Quote:
Originally Posted by Locke
So...take this with a grain of salt because I've never been to Arizona as I'm no fan of SWASS, but my understanding of the situation at the moment regarding the arena plebiscites is that most of Arizona is an assorted collection of various independent communities with a few major metro areas.
Regardless of population dispersion the issue appears to be that since the voting demographic is so fractured and broken-up no one demographic/township/whatever wants to be on the hook for Arena costs?
Is that accurate at all?
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Accurate in some ways but not in others.
Metro-Phoenix is indeed a collective of independent municipalities, but probably not the way you think. There are all sorts of geographic and political boundaries (reservations) that place constraints of the metro area.
The various municipalities were all separate at one point, but growth and population sprawl has abutted them together leading to build out in most cases. The only lands that appear vacant are those controlled by the indigenous peoples (the Ak Chin, the Yavapai, the Salt River, and the Gila River), the Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, Department of Defense, and State Lands.
Finding big parcel even in metro-Phoenix is usually through sale from the state which usually requires cooperation from the municipalities where the lands are available. Once one of these parcels is made available by the state it goes through a quasi-auction process. It's an auction, but in not an open auction. There are all sorts of hoops you have to jump through to bid on these lands and if you fail in one part of the process you can't bid. That's just to get past the state. Then you have to take on local government.
This is where things get ugly quickly. Because of municipal boundaries you can see two (or more) municipalities having influence in the process. The piece in question technically falls in North Phoenix, but it is immediately adjacent to Scottsdale and Paradise Valley. Both have pockets of extreme affluence and those constituents are the proverbial squeaky wheel. You don't get anything done in metro-Phoenix without having the locals on your side, especially those with cash. There-in lies the problem. No one wants a huge arena in their backyard nor the problems that come along with it. the NIMBYs come out of the woodwork like crazy and do what they can to kill stuff.
Tempe was a bellwether moment in the metro area because it showed how little support another entertainment district there is. All the municipalities have invested in building out their own and don't want to see yet another built out that will draw business away from their gentrification efforts and tax base. A dirty little secret, almost every municipality survives on sales tax and the entertainment districts are a huge source of revenue. These are their sacred cows and they don't want competition killing the fatted calf.
As far as demographics go, the west side is generally more blue collar and east valley is generally more white collar. The money is in Paradise Valley, Gilbert, Scottsdale, and Chandler. This is where the highest income levels are and where the disposable income is. This is where the market is and where the hockey families live (especially Gilbert and Chandler). This is where the hockey support would come from.
But as mentioned, this isn't really about hockey. This is a real estate play and hopes of building hotels and condos and shopping areas. The hockey arena is cover for this. This is why it will most likely fail.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sylvanfan
Like the size of Salt grain you would get in say Great Salt Lake?
BTW, I still contest the SLC LDS or Salt Lake City Latter Day Saints is what the team would be named and have a nice JC logo of him about to deliver a viscious cross check.
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Something like this (Kevin Smith will sue them blind)?
