From the voiceofsandiego.org:
In the midst of a dramatic all-night budget negotiation, Sacramento lawmakers slipped in a bill that would give the state’s approval to raising the cap on downtown San Diego redevelopment to support construction of a new NFL stadium.
The bill would allow San Diego’s Centre City Development Corp. to raise its spending cap from $3 billion to $9 billion for downtown and continue sequestering tax dollars from the rest of the city, county and state.
The maneuvering came at an awkward time. For one, the city is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars supposedly studying whether downtown is blighted and needs to increase its redevelopment activity. It also comes as the City Council and mayor plea with residents to increase the city’s sales tax or face drastic service cuts.
The bill was attached to the budget through a “trailer bill” that had been crafted to support the Williamson Act, which protects rural farmland from development. It also has provisions supporting redevelopment in the city of Richmond. We’re trying to find details of the bill.
I called Assemblywoman Lori Saldaña. She said she did not support the bill, declining to vote on it. “I was just astounded,” she said. “This is a specially worded sweetheart deal that gave Williamson Act supporters, the city of Richmond and San Diego’s CCDC very special and preferential treatment.”
Sean Wherley, the spokesman for Sen. Christine Kehoe, e-mailed me that Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher authored the bill. Saldaña said last-minute dealing to pull together the votes to pass the massive California budget was pervasive and “this was Fletchers deal to get his vote.”
As debate about it proceeded, Assemblyman Chuck DeVore (R-Irvine), tweeted that the bill was “a last-minute budget bill allowing scandal-plagued Centre City Redev. in San Diego to use public money for NFL.” And the Sacramento Bee quoted Assemblyman Chris Norby calling the maneuvering for the new Chargers stadium “corporate welfare at its worst.”
http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/opinion/slop/article_08a00918-d2ff-11df-a209-001cc4c03286.html
I hope the chargers go to the superbowl this year.Last year was such a bummer.Dallas vs sandiego would be great.
Any city that is cutting back on services has no business spending money…ANY money…on studies or construction of a facility that should be paying for itself.
Prestidigitation is government’s noblest deed.
Prestidigitation is government’s noblest deed.
Prestidigitation?
Does he play linebacker?
Will this stop the NFL blackouts of the charger games??????
Oh boy, he’s a monster Jim! 🙂
Good, I hope he can cover kickoffs too!
Betsy,
I have my doubts about the TV blackouts.
Look at the Padres, and Petco Park. Controversial to build, but backed by the promise that “we need the new stadium to put a quality product on the field.”
How did that work out?
Second-lowest payroll in the major leagues, and no signs of it changing.
The fans aren’t going to be filling Petco, and they won’t fill Qualcomm2 either unless they put a winner on the field.
Pro sports have become about owner-profits, not winning.
I hate politicians and professional sports team owners. Especially Republicans who say they want to cut taxes and spending, and then spend taxes on crap like this.
New Chargers stadium = season tickets for me.
Qualcomm stadium is pretty good for monster trucks but a football venue it ain’t.
I don’t care much for the Padres, but the setup is awesome. Pre-game and post-game are way better than the accommodations us Dodger fans are familiar with. Getting the same experience for the NFL would be awesome; there would be no need for black outs.