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VA lawmaker won't spend state money on arena: They "must think I have dumb*ss written on my forehead"
State Sen. Louise Lucas says she won't use state tax dollars for a new arena before delivering "on toll relief and for public schools" for her district in Hampton Roads.
ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Two prominent Virginia lawmakers, State Sen. Louise Lucas and Congressman Don Beyer, are raising serious concerns about plans to utilize taxpayer dollars for the construction of a new arena for the Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards.
Lucas, who is Senate President Pro Tempore, recently took to social media, refusing to use state tax dollars for a new arena before delivering "on toll relief and for public schools" for her district in Hampton Roads.
The $2.2 billion arena is projected to cost virginia taxpayers over a billion dollars. Beyer tells FOX 5, he supports the arena – but does not support using federally backed bonds to build it.
READ MORE: Caps, Wizards departure may spell trouble for DC's Downtown revitalization efforts
But Alexandria’s Mayor Justin Wilson told FOX 5 DC that concerns about tax dollars are misguided because he says the dollars will be money generated from the arena itself.
"We think part of what makes this such a great deal for both Alexandria’s taxpayers and Virginia’s taxpayers is that we are not requiring a great deal of upfront investment, and we are not taking money away from the types of funds that fund public safety, the types of funds that fund education," said Wilson. "In fact it’s quite the opposite, we are generating money that we’re going to be able to use invest in those kinds of very important roles of government, that's the nature of this deal."
Wilson also tells FOX 5 he heard from residents who say there wasn’t enough outreach on this, but in order to keep the announcement last week a surprise, confidentiality was required. Wilson says moving forward there will be a lot more public hearings for residents to find out the details of the deal, which he says he expects to receive full support.