Cameron County voters to decide arena proposal for a third time
Apr. 17—Cameron County is taking another shot at getting its own 10,000-seat multi-purpose arena, and officials are hoping that voters this time around will approve a proposition on the May 3 ballot that would allow the county's existing venue/visitor tax revenue to be used for the purpose.
Similar propositions were voted down in November 2021 and May 2022, although voters in 2016 approved a proposition allowing such revenue — generated by Hotel Occupancy Taxes and taxes on car rentals in the county — to be used for improvements to Isla Blanca Park and construction of the South Texas Ecotourism Center.
This time, the political action committee Cameron County Now is leading the charge to get the word out, in part through the PAC's "Vote for the Venue" advertising campaign.
Sara Marie Ridley, coordinator of Cameron County Now and its ad campaign, said the latest bid to finally get "Proposition A" over the finish line is using more of a targeted approach compared to the previous attempts.
"We have gone and found the group of voters who always come out in May elections, rain or shine, and we're trying to educate them better on the issue, knowing that they're the people who are going to show up," she said. "So instead of trying to put a lot of information out to a massive amount of people, we are trying to take a better, more precise message to a smaller group of people. That means likely voters in odd-year May elections."
Ridley said it was also revealed that many voters weren't necessarily opposed to an arena, they just didn't have a reason to care. One thing that has changed since the previous two votes is the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley's decision late last year to move Brownsville campus graduation to Edinburg, Ridley noted.
Discussions between city and county leadership and UT officials about moving graduation back to Brownsville have borne fruit, which could cast the ballot question in a new light for some voters, she said.
"What we found, the usage of the arena that people were most interested in were graduations," Ridley said. "The fact that (UTRGV) and (Texas Southmost College) and the area high schools would now have a place that was both indoors and not a football field in the middle of June, and is big enough to hold these types of events where students weren't going to be limited to four tickets per family."
That issue is important to families, as opposed to having a venue that can draw major concerts and other events, she said. Ridley doesn't think the graduation aspect was articulated well enough the first two times around.
The cost of building the arena is estimated at between $175 million and $250 million.
According to the Proposed Cameron County Multi-Purpose Arena Market & Financial Feasibility Study, which was published in January, the facility would have "total fixed capacity" of 10,070 fixed seats and total capacity of 12,070.
The arena would anchor the Madeira mixed-use residential-commercial development, which just held its grand opening March 24. Madeira is located just off I-69E halfway between Brownsville and Harlingen, phase one of the development encompassing 100 acres.
The Brownsville City Commission in March endorsed construction of the arena as a "quality-of-life project and catalyst for economic development to meet the region's needs for entertainment, sports and community events."
Describing herself as a "professional politico" who runs ballot initiatives around the country, Ridley said the only way ballot initiatives succeed is when the positive local impact is made clear.
"It seems very simple," she said. "But if you cannot articulate the way a family whose been in Brownsville for generations should care about an arena — they can go to a concert. They'll go to San Antonio. That doesn't matter to them.
"But when you get to tell Grandma that she gets to see her first generation college student graduate, and she can do it indoors and it doesn't matter if it's raining, that actually means something to folks. I think that's the chord we're trying to strike, and let folks know that there really is a local benefit to this, not to mention the tax revenue and all of that."
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