Have you heard of some in Kalamazoo who want a new $110 million event center in downtown Kalamazoo?

If you have or have not I certainly believe it would be a very nice addition to the city.  The one glaring problem is who is going to pay for it.

Well Mlive is reporting that a group called Southwest Michigan First believes it is the best chance to bring in more college-educated residents to Kalamazoo.  We are going to need to have the jobs available for all of these college-educated people to be employed by them in order to bring them here.

Southwest Michigan First as stated on their website is an organization:

Southwest Michigan First is an organization of privately funded economic development advisors who act as the catalyst for economic success in Southwest Michigan. Founded in 1999 on the principle that the most powerful force for change is a well-paying job, the organization works across all industries throughout the seven counties making up the Southwest Michigan Region.

One proposal to fund the event center and a parking garage is to apply an additional 1% tax on restaurant food and beverages sales.

One Commissioner, Michael Seals, a Kalamazoo Commissioner was quoted in the article stating:

As soon as this thing hit the newspaper I got a lot of feedback and it was not positive

At what point will the Kalamazoo County Commission and the City of Kalamazoo every stop continually coming to the taxpayers to pay for their or their constituents perceived needs without first looking within their budge.

Also why should the taxpayer pay for an event center, could it be that private investors do not believe it is fiscally responsible so they are not going to build one.

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