Vote for hotel tax

Matt Craft, Garrett Toay, Scott Desotel, Aimee Lee, John Fisk
April 21, 1999

On April 27, the residents of Ames will vote on whether to raise Ames’ hotel/motel tax from 5 percent to 7 percent. Proceeds from this tax increase will go toward renovating Hilton Coliseum and expanding it by 1,465 seats. We would like to take this opportunity to encourage all Iowa State students to vote “yes” on this issue.

With this extra revenue, many changes will come to Hilton. Renovations will help Hilton meet the American Disabilities Act, both men’s and women’s restrooms will be added and additional fire safety measures will be taken. Also, seating for both concerts and athletic events will increase by 1,465. This would mark the first expansion since Hilton opened in 1971, nearly thirty years ago. This expansion is necessary to ensure that the Iowa State Center can continue to attract top-notch entertainment to Ames.

Recently, Elton John and Billy Joel decided to move their concert to Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City. Bruce Springsteen is also expected to skip Ames on his upcoming United States tour. If this becomes a trend and we continue to lose many of the big concerts, Iowa State University will suffer, and with Des Moines looking into building a 16,000 seat arena, competition will be tougher than ever.

Revenue from top concerts such as Garth Brooks, Aerosmith and Elton John help to pay for many of the cultural activities at C.Y. Stephens and Fisher Theatre. The revenue generated from these concerts helps to bring in symphonies, ballets and plays that are not commonly available in Ames. This expansion is necessary to ensure that this type of entertainment is available for Iowa State students and the Ames community.

Student seating for men’s and women’s basketball games will also be expanded.

For women’s games, 300 arena-circle seats down one sideline will be designated for students if this expansion occurs. Students, not donors, will have the best seats in the house for women’s games. This is the type of environment that we have always wanted, and it will truly bring “Hilton Magic” to women’s games. It is finally possible if this expansion occurs. Student seating for men’s games will also increase by 186 seats.

More students will move from the balcony down to the lower level. If this expansion fails, however, it will be difficult to increase seating for students at all. We will not have 300 arena circle seats for women’s games, and we will not have 186 seats for men’s games. We will have to continue to watch games from the balcony.

Finally, the sacrifice being asked by students is minimal. The hotel/motel tax for most cities is already at 7 percent instead of 5 percent like Ames. With this increase, out-of-town visitors would have to pay an extra $1.00 on a $50.00 hotel room. This is asking a very small sacrifice from students, since many of us do not even rent a single room and many of our parents only rent a hotel room once or twice in a year.

We fully support this proposed expansion of Hilton and encourage all students to go vote “yes” on April 27th. The sacrifice is small, and in return we will be able to keep attracting top-notch entertainment to Hilton, C.Y. Stephens and Fisher Theater. We will finally see an increase in student seating for men’s and women’s basketball games, and we will receive 300 of the best seats Hilton has to offer for women’s games. We have the opportunity to greatly benefit from this while others take on most of the cost. Vote yes on April 27.

Matt Craft

Junior

Political science

GSB President

Garrett Toay

Junior

Agricultural business

GSB Vice President

Scott DeSotel

Senior

Agricultural business

Veishea Co-Chair