By Roland Murphy for AZBEX
Glendale voters have until May 20 to mail in their ballots for two measures concerning the $1.2B VAI Resort development.
Both ask for either approval or rejection of City Council approvals for the project. Proposition 401 would uphold the rezoning for 10 acres the development owns next to the resort and plans to use for office space and parking. It had previously been zoned for parks and open space, though no plans were ever created to develop or use it as such.
Proposition 402 involves approval of an updated planned area development for the resort.
The election is the latest in a string of efforts by Worker Power, the political outreach arm of California labor union Unite Here, against the planned resort, which has been in various stages of development since 2020.
If completed, VAI Resort will include 660KSF of building space with theme parks, 1,100 hotel rooms, a convention center, an amphitheater and multiple amenities.
Worker Power has spent nearly $135K in direct and in-kind donations encouraging voters to overturn the Council decisions. VAI has spent $455K lobbying for their retention, according to an article in Phoenix Business Journal.
Worker Power’s previous actions against VAI have included a proposed referendum opposing the City of Glendale’s approval of a development agreement with VAI’s owners that would have implemented a Government Property Lease Excise Tax incentive structure under which Glendale would have owned the land and leased it to VAI for a 25-year term. The resort would have saved on property taxes in exchange for other considerations as a result.
Worker Power pursued the referendum claiming the GPLET did not provide sufficient public benefit to justify the incentive.
To avoid the referendum, Glendale withdrew the GPLET and reverted to a previously approved development agreement from 2020 that was too old to challenge.
Worker Power was also a driving force behind last year’s failed ballot measure to raise Glendale hotel workers’ minimum wage to $20. While it would have affected the entire city’s hotel operations, it would have been particularly burdensome for VAI, given the resort’s expected staffing.
A Look at Worker Power
Worker Power is a non-profit organization with both community service and political action divisions. The community service component, however, is exceptionally quiet.
Worker Power Executive Director Brendan Walsh has positioned the group’s activities surrounding VAI as an attempt to secure benefits for all Glendale residents—not just the developer and resort guests—and to promote citizen engagement and transparency.
In an article on the organization, Axios quoted Walsh as saying Unite Here is one of several partners and Worker Power does not focus exclusively on labor issues or labor advocacy. The article stated, “He said its advocacy regarding major commercial projects revolves around ‘equity and corporate and government accountability.’”
Its operational public history would indicate otherwise, however. Worker Power has only ever made major public statements and only undertaken visible activities concerning large-scale mixed-use projects with a significant hotel component. Cases in point:
South Pier at Tempe Town Lake. Then known as Central Arizonans for a Sustainable Economy, Worker Power tried to put the approvals for the South Pier at Tempe Town Lake on the ballot and then filed lawsuits against the City after its petitions were rejected. The group claimed it opposed the project because there were no dedicated affordable housing units on site, even though the developer agreed to make required payments into Tempe’s affordable housing program. Sources close to the project tell AZBEX the litigation was dropped when the developer agreed to allow union representation for its hotel workforce. (Aug. 30, 2022)
Tempe Entertainment District: Worker Power was also instrumental in the defeat of the Arizona Coyotes’ ownership’s proposed Tempe Entertainment District development. After having secured approval and development agreements from the City of Tempe, Worker Power was a leading part of a coalition that placed the project on a referendum ballot, which ultimately led to its rejection. There were numerous misstatements about public funding and aspersions against the developers’ leadership as part of the campaign. The developers had previously rejected unionization demands. (AZBEX; May 19, 2023)
Axon: Worker Power and Unite Here are both closely linked to efforts to overturn the City of Scottsdale’s approvals and development agreements for Axon Enterprise’s planned corporate headquarters and campus developmentin north Scottsdale. Unite Here has presented Axon with a preliminary agreement under which it would have been named the union to represent workers in the campus’ hospitality operations. Axon leadership instead went public with the demand, which they referred to as extortion, and alleged the groups’ representatives had promised not to oppose the development if the company agreed. After a local opposition group undertook a referendum petition drive, Worker Power contributed both funds and in-kind donations.
Envision Encore: Even though there had been no public opposition at the Glendale Planning and Zoning Commission’s March 27 meeting recommending approval for the Envision Encore mixed-use development in Glendale, Worker Power was on hand at the April 22 City Council meeting to express concerns about owner Porter Fields LLC’s plan to include hotels in the development.
VAI’s Campaign
When Worker Power targeted Tempe Entertainment District, the owners’ responses were surprisingly low-key. Axon’s response to its opponents has been extensive and has even resulted in new State legislation to secure its ability to develop its plan.
VAI Resorts’ owners have also actively fought for their project and are campaigning heavily to win voters in next week’s election. As noted above, the owners have outspent Worker Power nearly 3.5-to-1.
Glendale leadership has also expressed support for the project’s referendum victory, including a statement by Mayor Jerry Weiers in an election pamphlet where he railed against “an out-of-state union parachuting into our city to try to determine our future and attempt to cap our productivity.”
The Business Journal article reported VAI Resort President Grant Fisher said the election is about prosperity for Glendale and its residents and said the expansions made to the resorts’ plans have increased its estimated economic output to $2.2B.
If completed and opened, VAI resort is expected to add 2,000 jobs and $32M in annual tax revenue.
Voters will determine where they stand in the next few days.