October 18, 2006
Bee gives F to Q and R
You can probably stick a fork in the latest Sacramento Kings arena plans, after the Sacramento Bee, which has been largely supportive of the team, yesterday ran an editorial urging a no note on the arena ballot measures. "This pains us, so let's get it over with quickly," wrote the Bee editorialists, going on to note that there's still no memorandum of understanding for the project just three weeks before election day, and that city and county officials have refused to make public details of negotiations with the team. (Though the Bee did close by urging arena backers to come back with a new plan if this one loses in November.)
In response, the Sacramento city council promptly voted to continue to keep the latest arena plans a secret. "It's on the ballot; people need to know what's in it," said councilmember Steve Cohn, who argued unsuccessfully for release of the documents, which have been demanded by a lawsuit. "What are people voting on?"
Kings owners Joe and Gavin Maloof, meanwhile, responded by appearing in a TV ad for Carl's Jr. that presents them as billionaires who guzzle $6,000 bottles of bordeaux while being attended to by scantily-clad casino hostesses. Cal State-Sacramento public policy professor Robert Waste declared that the ad "solidifies the image of [the Maloofs] as completely detached and living on another planet." I suppose that's one way to win an election.
The various sides of this deal (the developer, the Maloofs, the City, the County, etc.) all got together to talk about this yesterday. This story is on the Bee website. They report "progress" in that they were all able to talk, but noted that they are no closer on three major issues (parking, arena size and sphere of influence).
I think the next thing they'll do is resort to scare tactics. It may be too late to play this card, though.
Good for them.
Posted by MikeM on October 19, 2006 03:07 PM
The locals had a field day yesterday mocking the ad. Take a look on sacbee.com; it's pretty funny.
They also admitted in the article that the proposal they made on Tuesday was identical to the previous offer that the Maloofs rejected, but then they tout the progress they made.
Hmmm. Maybe they think the Maloofs have short attention spans or some such thing.
I think the only move the Maloofs have left is to threaten to move the team, in order to scare people into voting yes. Finally come out and say, "We will have to move the team if Q&R don't pass. Please, we don't want to move, but we will have to if we fail here."
I think it's the only move they have left.
Posted by MikeM on October 20, 2006 05:08 PM
A News 10 (Sacramento ABC television station) poll released on 10/24 shows there may be life left in Q&R after all. The results are on www dot news10 dot net...
Posted by MikeM on October 24, 2006 05:40 PM
Oh, my. Read what David Stern had to say about the situation:
"I was under the mistaken impression that the deal between the developer and the city had been achieved and was done. We've learned in the course of the on-again, off-again public and private negotiations that no such thing is true. And so, in the absence of a deal between the city and the developer, I don't know what any fair-minded citizen of Sacramento is being asked to vote on."
When was the last time it was a good sign your sports commissioner essentially recommended voters to vote no?
This is just stupid now.
Posted by MikeM on October 26, 2006 01:17 PM
I wonder what the Sacto Chamber of Commerce is thinking sinking millions of dollars supporting Q&R. Basically the Malouoffs stabbed them in the back. I wonder if they will pull back their TV ads. Can we stick a fork in Q&R?
Posted by Michael on October 26, 2006 02:59 PM