Petition deadline moved up for opponents of publicly funding stadium

By Conor Shine

Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015 | 12:01 p.m.

Opponents of a publicly funded downtown soccer stadium have one less day to gather the 8,000-plus signatures they’ll need to put the issue on the ballot.

The Las Vegas city attorney said today the petition is due Friday. Opponents were told earlier this month the signatures were due Saturday.

The petition drive, led by political consultant Lisa Mayo-DeRiso and Las Vegas City Council members Bob Beers and Stavros Anthony, was launched after the city voted not to put the contentious stadium issue on the upcoming ballot at a Jan. 7 meeting.

In a split 4-3 vote, the City Council decided in December to give $56.5 million in funding and a 13 acre parcel of land at Symphony Park to support the $200 million stadium.

The opposition group was told it had until Jan. 24 to gather 2,308 signatures to put an initiative on the June ballot seeking to block taxpayer funding for the project.

Then, on Jan. 14, the city clerk informed the group that there was a miscalculation and that it would need 8,258 signatures to qualify for the ballot.

Today, Las Vegas City Attorney Brad Jerbic ruled that the signatures were due a day earlier than expected. The petition must be turned in 130 days before the election, but Jerbic said Election Day shouldn’t have been included in calculating the due date.

Stadium opponents plan to camp out at City Hall starting at 6:30 a.m. Friday to protest the project and continue gathering signatures.

They’ve also hinted at a possible legal challenge contesting the city attorney’s interpretation of the petition law.