OrlandoSentinel.com

Rosen rallies the troops for sports-venues fight

Mark Schlueb

Sentinel Staff Writer

August 29, 2007

Hotelier Harris Rosen speaks to the crowd at the Rosen Centre Hotel on Tuesday to build support for a petition drive that, if successful, would change the county charter and require voter approval for any arena or sports stadium that would cost more than $25 million.

International Drive hotelier Harris Rosen issued marching orders to hundreds of foot soldiers Tuesday in his battle against a new downtown arena and upgraded football stadium. It has been about a week since Rosen launched his petition drive, which aims to place a venues question on a future Orange County ballot. The ballot would ask voters to change the county charter to require voter approval for any arena or sports stadium that would cost more than $25 million.

Rosen hopes the effort will, in effect, reverse the County Commission's July vote to fund the construction of the sports venues. Rosen has said he About 350 people of all stripes crowded into a ballroom at one of Rosen's hotels, ready to enlist in the outspoken businessman's petition drive to overturn the month-old approval of a new Orlando Magic arena and upgraded Citrus Bowl.

"We will prove to all of the naysayers out there that we can do it," Rosen said to loud applause. "It's going to take a tremendous effort, but it can be done."

does not oppose a new performing-arts center also approved in the July vote because it has widespread support.

There have been no successful petition drives to amend the county charter in its 21-year history. Under the rules for amending the charter, the petition must be signed by at least 10 percent of the registered voters in four of the six county voting districts.

That is a big task, and supporters have only six months to do it -- or less if they want the question on the Jan. 29 ballot. The petition drive also faces an almost-certain legal challenge from city and county lawyers.

Still, volunteers learned it could be a bit easier than they thought. Rather than getting signatures from one of every 10 registered voters in the entire county -- nearly 50,000 names -- as initially thought, the effort needs that percentage from just four districts. That translates to less than 31,000.

Rosen laid out his strategy Tuesday. The effort will target districts 1, 2, 3 and 6 -- leaving out districts 4 and 5, which include Winter Park, Maitland, Edgewood, Belle Isle, an area south of downtown, and southeast Orlando.

Like a politician mounting a modern, computer-assisted campaign, Rosen handed out maps and lists of registered voters' home addresses for each district, broken down by precinct. Rosen said he wants at least 10 volunteers knocking on doors in each district, each gathering 25 signatures a day for a combined 1,000 names per day.

County Commissioner Fred Brummer, one of two who voted against the $1.1 billion sports-and-arts-venues plan, took the microphone to deliver a lesson he called "Petitions 101": Visit homes in the late afternoon or early evening, be polite and don't walk on the grass.

"This is not just about tonight. . . . We are going to have to spend the next 60 days in hot, sweaty weather knocking on people's doors," Brummer said.

Doug Guetzloe said he and his group, Ax the Tax, would be active in the petition drive.

Doug Guetzloe said he and his group, Ax the Tax, would be active in the petition drive. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda, Orlando Sentinel / August 28, 2007)

There was no shortage of volunteers. Political activist Doug Guetzloe said he and members of his Ax the Tax group would circulate petitions. Malone Stewart, second-in-command at the Orange County Sheriff's Office, said he had fought in Vietnam for the right to vote. Time-share mogul David Siegel said he hoped to deliver "a couple thousand" signatures from his own employees.

"We don't need any of these venues now," said Siegel, saying Central Florida's tourism economy is suffering because not enough money is being spent to market Orlando. "We definitely don't need to steal the money from the tourist tax, which was set up to promote tourism."

Most of those at Rosen's rally don't earn a living from tourism. Asked for a show of hands from those who do, only about 35 hands went up. Rather, the crowd seemed to reflect a broad spectrum of residents opposed to the venues plan.

Doug Guetzloe, Chairman of Ax the Tax, speaks to the volunteers

(Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda, Orlando Sentinel / August 28, 2007)

"I'm against the arena. It's corporate welfare that's going to an out-of-state billionaire," said Woody Murasco, a waiter who lives in Winter Park, referring to Magic owner Rich DeVos. "The whole process was flawed, from the first dog-and-pony show when they announced they were doing this."

The crowd cheered loudest for Rosen, dismissing accusations that the hotelier simply wants the venues killed so more tourist-tax money will flow to International Drive and bring more guests to his hotels.

"If we work hard, we'll win this fight," former County Commissioner Ted Edwards, Rosen's attorney, told the crowd. "We have a great general -- Harris Rosen -- who has fought many fights before."

Mark Schlueb can be reached at mschlueb@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5417.