The Chargers on Friday took a "major step toward placing their downtown stadium plan on the November ballot," as a team-funded committee "delivered 110,786 signatures" to the San Diego city clerk, according to Dan McSwain of the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. The next step is for county officials to "verify that nearly 67,000 of them represent valid registered voters inside the city limits." The team wants voters to "approve an increase" of 4% in the city’s tax on hotel stays to fund an estimated $1.15B in public bond debt for construction of a combined football stadium and convention center adjacent to Petco Park. The ballot initiative calls for an additional $650M from "unspecified 'private sources,' which, based on similar projects in other cities, could include funds from the Chargers, fans, licensing deals" and the NFL. Longtime political activist April Boling said that she would "chair a committee to raise funds to defeat the Chargers initiative." Boling: "We are not, in my view, pushing the Chargers out of San Diego. We are simply pushing them to Mission Valley. I am all in favor of a stadium, just not downtown." McSwain noted San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer has not "taken a public position on the Chargers’ downtown initiative, saying he’s waiting for answers to a series of questions on cost, design and economic effects on the tourism industry." He also "distanced himself from Boling’s group" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 6/11). In San Diego, Tom Krasovic noted District 5 Councilman Mark Kersey, who won his primary last week, talks like the Chargers are "important to both him and San Diego, and doesn't seem to think the 'convadium' plan is awful." He never "endorsed the plan, but the tone of his comments suggested Kersey could be an ally to Chargers ambitions if the dollars can make sense" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 6/10).
