TSA News - Not MPF Related

[WizardOfAz]

Valley recreation will get $73.5 million


By Pat Flannery
The Arizona Republic
Feb. 8, 2003


It was little more than a dream two years ago, but soon state Tourism and Sports Authority seed money will help Valley ball fields and recreation programs sprout like wildflowers.

Though the authority hasn't yet decided precisely how and where it will spend $73.5 million over the next 30 years, it offered a solid ray of hope Friday to local communities and non-profit agencies whose youth and amateur recreation budgets have been far outstripped by explosive population growth.

"I'm really impressed that we're using this money for what was intended," said Margaret Spicer, program manager for the Girl Scouts' Arizona Cactus-Pine Council. "I'm very optimistic, very impressed."

Spicer was one of about 50 participants attending a daylong Youth and Amateur Sports Summit hosted Friday by the sports authority. Participants were told about the authority's mission to finance community-based youth and amateur sports projects.

"Most people didn't know that we, or this pot of money, existed," authority President Ted Ferris said.

The authority is surveying Valley youth and amateur sports facilities, which eventually will yield important information on where the needs are greatest for such facilities as neighborhood playgrounds, ball fields and regional sports complexes.

The authority also is teaming with Maricopa County and the Maricopa Association of Governments to create a database, open to the public, of available facilities. Residents could find sites near them, and policymakers would get help deciding what kinds of new facilities were needed and where.

By midyear, the authority should have that project well under way and make decisions about how to dole out funds, said Steve Patterson, a consultant working closely with an advisory committee of community members.

Projects in Avondale, south Phoenix and Glendale already have received $5.5 million in funding commitments over the next two to 10 years. An additional 30 funding requests totaling $15 million have been made so far, Patterson said, but are on hold until a fair system of evaluating them has been crafted.

The authority told prospective applicants Friday that at first, the money will grow by relatively small increments. Last year, funding was slightly over $1 million. The allotment will continue to grow annually by $100,000, reaching $3.6 million a year by 2031.

Financing comes from car rental surcharges and hotel bed taxes approved in 2000 by Maricopa County voters. The taxes also will pay for most of the $355 million Arizona Cardinals football stadium, Cactus League spring training facilities and state tourism promotion.

Bob Portillo of the Dysart School District came away from Friday's meeting with a handful of new ideas. For example, he intends to approach local pro sports-team charities for help on recreation programs in his rapidly growing West Valley district.

"I've definitely benefited from coming out here," Portillo said. "I will hopefully be calling these folks up to see how we can work with them."


**********************************************

Sports grants

The state Tourism and Sports Authority youth and amateur sports grants have been put on hold pending adoption of a formal application and evaluation process.

• In the next 60 to 90 days, meetings with community interests throughout the Valley will help the authority's Youth & Amateur Sports Advisory Committee decide how the system should work.

• By late spring or early summer, the authority should have recommendations in hand.

• New grants could be considered before year's end.

 

[Skkorpion]

I read that this morning. Good PR.

I just want the TSA to hurry and start the stadium construction before our blithering idiot legislators find another way to steal the project's money.

 

[Lex]

Amen brother.

 

[ajcardfan]

Originally posted by Skkorpion
I read that this morning. Good PR.

I just want the TSA to hurry and start the stadium construction before our blithering idiot legislators find another way to steal the project's money.

With the sale of the bonds, this stadium is a done deal. The legislature would get their butts sued off if they tried to mess with someone's investment. Plus, any sort of redistribution of those funds would have to go to a vote, by which time the stadium would actually be visible, and we have a Super Bowl promise. That just isn't going to happen.

 

[Young Gun]

Very well said Skorpion.

Hi Lex

 

[SECTION 11]

Originally posted by Young Gun
Very well said Skorpion.

Hi Lex

What's up YG!? How's it going

 

[Young Gun]

Hi Section Things are going better

I had a few problems logging in with my UserI.D. so you will see me a lot more often around here

AJ, you make a good case point about the bonds that are sold, there is absolutely NO WAY that those moron legislators will screw around with the bondholder's investmements.

 

[WizardOfAz]

Originally posted by Skkorpion
I read that this morning. Good PR.

I just want the TSA to hurry and start the stadium construction before our blithering idiot legislators find another way to steal the project's money.

Good point skkorp - they need this positive PR.

 

[WizardOfAz]

Authority fund just a start in building youth sports

Tom Tingle/The Arizona Republic

Pat Flannery
The Arizona Republic
May. 5, 2003 12:00 AM


Folks in the youth recreation business will tell you that money for new parks doesn't grow on trees. But the South Mountain YMCA is proof that a little seed cash can yield terrific results.

Two years ago, the South Mountain Y landed a $150,000 grant from the state Tourism and Sports Authority to build sports fields. It leveraged the money to produce more.

Businessman Mel Martin donated land. The National Football League's community support program kicked in $100,000. A Community Development Block Grant offered $100,000. Individual donors contributed thousands. The Arizona Diamondbacks offered a baseball field.

