A local group hoping to thwart the city’s construction of an expanded downtown convention center says it has gathered enough petition signatures to force an election next May where voters would determine the fate of the $1.6 billion project.
The Austin United PAC on Monday delivered a petition to the City Clerk’s office with 21,000 signatures — about 1,000 signatures more than a required minimum — in support of a ballot proposition that would pause the project for up to seven years. The clerk must validate the signatures before an election can be called, according to the city.
The city did not immediately responded to a request for comment on the petition.
Finn Sonniksen, a spokesperson for Austin United, said the PAC has already reviewed and eliminated a number of invalid or illegible signatures.
“We’re really excited and really proud of our work,” Sonniksen said. “We’ve had so much help from the community, so many people from across the political spectrum, from different age groups, people of different professions.”
Austin United has argued the expansion is a waste of money amid a severe municipal budget crunch and that it diverts money away from important arts initiatives.
The project is being funded by hotel occupancy taxes, which are paid by guests for temporary stays.
City leaders including Mayor Kirk Watson have stood firmly behind the effort, arguing it will boost the city’s economy, create thousands of hospitality jobs and generate even more hotel occupancy tax revenue.
In an op-ed last month, Watson dismissed claims that the project diverts money from the arts, noting hotel occupancy tax revenue is legally restricted to tourism uses, and said it’s “time to move forward” on a project residents have effectively endorsed over the years through public input, studies and elections.
If the ballot measure passes, the city would be left without a downtown convention center downtown — and a largely vacant lot.
Sonniksen said Austin United believes the city’s convention center needs would be met by a new 1,000-room hotel and convention center at Circuit of the Americas that the City Council approved in July.
“I think the question is: Does the city have enough demand to have two convention centers in the area?” Sonniksen said. “And we would say ‘Not really.'”
Austin United is campaigning for the money funding the redevelopment to be redirected to support Austin’s cultural and natural tourism — funding things like a new cultural arts district, promoting local musicians and artists, and investing in parks and outdoor attractions that reflect the city’s character, according to Sonniksen.