He talked about how all negotiations were being done in secret even from the councilmembers. What information that is out is that the north hall of the convention center is to be torn down and the land given to the team owners ($40 million value); the taxpayers will build the stadium ($70 million cost, $175 million bond payoff) and the City will pay for 188 new replacement housing units ($14 million). The owners get to sell the naming rights (current bid is $120 million), and advertising rights ($3 million a year); they get ticket revenues, luxury box revenues and concession income. This adds up to a gift of public funds in the $300 to $350 million range; all when we need more police, more fire prevention and the schools can't afford books.
The ultimate insult is that there is no guarantee the team will stay here 25 years until the bonds are paid off. History says in about 10 years the owner will sell the franchise for really big money and the new buyer will blackmail the taxpayers into building an even newer stadium to keep the team in town.
Also, a little salt rubbed into the wound is that the existing underground parking at the convention center will be reserved for the luxury box holders forcing patrons of the center to walk several blocks after they find open parking.
It is not that anyone is against having a sports team in town, the question is just why is Redevelopment law being used to subsidize one of the most extraordinarily successful businesses around-sports teams. Yes, Redevelopment law. The "R" word is noticeably absent from the Los Angeles newspaper; as if by not using the word, no one will know what an enormous giveaway of public funds can take place without a vote of the people. The Redevelopment Agency, now often renamed the Community Development Commission, can sell all the bonds it can, and give away as much as it wants, with no accountability to the taxpayer who will have to pay back all this debt and make up the lost revenue.
So how do we get into these pickles? How does a law (Redevelopment law) that was designed to help clean up truly blighted areas, help bootstrap small businesses and where taxpayers have no vote on any spending, end up being a giant boondoggle for the rich? Little to no new replacement housing is being built or small businesses helped; instead old housing is torn down, small stores are thrown out and large, already wealthy developers are subsidized-corporate welfare. And we get to pay the bill-with no benefit. Jobs are not created, they are only transferred (usually to lower pay) and downtowns are left decimated. Hardly revitalization.
But that's not the only way we get the shaft. It's the school's situation that is particularly galling. The school taxes generated in Redevelopment areas that get diverted to the Redevelopment Agency are in fact mostly "backfilled" by the state; that is, reimbursed to the schools. Since obviously the state can not print money, it must collect these replacement funds for the schools through additional taxes-that of course we all have to pay. That means we pay for our schools twice. Now if you think you are getting short changed the first time, how about at twice the cost?
All for the benefit of millionaire team owners, players and developers. Big business needs to pay for itself, not riding on the backs of schoolchildren and taxpayers.