1-Man’s Opinion-Thursday “Chargers Taking Sniper Fire”
The city of San Diego has gone on the offensive. The San Diego Chargers, in their Fortress bunker, are taking hits.
One guy who spoke out yesterday, was smooth and slick. The other who spoke was a rough as cement pavement.
Mayor Kevin Faulconer, ever the PR maven, was eloquent praising what his City and its attorneys have done to fast forward a plan to build a new Stadium.
County Supervisor Ron Roberts came from a different direction, harsh, blunt an accusatory.
The trench warfare between the two sides continues. The city says it is doing everything in its power to fast-track the process. Everytime the Chargers present a differing opinion, the city seeks a way to solve the issue.
They’ve met three times, but have not yet opened talks about dollars and cents, stadium designs, or financings. The meetings have been all about Environmental Impact studies, interpertations of the law, and a timeline that is growing shorter.
The City-County all star team is of the opinion it is time to go back to the negotiating table and work on all the other aspects of the CSAG financing proposal, and let the legal teams develop the EIR side of the deal.
The mayor maintains the finest minds in the state legal system support their approach to solving the Environmental impact study problems. Everytime they believe there is a solution, the Chargers throw up another road block question. The city “is positive about this, the Chargers are negative”. He is demanding to have a willing partner at the table, not an antagonist, as the team portrays.
City Attorney Jan Goldsmith called out Mark Fabiani, saying “neither of us are CEQA specialists in doing EIR’s, so let the pros handle this”.
But Roberts was the harshest, directly accusing Dean Spanos of not being a willing negotiating partner, saying it appears “the team is trying run out the clock” , so they can move to Los Angeles.
The Mayor has gone public, demanding the Chargers prove they want to stay in San Diego.
At the end of the day, the city brings solutions to every meeting, the Chargers exit with criticism, with no progress being made but they want you to buy their tickets and their jerseys, and they want you to believe they want to stay.
