By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
You didn’t think the city of Henderson — hungry to be a player in the local pro sports scene — would allow a petition requesting a public vote on a 6,000-seat hockey arena to get in the way of a new minor league hockey team playing games at the Henderson Pavilion site?
Come now.
Henderson’s Office of the City Clerk said there’s a procedural problem with the petition submitted by a local group called the Henderson Coalition for Responsible Government.
The city said the petition seeking a public vote on the Henderson Events Center did not contain a description of the effect the initiative would have if it was approved by Henderson voters.
The initiative petition apparently, though, had enough signatures.
The organization opposes public money being used to rehab the Henderson Pavilion into a 6,000-seat arena to house the minor league Henderson Silver Knights, which would be the Triple A team of the Vegas Golden Knights. The American Hockey League Silver Knights, the former team from San Antonio purchased by VGK owner Bill Foley, have their own logo and merchandise.
The city wants to split the costs of the $84 million arena project down the middle with the Golden Knights — $42 million in public money from the city and $42 million from the VGK.
But the Henderson Coalition for Responsible Government argued the location off the Green Valley Parkway will cause traffic and congestion problems and said public money should also not be used for the $84 million arena proposal dubbed the Henderson Events Center.
For the record, he was the city of Henderson’s take on the petition complete with official language: “. . . the initiative petition is required to meet certain procedural requirements, specifically, to set forth in not more than 200 words a description of the effect of the initiative if it is approved by voters. This description must appear on each signature page of the petition, directly above the signature lines, so that signatories understand the extent of what they are signing. The initiative petition does not contain a description of effect on any page of the petition and is therefore certified as insufficient.”
So, “insufficiency” was the ruling.
“If the petitioners would like City Council to review the Office of the City Clerk’s determination of insufficiency, they have two days to notify the clerk in writing. If they so request, their review would be heard and considered at a special City Council meeting on July 16, 2020,” the city said.
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