Yes for Glendale chair refutes VAI Resort opponents’ claims
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Metro Creative Connection
By Grant Fisher | Yes for Glendale
I want to set the record straight on claims by Worker Power, the political arm of the California-based labor union, UniteHere, that is trying to derail the VAI Resort Project.
By voting yes on Propositions 401 and 402, upholding the Glendale City Council’s multiple unanimous approvals of the resort’s zoning, Glendale voters will usher in a transformational resort development that will generate more than 2,000 new jobs and more than $2 billion in new tax revenues for community services like public safety.
Claim: By voting no, Glendale can preserve the real estate for a park or green space. (Source: Arguments submitted by Prop 401 opponents, including Councilmember Lupe Conchas, for the publicity pamphlet; opponents’ campaign literature.)
Fact: This space was never going to be a park. The sliver of land east of the resort that is being fought by Worker Power is zoned for “Development,” not for parks.
In 2007, a prior developer planned a restaurant, public market, retail shops, urban gardens, an art facility and housing for artists-in-residence, and parking. Glendale’s General Plan Map calls out its proposed use in 2007, referring to it as “Parks and Open Spaces,” but it has never been used for that purpose. The city never developed it as a park or as an open green space. It was once used for agriculture, but has been an undeveloped dirt lot with no grass, shade trees or seating for over 10 years.
Fact: The current developers have dramatically reduced the amount of water the project will use since taking over in 2022. The resort is anticipated to reduce its water usage by 50% when compared to its previous zoning. Moreover, it will use 80% less water than the farmland that once occupied the site.
Claim: The city has extended VAI Resort an overly generous tax incentive. (Source: Phoenix Business Journal, July 28, 2023; argument submitted by Hector Jaramillo for publicity pamphlet.)
Fact: A tax incentive known as a Government Property Lease Excise Tax was included in a package between Glendale and the original developers, not the current developers. There is no GPLET between VAI Resort and the city, and the current developers are not pursuing one. (Source: Phoenix Business Journal, June 26, 2024.)
VAI Resort will be a world-class destination for Glendale that will create jobs, generate billions in new revenues for core city services, and be environmentally responsible. I urge a yes vote on Props 401 and 402 to make this project a reality.
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