We could reasonably do this: Capatilize on an exciting football season, start a grass roots capital campaign with pronounced goal. Take it public once that goal is met. Penny sales tax on tourism and restaurants. Like was mentioned before, the new stadium could be a real asset to the city, so I would think it would get substantial support.
We're not getting student fees, we're not getting gobs of money from our conference and we have a small window to make a splash. While I understand people don't want to pay taxes, the airport is a blueprint for how these things get done. A specific, statutory tax could accomplish that. For the record, I don't see these new taxes being passed in Lafayette. If we couldn't agree on capital improvements to our 60+ year old schools, I don't see another increase in property tax getting traction.
Since were talking about $60 million .... now 5 years ago .... to do the proposed renovations in the master plan, $70 million is right in that neighborhood.
I can see a really nice, brand new stadium at the corner of Bertrand/Congress, that resembles McNaspy (bricked, with all those arches), and that also fits in nicely with the Tigue, and even the Cajun Dome.
So here's what I know.
Cajun Field is in worse shape than people realize. I won't go into specifics but there are significant structural issues. There's basically no chance we'll keep the same structure. This may even be true for the East side because it also has significant structural problems. We will have to act on this not out of want, but necessity. We are very close to safety hazard territory here. Because of this, I would expect us to have a new stadium sooner rather than later. I just hope we can come up with enough funds to do it the right way.
I don't know how likely this is, but there is hope that the issues are so significant that state emergency funds may be on the table to help pay for any new renovations. Our neglect could actually work out in our benefit.
Any hotel or tourism penny sales tax would have to be voted on by the State Senate. I brought this suggestion up with Dr. Savoie and Mayor Joey Dural at the press conference when the Facility Plan was announced. I don't see support for it, with the current state budget shortfall.
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