Moody’s downgraded the city of Kent twice – sending the clear message that Kent City Hall has not managed the city’s finances in a responsible way.
You might think that the economy is solely responsible for the city’s negative revenues. It’s not.
ShoWare Center is costing the city more than $500,000/year to sustain, but the city keeps supporting this trophy arena while cutting social services and other vital programs. Now the ice machines are defective, so another $500,000 is needed to cool the white elephant in the room.
Is there some magic number, say a billion dollars, that will motivate City Council members to talk seriously about closing this monument to civic vanity? It’s clear that the council is loath to do anything that offends business interests (e.g, the fight against a B&O tax). But it’s incomprehensible that the council continues to flush millions of dollars down the drain just so Kent Station businesses (e.g., restaurants and theater) can benefit from ShoWare event traffic. This is an entertainment venue that Kent can’t afford.
When going through the budget process, the arena seems to be off limits for any drastic action to remedy the year-after-year deficit. Moody’s is likely to downgrade Kent’s fiscal health as long as the City Council doesn’t acknowledge the problem and do something about it instead of dithering over “innovative thinking” to stimulate attendance and hiring consultants to tell them the obvious: It’s a money loser.
– Sandra Gill
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