Parks

Eighty-two percent of ballot measures to fund open space protection passed in local elections across the country. Preliminary results collected by the Land Trust Alliance showed that 162 of 204 such ballot questions passed. These ballot measures will provide more than $7 billion in new funding for land conservation. In most of these referenda, voters approved tax increases to pay for land conservation.

Some of the successful measures were:

• St. Louis Metropolitan Park District: 65 percent of voters in five counties approved a $470 million sales tax increase to create the nation's first bi-state park and recreation district managed by Missouri and Illinois.
• Seattle: 56 percent of voters approved the city's first comprehensive parks bond measure in two decades, generating $200 million for park and trail maintenance and open space acquisition.
• Ohio: 57 percent of voters approved the nation's first public finance measure to link land conservation and urban brownfield renewal authorizing $400 million for statewide programs.

A proposed downtown Houston sports arena was overwhelmingly approved by Harris County residents, who voted to build it using tax money a year after rejecting a similar referendum. The referendum asked the voters to apply existing hotel and rental car taxes to construct a $256 million home for the Houston Rockets who had stated that their existing home, 25-year-old Compaq Center, lacked the luxury boxes and other amenities needed to compete financially with other NBA teams.

Voters in the Phoenix area narrowly approved (52 percent) a proposal to provide funding for a new stadium for the NFL's Arizona Cardinals. The approved $1.8 billion measure includes $335 million for the new stadium and other enhancements to the area's sports attractions and tourism promotion budget. Revenue for the plan would be generated, in large part, by new hotel and rental-car taxes paid by tourists. In addition, the plan relies on a new income tax on NFL salaries, the rebate of construction and sales taxes generated at the new stadium, and an $85 million capital contribution from the Cardinals and the NFL.