By the end of June, $750,000 worth of baseball, football, soccer and volleyball facilities will open to young people who have been scrambling for a place to play. There are plans for an additional $350,000 for water recreation or miniature golf.

"This will just be a magnet, a place where kids and their families can come and play," said John Youngberg, vice president of financial development for the Valley of the Sun YMCA. "It's going to be huge, and it will put kids where they belong: off the streets."

Sports authority officials think the project is the wave of the future, not because it has better ball fields, but because it's a better financial model.

In an era of government belt-tightening and explosive local growth, using the 30-year stream of sports-authority funds as seed money will be vital to meet demand for new public recreation facilities.


Spending guidelines


The sports authority is creating guidelines on how to spend its millions of dollars, whether on facilities like the Y, simple equipment such as ball field lighting to get more playing time for neighborhood teams, on places for less traditional sports such as BMX racing, or on programs for youths.

In the past week, the sports authority has hosted neighborhood meetings as part of its plans to inventory just how deep the need is, especially on the Valley's high-growth edges.

"There's a huge need," said Stacey Niles of the Maricopa County Parks and Recreation Department. "It's nice to see programs like this come into existence. It will help tremendously."

The sports authority's more visible role is overseeing the construction of a $355 million football stadium in Glendale for the Arizona Cardinals. The stadium is funded by countywide hotel-bed and rental-car taxes.

But an important part of Proposition 302, approved by voters in 2000, was money earmarked annually for youth and amateur sports facilities in the Phoenix area. The annual allocation started two years ago at $1 million and grows by $100,000 a year.

Before grants were put on hold more than a year ago, the sports authority committed slightly more than $4.5 million to three projects: $150,000 to the South Mountain YMCA, $3.4 million to Avondale to help build a $5 million sports park; and $1 million to build youth sports fields around the new Glendale football stadium.

Now, the authority is setting guidelines by which to judge grant applications and community needs when the doors reopen to funding later this year. No new projects will be funded this fiscal year, but by next fiscal year about $2 million will be available. Each year thereafter, the amount will range from $1 million to $3.8 million, depending on how much is committed to previously awarded projects.


Inventory of facilities


An inventory of facilities will spotlight where the Valley is lacking. Sports authority consultant Jim Patterson hopes that by summer he will be able to map on computer everything from soccer pitches to basketball courts in every nook of the metro area.

Last week, "town hall" meetings were held in Tempe, Phoenix and Peoria to solicit public input and discuss with recreation experts how future grants will be evaluated. Sports authority spokesman Brad Parker said solutions in some communities could be as simple as paying for lighting or finding ways to put school district facilities to broader use.

But there also was interest in more non-traditional facilities like bicycle motocross tracks, skate or equestrian parks and motorized cycle courses.

Parker said the authority is likely to settle on a mix, and to vary between decentralized neighborhood facilities and centralized regional sports parks.

Needs were found to be especially great in high growth areas of the Valley, a notion seized on by some at last week's meetings.

"The West Valley, in my opinion, is where there is a lot lacking," said Barb Boblett, youth programs coordinator for the YWCA of Maricopa County.

"The growth there has been rapid and recent . . . and they're building schools out there left and right."


Wait and see


others are taking a wait-and-see attitude toward the sports authority grant program, saying time will tell if the money is equitably distributed to do the most good. But she has been impressed by how well organized the effort seems to be.

"The process is still liquid," Boblett said. "But it has started well, and it's good that they're asking us what we think."

Patterson said one thing is evident: grants will be aimed more toward funding facilities than toward program operations. Most experts feel there is operational money already available and that capital investment is needed for new parks and facilities.

Patterson said the authority is telling everyone looking at the grants that extra weight will be given to those who follow South Mountain Y's example by piecing together a quilt of matching funds.

Driving home the point, the sports authority on Wednesday named John Ogden, president and chief executive of SunCor, to lead its effort to forge financial partnerships with private sector companies, sports foundations and charities interested in kids.

"I really think this has great potential," Niles said.



http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0505youthsports05.html

 

[AZCB34]

Originally posted by ajcardfan
With the sale of the bonds, this stadium is a done deal. The legislature would get their butts sued off if they tried to mess with someone's investment. Plus, any sort of redistribution of those funds would have to go to a vote, by which time the stadium would actually be visible, and we have a Super Bowl promise. That just isn't going to happen.

A redistribution of the funds wouldn't have to go to a vote if there is a deal struck between the state and TSA. I believe the Legislature could actually take the funds without a deal, but like you said likely there would be legal problems (which would delay the project further).

Anything can happen.

 

[WizardOfAz]

Originally posted by AZCB34
A redistribution of the funds wouldn't have to go to a vote if there is a deal struck between the state and TSA. I believe the Legislature could actually take the funds without a deal, but like you said likely there would be legal problems (which would delay the project further).

Anything can happen.

Not once the state issued bonds.

 

[AZCB34]

Originally posted by WizardOfAz
Not once the state issued bonds.

