Council's Flawed Aquarium Sale Assessment Process

Although the Virginian Pilot reported that city council is pausing its consideration of selling the Aquarium based on a council member’s statement, the city council as a body has not made an official decision.  The city council is in summer recess until the first Tuesday in August.

When city council returns from its summer recess, it should officially pause consideration of selling the Aquarium out of necessity.  It is a necessity because the city council’s process was flawed from the start. 

The idea to sell the Aquarium joins a pattern of poorly thought-out city council initiatives. 

For example, the council’s approval of $15.4 million to design three schools that were too costly to be built was a waste of taxpayer money. 

Another example is Atlantic Park, in which city council invested $153 million in public debt with no auditable business plan.  The private investment is funded with “junk” high-yield rated bonds. 

Mayor Dyer must believe taxpayers are responsible for making this project profitable for developers.  City council’s inertia is towards more public debt capacity being used for private development.  A course correction is needed.  I will advocate for that course correction.

On the horizon is city debt being issued for parking garages for the “in-the-wings” CAPSTONE project, and a proposed hotel on 17th Street on city-purchased land for a park. 

Why is city council considering selling the Aquarium?  The Aquarium does not make political donations.  $200 million invested in the Aquarium does not generate recurring cash flow and management fees to developers and downstream landlords. 

Additionally, investing $200 million in the Aquarium removes public debt available to subsidize private developments. The latter are private developments that cannot compete for private capital in the free market. 

The business case for taxpayers to invest $200 million of debt to modernize the Aquarium needs to be made and vetted for its priority.  The business case process starts with the community not with the solicitation of buyers.

As your next Mayor of Virginia Beach, my approach is to focus on the core functions of governments and the priorities of residents and their immediate communities.  It is time to stop using the city’s credit line and taxpayer’s money to finance private development.

Enacting broad-based tax relief to grow the economy and help financially struggling residents and small businesses is the change we need.