Sunday, November 23, 2003
Youngstown businessman Bruce Zoldan's use of the words white elephant to describe what a proposed sports arena in the downtown area will become in a few years puts city officials behind the eight ball.
Why?
First, because Zoldan was one of the masterminds of a sports arena for Youngstown. Second, because city government has long acknowledged that a convocation/community center without a minor-league hockey franchise and/or an arena football team is financially untenable.
When then Congressman James A. Traficant Jr. of Poland, D-17th, secured two federal grants totaling $26.8 million in 2000 for a convocation/community center in Youngstown, he was adamant that his aim was to make the center the home of a minor-league hockey team and an arena football team.
Traficant publicly identified Zoldan, who owns a North American Hockey League franchise, as one of the mainstays of the proposal. The Youngstown Phantoms, a Junior A team, plays at the Boardman Ice Zone, which is owned by Zoldan.
But Traficant's grand plan -- an 8,500- to 10,000-seat arena and a 150-room hotel -- never materialized. The reason: no private dollars to match the $26.8 million federal grant.
As a result, a special arena board that was created by city council at Traficant's behest was disbanded.
Government control
And so today, with Traficant out of circulation -- he's serving an eight-year sentence in federal prison -- Mayor George M. McKelvey and city council are driving the project.
The absence of private investors has forced the city to consider building a convocation/community center solely with the federal grant. They envision a 5,400-seat facility.
Until Zoldan's public repudiation of the project last week, at least one councilman believed that the owner of B.J. Alan Fireworks in downtown Youngstown was interested in utilizing the arena for his team.
But in a speech Monday to the Curbstone Coaches, Zoldan made it clear that city council's decision to disband the board that had been created -- he contends the "right people" weren't appointed to it -- sounded the death knell for the arena project.
"Regretfully, in the time frame left, I don't see any way of getting an organization back on track to build the arena. If it is built, it'll be a white elephant after a few years."
That sentiment has been voiced loudly and regularly in this space. The word squander has been used by this writer to describe what council and the mayor would be doing with the $26.8 million if they threw fiscal caution to the wind and built a convocation/community center.
Indeed, McKelvey himself has expressed the opinion that without sports franchises, such a center would not succeed.
Here's what the mayor wrote in a letter dated July 10, 2002, to James Selvaggi, director of the special projects division in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which is administering the federal grant:
"[We] reiterate that the City of Youngstown plans to construct a convocation and community center part of which will host certain sporting events. Based on the advice of our nationally renowned consultant on convocation centers, it is appropriate, it is believed, required that certain private sector anchor tenants such as a Minor League Hockey Franchise and/or an Arena Football franchise in order to have those anchor tenants facilitate the public activity functions of the convocation center. Without such anchor tenants who will not utilize the facility more than the above mentioned public activities, the City of Youngstown would be relegated to a role of funding operating and maintenance expenses without revenue streams to help reduce those expenses."
Budget drain
Unless city government has hockey and football franchises up its sleeve -- remember, Zoldan is staying in Boardman -- a convocation/community center will be a drain on government's already strained general fund budget.
And so the question: Should the city of Youngstown pursue the construction of a "white elephant" or should every effort be made to persuade Congress to redefine the use of the federal grant so general central business district revitalization and job-creation projects would be permitted?
The answer is obvious.
Youngstown can ill afford to pursue risky propositions. The future of the city should not depend on a roll of the dice.