On the stadium, Anthony’s only calm on the outside

On a Las Vegas City Council buffeted by outgoing personalities, Stavros Anthony is the quiet one.

If Mayor Carolyn Goodman has been unabashedly enthusiastic about the prospects of the development of a $200 million soccer stadium downtown, and Councilman Bob Beers has been a tenacious critic of the plan, Anthony has been a harder read for those who have dropped by City Hall in recent months during the protracted debate on the issue that figures to encumber at least $56.5 million in public funds.

Anthony weighed in early on what he considers a bad idea, and for the most part he’s let his colleagues kick around the particulars. That might leave some observers to believe he doesn’t feel strongly about the development, which comes along at a time downtown’s prospects are brightening.

From where he sits as the representative of Ward 4, the question isn’t in doubt.

“There is absolutely no public support from the residents of Las Vegas to spend public dollars on a soccer stadium,” Anthony says. “I’m out in the community quite a bit, and this is one of those topics people feel passionate about. And the passion is: Don’t spend my tax dollars on a private company.”

In Thursday’s State of the City address, Mayor Goodman countered that view with the need for public-private partnerships such as the one officials have carved out with The Cordish Cos. and Findlay Sports & Entertainment. Las Vegas needs big-league sports, she argues, if it’s to join the ranks of the big-league cities.

Goodman leads a narrow majority on the council, which this past week saw the issue further complicated by a decision to push to place a stadium-related advisory question on the June ballot that includes the names of the mayor and other proponents of the development.

Anthony declines to prognosticate, but he says he has received many hundreds of contacts from city residents on the issue. Although the stadium’s backers claim a majority of citizens support the idea, he almost laughs at that notion.

“I know if this went to the voters in the city of Las Vegas, it wouldn’t even be close,” Anthony says. “It would be voted down by probably 90 percent. … Is there support for an MLS team in the city of Las Vegas? I’m not really sure about that. There could be. But if that’s the case, then somebody should put their own money up. If this is going to be such a success, then the developer should put up all the money. I’d support a soccer stadium, in that case.”

Although Cordish has exclusive development rights on the land in Symphony Park, and there hasn’t exactly been a long line of suitors to build on the property, Anthony says the land still has real value. And that should be enough of a risk for the city.

“If the proposal was to ‘give us the land, and we will take all the risk and do all the infrastructure, build the stadium and buy the team, and as a token of support let us have the land,’ I’d support that,” Anthony says.

That isn’t happening. And Goodman has often reminded skeptics that most stadium deals are substantial public-private partnerships. In fact, in many ways the city’s stadium development deal is a pretty run-of-the-mill arrangement.

Anthony also dislikes the idea the city might spend upward of $30 million earmarked for parks funding to create a private park for a professional sports team. Not only is there no appetite for the project by his constituents, it’s making them queasy.

“I’m there to represent what the folks want,” he says. “And the folks don’t want this. They don’t want their money spent on a stadium, and it’s not even close. I think we should be listening to them.”

If the council’s quiet man is right, city residents will get a chance to be heard loud and clear.

John L. Smith’s column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Email him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call 702-383-0295. Follow him on Twitter @jlnevadasmith.