Either way, it is nice to see a story like this run in today's paper. Wonder where all the doom and gloomers are that said this type of thing would never happen.

Don't say never. The state could get into a deal with the TSA to borrow money at a certain interest rate. So that could divert some money in the short term (although I would never go into a deal with the state at this point).

Issuing of bonds doesn't make anything a done deal (don't kid yourself). The only thing that makes it a done deal is when the satdium is built. The state legislature and governors office has always been straight with the taxpayers of AZ right? Never any deception? Until I see it, I stand by my anything can happen stance.

 

[WizardOfAz]

I suppose you're right, they could try.

The legal issues that are now involved because they had a public issue of their bonds (SEC - no not the football conference ring a bell?) would make that highly unlikely. Even our state legislature is not that ignorant.

 

[AZCB34]

Originally posted by WizardOfAz
Even our state legislature is not that ignorant.

You have faith in them that I cannot muster right now. Ignorance in the legislature? Two words. Alt Fuel.

 

[WizardOfAz]

Either way, it is nice to see a story like this run in today's paper. Wonder where all the doom and gloomers are that said this type of thing would never happen.

 

[ajcardfan]

The legislature cannot reappropriate voter mandated funds without voter approval. Period. Whether the TSA agrees to it is pointless. That was a proposition passed a few years ago.

 

[Young Gun]

Originally posted by ajcardfan
The legislature cannot reappropriate voter mandated funds without voter approval. Period. Whether the TSA agrees to it is pointless. That was a proposition passed a few years ago.

I think you pretty much put the ol' nail in the coffin on this thread. Good job.

 

[AntSports Steve]

Actually, the govement is looking at the funds. Some of them believe that law about reappropriation of voter mandated funds without voter approval applies to state wide voting only.

They believe that since the vote for the Stadium was only in Maricopia county, that the above law does not apply.

Hopefully they will get that idea out of their head. That's all we need is more polititions screwing up things.

 

[ajcardfan]

Originally posted by AntSports Steve
Actually, the govement is looking at the funds. Some of them believe that law about reappropriation of voter mandated funds without voter approval applies to state wide voting only.

They believe that since the vote for the Stadium was only in Maricopia county, that the above law does not apply.

Hopefully they will get that idea out of their head. That's all we need is more polititions screwing up things.

Unless that exception is spelled out specifically, I don't see them having a leg to stand on.

 

[AZCB34]

Originally posted by ajcardfan
Unless that exception is spelled out specifically, I don't see them having a leg to stand on.

Or unless it can be held up through interpretation. Laws are sometimes vaguely written for just this type of flexibility. I know you think it is a done deal, and you are likely right but at this moment it isn't 100%. Still some possibilities out there to foul up the works.

 

[ajcardfan]

Originally posted by AZCB34
Or unless it can be held up through interpretation. Laws are sometimes vaguely written for just this type of flexibility. I know you think it is a done deal, and you are likely right but at this moment it isn't 100%. Still some possibilities out there to foul up the works.

Yes, you should "Never say never".

But this isn't the first time this came up. It was brought up last year after the Tempe site and the Gila River sites fell through. At that time, the legislators who wanted to snag the funds felt that the couldn't do it legally, and they were threatened with court action if they did. Now, with the bonds sold and the Super Bowl bid supported by politicians across the Valley, they have nowhere near the political capital they did at that time to try and dip into those funds.

 

[Young Gun]

Originally posted by ajcardfan
Yes, you should "Never say never".

But this isn't the first time this came up. It was brought up last year after the Tempe site and the Gila River sites fell through. At that time, the legislators who wanted to snag the funds felt that the couldn't do it legally, and they were threatened with court action if they did. Now, with the bonds sold and the Super Bowl bid supported by politicians across the Valley, they have nowhere near the political capital they did at that time to try and dip into those funds.

\

I think you really put the nail in the coffin this time.

 

[AZCB34]

Originally posted by ajcardfan
Yes, you should "Never say never".

But this isn't the first time this came up. It was brought up last year after the Tempe site and the Gila River sites fell through. At that time, the legislators who wanted to snag the funds felt that the couldn't do it legally, and they were threatened with court action if they did. Now, with the bonds sold and the Super Bowl bid supported by politicians across the Valley, they have nowhere near the political capital they did at that time to try and dip into those funds.

They would be staking their political future with that type of move...for sure. But there seems to be no end of lunacy in our fine State Capitol and as the state sinks deeper into the abyss of budget woes, all that money will look better and better.

 

[WizardOfAz]

Originally posted by AntSports Steve
Actually, the govement is looking at the funds. Some of them believe that law about reappropriation of voter mandated funds without voter approval applies to state wide voting only.

They believe that since the vote for the Stadium was only in Maricopia county, that the above law does not apply.

Hopefully they will get that idea out of their head. That's all we need is more polititions screwing up things.

That pretty much went out the window once the bonds were sold. If they touched that money they would not only have problems in state courts, but they would spin into the crazy world of the Securities and Exchange Commission.