At Visit Aurora, our mission is to attract visitors to our city’s hotels, restaurants, sport complexes, parks and other destinations. While we are proud to share the City of Aurora with the world, it’s the economic impact those visitors have on our community that drives us forward and allows us to give back and support the citizens of Aurora. In 2014, visitors to Aurora contributed more than $5 million in lodgers tax revenues (a tax collected only on overnight hotel stays) to the city’s general fund – revenues that directly support our city and our community’s needs.
Now, imagine how those tourism dollars back to our local economy would grow with the addition of a destination shopping, entertainment and racetrack district. In Kansas City, those dollars grew to the tune of 10,000 permanent jobs and $300 million back to their state’s economy every year. In Aurora – with the way our city charter is currently written – we don’t have the opportunity to do more than imagine what kind of economic impact a project like that would have on our city.
From a tourism impact perspective, the addition of a motor sports facility would be one of the biggest economic drivers we could imagine having in Aurora. Racing and motor sports are the second most popular sporting event in the country after professional football – but they offer the greatest economic benefits of any type of sporting event. Motor sports fans are more likely to attend an out-of-state event, are more likely to spend multiple days attending an event, and typically spend more money over a longer period of time related to their stay. The addition of shopping, dining, concert venues, hotels and business parks turn these developments into year-round destinations and economic engines driving growth and opportunity for Aurora.
That is why as an Aurora citizen and president of Visit Aurora, I am voting “yes” on 2J to remove the current anti-development language that exists on our city’s charter. Under the current law, the city is prohibited from providing subsidies specifically to motor sports facilities in Aurora. We know that back in 1999, the amendment was spearheaded and financed by special interests outside of Aurora, with the end goal of limiting our city’s opportunities for economic and tourism development. As a result, Aurora has been put at an unfair disadvantage, and it’s time to put our city’s success back into the hands of our citizens.
While there are no discussions or proposals for a racetrack currently taking place, it remains essential that Aurora remove this language from our city charter now, so that we can be considered as an ideal home for the future development of these types of destination attractions. Otherwise, our hands will remain tied and all we will be able to do is imagine what could have been.
By voting “yes” on 2J, Aurora voters will create the opportunity for new tourism development in the future, benefiting both visitors and citizens alike. It’s time to move Aurora forward.
Gary Wheat is President/CEO, Visit Aurora