Atlanta residents “overwhelmingly oppose the use of hotel-motel tax revenue to finance a new stadium for the Falcons,” according to poll results cited by Tim Tucker of the ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION. The Falcons are “deep into negotiations with the Georgia World Congress Center Authority ... about a potential deal in which hotel-motel taxes would be part of the financing plan for a downtown, retractable-roof stadium to replace the Georgia Dome.” But a poll conducted last week by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research found that 67% of metro Atlantans “disapprove of using such funds for the stadium.” Twenty-three percent of those polled said that they “approve of using hotel-motel tax money on the stadium," while the remaining 10% were "unsure.” The result showed that disapproval was "expressed by 75 percent of men, 61 percent of women, 59 percent of Democrats, 71 percent of Republicans and 70 percent of independents.” The GWCC said that under the plan being negotiated, the “occupancy tax on Fulton County hotel-motel rooms would cover an estimated" $300M of the stadium cost, and that the Falcons "would be responsible for the rest” (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 7/30).
