I say yes for issue 3 and no for issue 2. I’m not saying the issue 3 bill is perfect and it is indeed favoring pot growing monopolies, but banning pot decades ago was not written for the purpose intended either, but rather to stigmatize and control ethnic groups. Let’s make it legal already and iron out the kinks of the bill once it is on the books.

Issue 2 opposes monopolies in the state constitution. Some say it is also anti-pot.
Issue 3 would legalize both medical and recreational pot.

If you vote yes on Issue 2 and are in favor of yes for Issue 3, then voting yes on Issue 2 will supersede your yes vote for issue 3 because of the language in Issue 2.

“…You can’t talk about Issue 3 without thinking about Issue 2, the Ohio Initiated Monopolies Amendment. Most organizations that oppose the former support the latter, and vice versa. If approved, Issue 2, a bi-partisan measure put on the ballot by Ohio lawmakers, would require voters to approve two questions in back-to-back elections pertaining to initiatives establishing economic monopolies. Its language also says it will invalidate any initiatives voters approve on the Nov. 3 ballot that establish economic monopolies (read: Issue 3).

As a legislative proposal, Issue 2 would take effect prior to Issue 3, a voter-initiated proposal, says Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted. And, because Issue 2 would take effect immediately, if both issues pass, the marijuana issue would be invalidated, Husted says..” – Weed The People: The Money, Influence & Turmoil Behind Issue 3, By Jill Moorhead
From the October 15, 2015 edition

http://www.columbusalive.com/content/stories/2015/10/15/weed-the-people-the-money-influence-and-turmoil-behind-issue-3.html

http://www.myfox28columbus.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/Voter-Confusion-over-Issues-2-and-3-on-the-Ballot-220962.shtml#.Vif9Zbx12-Q

Convention Facilities Authority Wants Arena Tax Exempt
By MANDIE TRIMBLE • SEP 29, 2015

http://radio.wosu.org/post/convention-facilities-authority-wants-arena-tax-exempt#stream/0

Ohh hell no!  You didn’t want the casino but yet you still wanted and received the casino dollars that should have followed in it’s entirety the casino to support the community on the Westside-Hilltop that it moved to.  Now you state casino dollars aren’t enough to cover the costs and you want a permanent tax abatement?  Hell no!  The arena district is thriving with businesses and is a destination spot so since you can’t financially continue to operate Nationwide Arena you want to cause these businesses to suffer from higher taxes because of your ineptness?  Hell no!  You now are putting these other businesses in jeopardy and knowingly are playing on this for if you fail the local businesses around you may fail as well. Shame, shame, shame. The Convention Facilities Authority along with the City of Columbus should have better planned this including having had better discussions with the namesake of the arena, to secure that Nationwide Arena would have been financially secure way beyond the current administration and the current tax abatement that is going to expire. Another example of when you provide money to an organization or someone for free, you don’t stimulate them to better succeed with their business operation. Seems it may be about time to realize that although providing tax abatements to public arena’s because it provides a value-add to the community, may have proven after all to be a big FAIL for the value-add it intends to provide for that community. Another way needs to be explored.

=======================
Article:

As property tax abatements near expiration, the publicly-owned Nationwide Arena faces a big bill. The arena’s owner, the Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority, worries the tax bill will have a huge affect on its operation. The arena wants a permanent property tax exemption.

To hear Convention Facilities Authority director Don Brown tell it, Nationwide Arena faces a bleak financial future.

While he describes a “break even” state for the authority’s finances, there’s no money to make payments on either of its loans for the publicly-owned arena, and it only has about a third of the funds it needs for renovations and repairs. Now the authority faces a hefty property tax increase on the arena when current abatements expire.

“So we would face the prospect of not being able to continue operation,” Brown said.

The authority has enjoyed abatements which have reduced arena property taxes by 99 percent. Those soon go away, and the tax bill could increase to $4 million. When the city and county took ownership of the arena, casino tax money was supposed to cover costs.

But Brown said casino money, “Falls short of any additional taxes that might become the owner’s responsibility in future years.”

So the authority wants state lawmakers to exempt it from future property taxes, as it has for about a dozen other Ohio arenas.

Brown said the proposal is about parity, bringing it in line with the state’s other arenas. When asked, he did not directly say whether the exemption would be enough to meet all of the authority’s financial obligations.

“We’re mindful that we have the responsibility to make capital improvements over the next 25 to 30 years,” he said. “And as the owner, we have the responsibility to find the money, find the dollars, to meet those improvements.”

For skeptics of the 2012 arena deal it’s, ‘We told you so.’

“The reason they can’t operate the arena is because they’ve got one tenant, their biggest tenant that rents for free,” Jonathan Beard said.

Beard is referring to the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Jackets pay no rent and collect all the ticket and concession revenue on game nights.

“That’s the only reason we’ve got this bad business decision being made,” he said.

The Columbus Compact Corporation president worries a property tax exemption will raise taxes for everyone else and leave public agencies with less money.

“That’s unfortunate. That’s a consequence of a bad decision where our elected officials overturned the will of the public,” Beard said. “You know, instead of going deeper in debt, we’re going to cut other city services, or other county services.”

Columbus City Schools could be affected by the proposed exemption. A complex revenue-sharing arrangement, which has given the district nearly $11 million since 2008, ends this year.

A district spokeswoman said school officials are exploring the impact on the district going forward.

The facilities authority and schools are trying to hash out a new deal.

The Convention and Facilities authority’s Brown hopes the Legislature will take action before the end of the year.
===============================
Related:

Hollywood Casino opens in Columbus as the state’s largest casino gambling venue
By Thomas Ott, The Plain Dealer
Follow on Twitter
on October 08, 2012 at 4:09 PM, updated October 08, 2012 at 10:57 PM

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2012/10/hollywood_casino_opens_in_colu.html

“…The Columbus casino originally was to be built downtown in the city’s Arena District, according to the constitutional amendment. That angered a group of businesses led by The Dispatch Printing Co, which owns The Columbus Dispatch, and a deal was brokered to move the casino to the West Side…”