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Public Comment
From:Tom <
Sent:Sunday, September 27, 2020 9:40 PM
To:Public Comment
Subject:Council mtg. Sept. 29, 2020, Item 7 - sale of stadium property
September 27, 2020
To Anaheim Mayor and City Councilmembers:
Because it is an outrageously one-sided deal, I am opposed to the pending agreement to sell the stadium
property to a company apparently controlled by Angels owner Arte Moreno.
It is my firm belief - shared by many expert professionals in real estate and city finance - that this deal gives
away hundreds of millions of dollars of Anaheim taxpayer money.
For residents outside of Anaheim, this deal looks like a sad joke of self-inflicted bumbling and false choices. It
does them no financial harm. But for Anaheim residents - who own the valuable stadium property - this is a
massive, historic giveaway costing at least $1,000 for every man, woman and child in the city.
Here are just some of the problems with this deal:
1.Property Undervalued
. In recent years, provisions of the Angels lease were manipulated so as to
undervalue the property. Meanwhile, the city-sponsored appraisal of value was manipulated to lower the cost to
the buyer.
2. Shrinking Sales Price
. Why are Anaheim taxpayers reimbursing $169 million to the buyer/developer
(“credits”) for features such as a park and affordable housing, when these items are ALWAYS the responsibility
of any developer (especially one who’s receiving approval for 5,175 housing units!)
3. Mysterious Removal of City Manager
. Under mysterious circumstances midway through the negotiations,
the city manager was forced out of his job and paid a $475,000 buyout.
4. “Saving Baseball”
. Underpinning the negotiations has been a laughingly false narrative about “saving”
major league baseball in Anaheim. Sensible folks know this is just leveraging and posturing.
It’s not too late to reconsider the price and terms, and avoid the embarrassment and lawsuits that are sure to
follow this one-sided deal. Anaheim residents deserve a better deal, and a fair deal.
Tom Daly
State Assemblymember
th
69 District
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