The Propositions That Could Change the Course of Amarillo
The City of Amarillo has long needed to revamp their Amarillo Civic Center Complex. For years, musicians, artists, and other celebrities have ditched Amarillo in favor of Lubbock and Oklahoma City for their larger stadiums. Calls to expand or even build a new civic center in Amarillo have existed for quite some time now.
In response, the City of Amarillo built a minor league baseball stadium that citizens (my parents among them) thought would also bring in outdoor concerts. However, it was not generally realized until afterwards that the baseball stadium, now home to the Amarillo Sod Poodles, would not be hosting anything other than baseball games. So, Amarillo’s problem of not having a large enough stadium to attract concerts persists.
Earlier this year, a proposal to fix that was brought up which citizens were originally supposed to vote on in May, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, that election was delayed until this Tuesday, November 3rd. The response to COVID-19 has wrecked the economy this year and yet Amarillo’s Prop A contains one of the largest bond proposals in the city’s history. At $275,000,000, this bond package allegedly funds much of the proposed $319,000,000 bill for their civic center renovations.
However, critics have pointed out that this project will also fund other projects that were rejected by Amarillo citizens in 2016, and worse, it will potentially raise taxes by a whopping 39%! Citizens have been out of work due to COVID, and now their taxes might go up by over a third? That is brutal for the citizens and the local economy.
The City Council also introduced a proposition that would change how Amarillo fundamentally operates. It it is passed, Prop B would double the term lengths of their City Council members. The City Council members currently have 2-year terms, but Prop B would make them 4 years long. First, they ask for a 39% tax increase after locking down the city, and then they ask for their terms to be doubled? Have they lost their minds?!
The last major proposition for Tuesday’s election involves City Council meetings. Prop C would essentially cut the number of city council meetings in half. The council currently meets on a weekly basis, however, the proposition would amend the city charter to allow them to meet once every two weeks. On one hand, there might not be enough members or business available to meet once a week, but on the other hand this cuts the opportunities for citizens to communicate directly to the City Council in half.
Some Texas residents may find the thought of their city’s leaders having weekly public meetings an extremely tiring thought. This may be because they have become used to their leaders meeting once or twice a month with city agendas which are packed, lasting for hours, and full of debate. While maintaining weekly meetings does not necessarily guarantee shorter meetings, maintaining weekly meetings can help guarantee less congested meetings and a greater opportunity for the city’s leaders to address the concerns of their citizens. In some circumstances two weeks or a month is far too long for a citizen of Amarillo to wait. With all the concerns that are present right now, mainly due to COVID-19 and its implications for the economy and society, citizens need to be able to quickly address their concerns with the leaders of their city.
Although the City of Amarillo has needed to revamp the Amarillo Civic Center Complex for years, now is not the time to push through a bond package that would significantly increase taxes that will certainly hinder the post-COVID economic recovery. It is also not the time for the city council to double their terms in office and cut their direct communications with citizens in half. Citizens need to be able to promptly address their concerns with the council, and if need be, swiftly remove them. These propositions will likely hurt Amarillo in the long run if they are passed.
Jacob Meyer is a Political Science student at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. Hailing from Amarillo, Texas, he is currently involved in local politics in Lubbock, primarily with the Young Conservatives of Texas at Texas Tech.
