CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Residents who were against Proposition A gathered at the Holiday Inn downtown to watch the election results come in.
With 47 out of 47 voting centers reporting Tuesday night, 69.06% of Corpus Christi residents voted against Prop A compared to 30.94% who voted for it.
Prop A, one of the most controversial ballot items for this election in Corpus Christi, did not pass Tuesday night. The proposition aimed to repurpose the existing quarter-cent sales tax.
Currently, it can only be used for improvements to the seawall and the American Bank Center. It would have also expanded the use of that money to include the possibility of a convention center hotel.
Residents who were against Proposition A contended that the city shouldn't be in the hotel business. Former Corpus Christi City Council member David Loeb was among those leading the effort against Proposition A.
"I'm glad people got out and voted," he said. "We felt that if we got the message out on what Prop A really was the voters would understand and come out to vote and vote it down, and that's what happened."
At-Large Corpus Christi Councilman Mike Hunter said that he feels the results could have been different for Prop A if it had been introduced to voters sooner.
"Well that's a lot of voters, and that's a lot of people coming out to say they don't want this," he said. "We should have reached out to them sooner, we kind of rushed things. And as every election goes, the people always win.
District 5 Councilmember Gil Hernandez said that if Proposition A failed, there is an opportunity for the city to rework it and bring it back to voters at a future election.
"You know, now that it's failed by this amount we're going to have some trust issues and we got to go build that trust back," he said. "So we have to have the public engagement, we have to do all the pre-work to let people know what we need to do with this funding moving forward."
Buccaneer Commissioner CEO Johnny Philipello who was a proponent of Prop A sent a statement to 3NEWS that reads:
Although it wasn’t the outcome we had hope for, we are committed to finding a viable, sustainable solution for the American Bank Center. We are committed to working with the citizens and City to find a desired solution for all.
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