Mpls. City Councilor comes out against stadium plan
Another member of the Minneapolis City Council is calling for a citywide referendum on the Vikings stadium proposal.
Kevin Reich on Wednesday told MPR News he believes the city's voters need to approve the plan in a referendum -- something stadium proponents argue would kill the project. He had previously been circumspect on the issue.
MPR News primer: The Vikings stadium
Create a More Connected Minnesota
MPR News is your trusted resource for the news you need. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.
So far, four council members have publicly endorsed the proposal. It will take seven votes to pass.
The Minneapolis City Charter requires a referendum before the city can spend more than $10 million to finance a professional sports facility.
Rybak argues the deal is structured in a way that avoids the referendum requirement.
Reich says he's skeptical of that argument.
"There's no proposal before us that wouldn't trigger a referendum, and so I stand by our charter," Reich said. "I'm very supportive of the stadium site. It needs to be that site. The infrastructure is there, but we just need to find a way to do it that fits within our city program."
But Rybak says it's premature to count Reich as a "no" vote.
"I think there's been so much counting and recounting and miscounting and early counting of where people are at, that the reality is we just have to let this settle in for a couple days as we work with people," Rybak said.