Nashville convention center should be decided on by public, Councilman Crafton says

A controversial Metro councilman is proposing that the city change its governing document so voters might get to decide whether to build an approximately $600 million convention center and $300 million hotel.
Councilman Eric Crafton filed legislation Tuesday proposing a Metro Charter amendment. If approved in a public referendum, the change would let voters decide whether to issue bonds above a certain amount if they would be guaranteed by general fund dollars and used to build projects that are "not necessities."

"I'll trust the common sense of the voter over the (mayor's) administration," Crafton told The Tennessean on Tuesday.

Ron Samuels, chairman of the Music City Center Coalition, said the idea makes no sense in a representative democracy. "The Metro charter is like the U.S. Constitution, it has been one of our city's greatest strengths for the last 50 years," Samuels said in a written statement.

"We are not California. People expect our elected officials to vote in their best interests on complicated, detailed matters."

Crafton's plan faces a number of obstacles. Two-thirds of the council would have to vote to put the proposed amendment on the ballot for a public referendum. At least two-thirds of the council has supported Mayor Karl Dean's convention center plan every step of the way.

Dean has said he wants the council to vote on financing by year's end so construction can start in the first half of 2010 and the center and hotel can open early in 2013.

If the council approved Crafton's resolution on Oct. 20, a referendum on the proposed charter amendment couldn't be held before Jan. 8. The charter requires 80 days between the calling of a referendum and the vote itself.

"It would set the city back several more years, if not permanently," said Butch Spyridon, president of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau, which has booked about 20 conventions for the proposed center, including some in 2013.

'Not a sidewalk project'

If voters approved the charter amendment, a second countywide vote then would be required to determine the convention center's fate if Dean's financing package met the amendment's criteria.

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