Letter: Build The Link, and the economic growth will come

Build it. They will come. And the Tri-Cities will benefit. Kennewick voters, please vote yes on Prop. 17-4 to build The Link Entertainment Center.

The facilities will attract national caliber recording artists, comedians, Broadway shows, conventions and conferences. It will also serve as home for indoor sports like youth soccer, gymnastics, hockey and figure skating.

The Link will be funded by a temporary two cents per $10 sales tax paid by everyone who shops in the city of Kennewick, not just those who live there. A recent Dean Runyan survey found that 66 percent of those who shop in Kennewick are not Kennewick residents.

The Link will, in turn, generate $66 million annually in economic activity — more jobs, more visitor spending, and more tax revenue for the city of Kennewick. Kennewick voters, that means more money for police and fire protection, roads and parks without increasing your property taxes.

The time is now to enhance our quality of life. If our community does not improve the current facilities, it will lose revenues to other cities as residents travel out of town for entertainment and convention groups book elsewhere.

Let’s choose to build The Link (www.thelinktc.com). Vote “yes” on Nov. 7.

This story was originally published November 2, 2017 at 2:10 PM with the headline "Letter: Build The Link, and the economic growth will come."