Beers submits signatures in fight against downtown soccer stadium

By Conor Shine

Saturday, Jan. 24, 2015 | 12:10 a.m.

Opponents of a $200 million downtown soccer stadium turned in 8,400 signatures to the Las Vegas city clerk late Friday, which should be enough to put the issue of public funding for the project on the June ballot.

Opponents, led by City Councilman Bob Beers, launched a petition drive earlier this month after the city council voted 4-3 to contribute $56 million in public funds and $48 million worth of city-owned land toward the project.

Beers voted against the stadium in December along with council members Stavros Anthony and Lois Tarkanian.

The city initially told stadium opponents they'd need to collect 2,306 signatures to put an initiative blocking public funding for the project on the June municipal election ballot. The number of required signatures grew to 8,258 after the Las Vegas city attorney determined an error had been made.

At 11 p.m. Friday night, Beers turned in an estimated 8,400 signatures to qualify the petition.

The signatures will be verified by the Clark County Elections Department early next week to weed out ineligible signatures from non-Las Vegas residents. If more than 150 signatures are ruled ineligible, the initiative would fail.

But stadium opponents also filed a lawsuit Friday challenging the city's ruling on the number of signatures required. If a judge agrees that only 2,306 signatures are needed, the stadium issue is all but guaranteed to be on the ballot.

After turning in the signatures, Beers said that even if the petition fails, it had an impact.

"Regardless, I think the response of Las Vegas citizens, to have 8,000 go out of their way to sign the petition, it should give (stadium supporters) pause," Beers said.