Business View Magazine | September 2019

146 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2019 more business to the facility.” The price tag for the refurbished convention flooring is “in the $400,000 range,” says Eckerson. “The meeting room upgrade is $130-150,000. The city passed what’s called ‘Measure N.’ They went to the voters and asked for another half cent sales tax and it passed by 97 votes. The estimate is about $60 million in additional revenues. A lot of this money has been designated to hire 100 additional police officers; they’re going to address the homeless issue; there are monies for fire prevention and fire equipment. Then, there’s a piece that the city council approved from these Measure N funds - about $2.3 million - and that’s how these projects are going to get funded. As far as the arena, we’re asking for new dasher boards and glass for our hockey team, which is close to a half million dollars; a scoreboard upgrade; painting of the inside of the arena; painting a pedestrian bridge which crosses railroad tracks; there are 11 or 12 projects that we’re confident that the city council will approve.” Regarding green practices at the Rabobank Arena, Theater and Convention Center, the complex is committed to reducing its environmental impact through ongoing efforts to save energy and water, recycle, and purchase environmentally preferable products. A few of the projects it has implemented to minimize its environmental impact include: a recycling program for glass, plastic, aluminum, cardboard, paper, and more; a composting program for food waste and paper towels; the installation of water-efficient toilets, urinals, and faucets throughout the facility; and a program to purchase recycled-content toilet paper and paper towels. However, other than its planned program to replace its lighting fixtures with LEDs, Eckerson says, “There isn’t a big project that would give us gold certification. We continue to explore solar and also a demand limiter system,” he adds. “When it comes to solar, though, there’s no way to put solar panels on the roof to create a solar field. It’s not cost-effective, presently. But we are certainly conscious of our environment. AEG has a