You can sign May 1 – and get your neighbors to sign too! If signatures are collected, the voters will get to decide on TIF projects over $10M.
CA$H Announces “Stop Hotel Boondoggle” Binding Referendum Campaign
April 23, 2014Today, Citizens Against Subsidized Hotels (CA$H), announced that it would launch a “Stop Hotel Boondoggle” referendum campaign on May 1 that will give citizens a voice on highly expensive city financing deals. CA$H encourages citizens from across Madison to collect signatures from their friends and neighbors and gain the right to have a say in shaping our city.
“This record hotel subsidy is unneeded, unfair and highly risky,” said Andy Olsen, “The ‘Stop Hotel Boondoggle’ referendum gives citizens a voice in the largest expenditure in city history.”
The last proposal from the developer for Judge Doyle Square entailed a public subsidy of at least $60 million, or $600 per Madison household. The city also proposes to give away the land, now valued at $13 million.
Olsen explained “The private sector is building plenty of new hotels and if this new one fails, taxpayers will pick up the tab. The project is unfair in numerous ways – to taxpayers, to existing unsubsidized businesses, and to the many other priorities for our town greater than a new hotel.”
The “Stop Hotel Boondoggle” referendum requires that proposed TIF loans over $10 million and land giveaways be put before the voters in a referendum for their approval. This requirement would have applied to only two development projects supported in the last 35 years.
The “Stop Hotel Boondoggle” referendum is a binding referendum on an actual ordinance amendment, which means that, when it is approved in November, it has the force of law.
Petition circulation will begin on May 1 and end on June 30. Citizens must collect just over 16,000 signatures of city residents. This action would place the referendum on the November ballot – unless the City Council passes the ordinance amendment.
CA$H will provide petitions for download and printing at home at: http://NoCashSubsidy.org To follow events, citizens can join the CA$H Facebook page, “Citizens Against Subsidized Hotels – CASH” The address is https://www.facebook.com/NoCashSubsidy and other citizens are welcome to join.
CA$H seeks support from all members of the community who share their outrage at this waste of public funds on a hotel boondoggle.
