Outrage Drives Renaming of Schwarzenegger Stadium in Austria

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's failure to spare the life of ex-gang leader Stanley [Tookie] Williams has brought a negative reaction from some of his former countrymen. According to this article from Austria's Die Presse, while Schwarzenegger Stadium will be renamed, 'Arnold' will get to keep the ring of honor the City of Graz gave him, since, 'Things are more difficult with a ring of honor.'

By Michael Lohmeyer and Ernst Sittinger

Translated By Hartmut Lau

December 16, 2005

Original Article (German)    

Death Penalty Opponents Demonstrate At California's State Capital Last Week.

Coalition partner SPO [Social Democratic Party of Austria] unites with two opposition parties, KPO [Communist Party of Austria] and the Greens, against the party with the most votes in the City Council, the OVP [Austrian People's Party].


Stanley 'Tookie' Williams.

The telephone operators are faster than the politicians. They say "Liebenau Stadium" when they answer the phones at the "Arnold Schwarzenegger Stadium Graz." That will remain the stadium's official name for a few more weeks. The Greens want to introduce a proposal to rename the stadium, which is named after the governor of California, at a January City Council session.

The city owns 100% of the stadium. The proposal will definitely be supported by the Communists and most likely will also be supported by the Social Democrats. Those three parties, taken together, have 30 of the 56 seats.

Karl-Heinz Herper, leader of the SPO caucus in City Hall, said, "As the party's chairman I can say that we will agree to a renaming. This issue will also be a topic of our Party's convention on January 13th." After all, he continued, Graz is "the first European Human Rights City." The earliest possible date for making the proposal is the Council's January 19th session.


Not Everyone Was Against the Execution.

The City Council has already dealt with Schwarzenegger on two occasions. The current discussion was initiated after Schwarzenegger declined to grant clemency to ex-gang leader Stanley [Tookie] Williams (51). Williams, convicted of four murders, which he nevertheless claimed not to have committed, was killed by means of a poisonous injection on Tuesday. 25,000 people protested outside the prison.


Arnold Schwarzenegger Stadium in Graz

Wolfgang Riedler (SP), the Director of City Finances, asked Siegfried Feldbaumer, CEO of the Graz Convention Center, which is responsible for the stadium, "to examine what sponsors might be available for naming the stadium." In point of fact this has been a consideration for some time. Feldbaumer said, "We undertook an examination of basic factors, independent of any political discussion." The sale or rental of naming rights is to bring in cash - an amount in six figures is expected. Although the politician Reidler believes that a renaming is possible without politics, Feldbaumer doesn't see that as an option. "Without a broad consensus amongst the owners a renaming is not likely in practice."

Another option currently being discussed is naming the stadium after a well known son or daughter of Graz - albeit one who is no longer amongst the living. When the stadium was named in 1997, there was no City Council resolution, only one in the General Assembly. Former mayor Alfred Stingl (SP) chaired that session and cited Schwarzenegger's activities on behalf of handicapped athletes as the justification for naming the stadium after him.


Will This Austrian Stamp, Too, Be Revoked?

In Thal by Graz, where Schwarzenegger spent his childhood and youth, the town council decided against a proposal by the Greens to revoke "Arnie's" honorary citizenship. Schwarzenegger also gets to keep the ring of honor given to him by the City of Graz in 1997. SP leader Herper said, "Things are more difficult with a ring of honor."

Herper tested the waters with his coalition partner OVP on Thursday. Herper thinks that there are also "critical voices" in that party. However, these were not heard on Thursday. The spokesman for Mayor Siegfried Nagl (VP) opined, "We see no reason to punish Schwarzenegger. He carried out the law of California.

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