Scenario

You are a political consultant who has just been hired by Mary Jackson, the programmatic administrator of the city of Midtown. She is working to secure a new ice hockey arena for her community, and she has enlisted your services to shepherd the project through the policy development process. Her hope is that you can advise her on how to manage the multiple (and, at times, competing) agendas of the various stakeholders involved in the process.

She has provided you with the details of her project and its progress up to this point in a case report. She has asked that you review the particulars of her case and devise a strategy proposal for supporting the ice hockey arena initiative.

Directions

Your strategy brief should analyze the policy context and propose a cogent strategy to advocate for the ice hockey rink initiative described in the provided case report.

• First, analyze the provided case report to illustrate the context of the policy initiative, with a focus on the various stakeholder groups. Who has been involved up to this point, and who might be involved moving forward? What are their interests and agendas? What power or leverage do they wield with respect to the ice hockey arena? Specifically, be sure to address the impact of lobbyists and the role of elites, both in general terms and with respect to the specific lobbyists and elites mentioned in the provided case report.
• Then, formulate a cogent policy advocacy strategy that is informed by your analysis. Your strategy should address the following dimensions:
  • Political strategy: Evaluate the administrative politics at play in the case. Given the political climate, how can Mary act strategically and effectively to push her initiative through the policy development process?
  • Financial strategy: Analyze the fiscal and budgetary challenges related to the ice hockey initiative. What public or private funding sources are available? How can Mary secure the capital investments and/or the budget appropriations needed to fund her initiative?
  • Messaging strategy: Articulate clear and concise talking points arguing in favor of the initiative that emphasizes the potential for positive societal change. Be sure to anticipate potential counterpoints or critiques, and draft a few planned responses.

What to Submit

Every project has a deliverable or deliverables, which are the files that must be submitted before your project can be assessed. For this project, you must submit the following:

Strategy Brief Your strategy brief should analyze the policy context and propose a cogent strategy to advocate for the ice hockey rink initiative described in the provided case report.

CASE REPORT

A New Ice Hockey Arena for Midtown Midtown is a suburban community with approximately 30,000 residents. It is located about 20 miles from the downtown of Capital City, which has a population of about 800,000. It is also about 20 miles from College Park, a town that is home to a large public university. The name Midtown is appropriate in that the community tries to take full advantage of its location as a midpoint between these two other communities. Mary Jackson is a programmatic administrator employed by the city of Midtown. She directs the city's economic development efforts. A few months back, Mary picked up on conversations in the community about increased interest in youth and adult hockey. The community has a vibrant amateur sports culture with lots of programming for both youth and adults. They have great infrastructure to support these sports-related interests, with a good number of soccer and baseball fields as well as gymnasiums for basketball and volleyball. This is not the case when it comes to hockey. There is a small outdoor ice rink in one of the Midtown parks, but it can only be used in the winter months, and its use for hockey is limited because of the size and the need to accommodate those who simply want to ice-skate. Those interested in hockey have to travel the 20 miles to Capital City or College Park, where there are more public skating rinks suitable for hockey. Intrigued by the local interest, Mary has started to have some conversations with people in Midtown as well as some stakeholders in the other two communities. Some of Mary's conversations have been with a small group of people in College Park. The university there is considering adding hockey to its athletic program. Football and basketball have been a big part of the university for years. Hockey has been an intramural sport on the campus for more than 20 years. Students organize teams and play on an outdoor rink during the winter months. A new hockey facility would be expensive, and the university is hesitant to make that large of an investment due to other priority facility needs. However, a wealthy graduate of the university, Victor Morrison, has indicated that he might be interested in providing a substantial donation to help support a new hockey program. Mr. Morrison is also very influential in state politics. He has never held office but has a long track record of helping to line up legislative support for issues and projects in which he is interested. Mary has also begun some discussions in nearby Capital City, where there is a professional minor-league hockey team. She has been meeting with Laura Craft, the director of government affairs, who works for Capital Sports Corporation, an organization that promotes professional and amateur sports. The minorleague hockey team's home rink is in a multiuse coliseum located in the heart of the city. The facility is also used as a concert and convention venue. The rink gets covered with a hard-surface floor for these other uses. The coliseum works fine for the hockey team's home games, but it is not always available to accommodate its practice schedule. Laura, on behalf of Capital Sports Corporation, has been lobbying the state legislature for support to build the hockey team its own arena. As a result of these conversations, Mary is seeing the potential for a collaboration between Midtown, Capital City, and College Park to develop what she is tentatively calling the "Midtown Icehouse." This would be a hockey complex that could be used for three different purposes: as a practice facility for the professional team from Capital City, as the home rink for the College Park University hockey team, and as a much-needed facility for the youth and adult hockey enthusiasts in Midtown. Representatives from the three communities have held a series of meetings and pooled resources to get a real estate developer to draw up some designs for a large plot of land in Midtown that has convenient interstate access that could accommodate convenience travel to both Capital City and College Park. They've also put together a budget and estimated what the three interested parties could contribute. Philanthropist Victor Morrison has indicated he would be willing to invest $1 million in the new facility; he has also expressed interest in "naming rights" and wants the facility to be called the "Morrison Midtown Icehouse." Mary has been told by her city council that they, too, could contribute $1 million. Capital Sports Corporation has a fund to seed new ventures and could also contribute $1 million. The total of $3 million is short, however, of the estimated $10 million needed to develop the project. Mary, Victor, and Laura have considered several different options for raising the additional $7 million. One of those options would be the establishment of a new special-purpose taxing district that includes the three counties in which Midtown, Capital City, and College Park are located. There is a taxing mechanism that could be used to raise the hotel and restaurant tax to support tourism-related economic development projects. This, however, would require legislative action. The first hurdle to clear is to work with the state's Legislative Services Bureau to develop a return-on-investment study. Mary has scheduled a meeting with Laura and LaRon Branford, a financial analyst with the Legislative Services Bureau. In the meeting with LaRon, he tells Laura that getting special-purpose taxing districts approved is difficult and getting a tax increase is even more difficult. LaRon seems to be something of a gatekeeper for the legislature. If he does not see clear demonstration of a solid return on investment, a proposal will never see the light of day. On the other hand, he could become a strong advocate. LaRon has agreed to help Laura and her team make a scenario that will have the strongest chance of being successful. In a series of working sessions, Laura, LaRon, Mary, and Victor have developed a proposal to establish a special-purpose taxing district that includes the three counties and a one-cent increase in the hotel and restaurant tax. Of this one-cent increase, a half cent will go to support the proposed project while the other half cent will be returned to the counties so they can use those funds for other tourism-related economic development projects. LaRon's calculations are that the $7 million needed for the hockey facility could be collected in five years, and he suggests that the proposed special-purpose taxing district and tax increase be set to sunset after five years. LaRon has also been satisfied that there will be a significant return on this investment. There will be two hurdles ahead of this group. One will be to get the special-purpose taxing district approved by the state legislature. The second will require a referendum vote on the ballots of the next election. A majority of voters in the three counties will have to approve the one-cent increase in the restaurant and hotel tax.