convention revenues – but the GBAD tax exceeds their overall costs. 5% of lodging.

Do they tax too much?
that excess just builds up.
much like the library issue, if not for legislative prevention, GBAD could just build their dang stadium.

it will indeed be interesting to see the change in tax revenue due for 2020.

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Abort GBAD and CCDC along with all URDs.
Expand local-option taxes instead–> revenue to the normal govt agencies.

EDITOR NOTE–Based on communication with GBAD staff, the info offered by Easterner is not correct.

They are not allowed to cherry-pick which of these responsibilities they wish to undertake, as ruled by the Supreme Court on the Pocatello Auditorium District. I don’t see how this would fit with a private ball team, as a major point of these semi-pro and pro teams is to make money, which would be severely limited if GBAD controls all aspects of such a facility.

EDITOR NOTE–The hotel room tax money is OURS–the citizens of the district. You don’t have to smoke or drink to benefit from tobacco and booze taxes. You don’t have to drive a car to benefit from gas tax. GBAD has no excess cash to spend. They are way below normal revenue levels thanks to COVID and empty rooms.

It might be bad form, but nothing here or in the BoiDev piece to show that.

EDITOR NOTE–The “property” subject to the executive session was not owned by Ahlquist/Greenstone nor was it owned by GBAD. The property in the executive session way adjacent to the convention center downtown!!

Just because you can build in a flood plain doesn’t mean you should. It ends up being a stupid human decision, just as building in the wildland urban interface is proving to be. Nothing destroys lives faster than a natural disaster.

Put the apartments outside of the flood plain so a Real Estate Investment Trust is not prohibited from making as much money as possible off of this hot investment product, while also being able to use the public park to satisfy the amenities requirement to save on costs, while simultaneously being able to add more units to boost the profit margin.

Keep Lady Bird Park near the noisy intersection to save on relocation costs, as the 2009 Collier’s Report recommended relocation near the Green Belt, and this allows stadium events to spill over into this area with vendors who will also profit off the public land.

Relocate the green belt to be sure the recreationalists are forced to go by the “Promenade” of mixed-use businesses, while the playing fields will also provide plenty of spenders to support the almighty dollar.

Make it nearly impossible to actually hold the fair here so that later it can be reasoned that it just does not work any longer and it needs to be relocated.

Just like in the downtown Boise project the city paid for the entire foundation of his building – in the form of a bus station. What a way to get a part of your building built for FREE. Then you charge market rates and make a huge margin!!

Please say NO to this leach.

EDITOR NOTE–The Paylocity group of buildings at 10 Mile and I-84 were built in a cornfield that was declared an urban renewal zone in Meridian. Bottom line is they pay no taxes to city, county, ACHD, West Ada Schools. Their taxes all go to urban renewal district. Huge burden on citizens!