0

“Mayor Support of Measure C-Is it “B-S”

-0-

Mayor Kevin Faulconer stood his ground for nearly nine months, as the Chargers fired shots, and developed their own Stadium plan without any input from the City.

He exchanged letters, made demands, and says he got concessions from Owner Dean Spanos, about financing for the proposed Tailgate Park Stadium.

So now he has signed off on it, but he seems on a street corner by himself.

Yes he believes in the Chargers motto “Trust Us”, we will get this deal done and not damage the city.

He’s the only one that believes it.

Virtually every City Council members remains adamant it is a bad deal, the Stadium-Convention Center annex next to Petco Park. Virtually every leading city broker, from the Hotel Industry, to the Convention Center groups, remain against the funding package, the risk, and the location. So do the Padres and its ownership.

Are the flimsy promises made in Dean Spanos’ letter of concessions, enough to protect the city, in case there is another downturn in the economy?

Does Faulconer actually need a written signed set of clauses that pertain to specifics like cost-over runs, fixed numbers on marketing money, an assigned number of parking spaces to replace those taken around Petco Park?.

I guess you could call them the ‘devil in the details’, and so far there is no written agreement of specifics. Again, we revert back to the Chargers stance ‘Trust Us’.

You may think the mayor is a slick huckster. You may think he has his eyes on the governor’s job one day in Sacramento. You may think he is just another politician.

But his resume right now includes significant accomplishments from helping solve the pension crisis, to growth of the economy, to infrastructure.

I believed him when he said he would not act on any Chargers proposal, till the city was protected from financial liabilities. He must believe the word of Spanos is going to be his bond. Or he must believe the Mayor’s office holds all the leverage, because nothing goes forward until the measure passes, and every specific clause is negotiated, from financing to architectual style.

This may not be a power struggle or a tug of war, but we are still facing a long drawn out negotiating session if Measure C passes. Most don’t think it will, but there will be a hidden fine print in all this.

Spanos can leak info he gave the city 10M in concessions, and he has spent 5M so far to try and advertise the Measure C specifics. Too bad, you created this Stadium mess with your business dealings, so you are now paying your way back to get a deal done. No one feels sorry for a rich man, who wasted millions trying to get out of town. Now he has to pay to get something done downtown.

If it, the stadium vote, goes down, Faulconer won’t have killed it, the voters will have done it in.

But by taking this stance after getting concessions he felt necessary, he has reopened the line of communications with Team Spanos, for the next set of ideas, be it at a different downtown sight, or back at the Qualcomm sight.

The major players are finally talking, 9-months after all the venom the team spilled about Faulconer, CSAG and city officials.

Is the Mayor’s stance on Measure C, some type of B-S? No, just laying out the A-B-C’s of what will be the next Stadium proposal.

This is better than it’s been for a long time. But it is only step one in what will be many steps to solve this stadium situation. Progress in small steps, unlike Spanos football team, which is going backwards.

Faulconer cannot do anything about that though..

-0-

Please follow and like us: