I was looking for the Kings press release and found this
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http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/73358.html
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Editorial: Arena of broken dreams
Learning from the rejection of Q and R
Published 12:00 am PST Wednesday, November 8, 2006
Story appeared in EDITORIALS section, Page B6
Print | E-Mail | Comments (1)
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When Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo led some local dignitaries on a tour of new arenas in Cleveland, Indianapolis and Columbus, the lesson was the same at every stop. Each arena effort failed in a public vote before a follow-up effort finally succeeded. The key was to learn from that first failure and to regroup.
The mayor's tour was four long years ago. Because of the spurts and starts and stalls of local arena politics, it has taken this long to get a proposal to the ballot in the form of Measures Q and R.
The proposal failed in spectacular fashion Tuesday, and no one was surprised. The owners of the Sacramento Kings and local governments never came to terms on an arena deal. Neither the team's money nor its controversial primary owners, the Maloof family, were behind this campaign at the end.
Only the die-hards were willing to increase the county's sales tax by a quarter cent for 15 years. The rest of the community was simply either confused or fed up with a billionaire family that walked away from negotiations because city and county officials wouldn't give them everything they wanted. The Maloofs abandoned their strongest supporters and, reading their recent quotes, now wallow in self-pity. Amazing.
It will take the passage of time, the cooling of heads and the mending of nerves to divine the lessons of this unfortunate campaign. The result was simply so overwhelmingly negative, it is hard to discern anything other than a primal scream from the voters. Surely some objected because Measure R, the quarter-cent sales tax, was technically a general tax that the county could spend however it wanted. Others balked at Measure Q, an advisory measure calling for a "sports and entertainment facility," because it left undecided where this building would actually be constructed. The only thing for sure is that arena backers should never try this formula -- a fuzzy proposal combined with a nondeal -- ever again.
The big questions -- where to build that arena and how to finance it with a combination of public and private funds -- remain unanswered. Before the elusive solution is found, some cold, hard realities will have to sink in with the Maloofs and the National Basketball Association.
This is a unique market in a unique state with very, very high hurdles to pass new taxes. The Maloof style of doing business -- smiles for the camera on the outside, cutthroat negotiations with the government behind closed doors -- is not a recipe for a successful public/private partnership.
Some realities will also have to sink into local political and civic leaders. Translating the community's affection for the Kings into a new facility will require more skillful leadership than has been on display to this point.
Arena supporters say they are forming a permanent organization to keep the idea alive. Good. It's time for us to step back, take a deep breath and think about Plan B.
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==============================
http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/73358.html
==================================
Editorial: Arena of broken dreams
Learning from the rejection of Q and R
Published 12:00 am PST Wednesday, November 8, 2006
Story appeared in EDITORIALS section, Page B6
Print | E-Mail | Comments (1)
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]
When Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo led some local dignitaries on a tour of new arenas in Cleveland, Indianapolis and Columbus, the lesson was the same at every stop. Each arena effort failed in a public vote before a follow-up effort finally succeeded. The key was to learn from that first failure and to regroup.
The mayor's tour was four long years ago. Because of the spurts and starts and stalls of local arena politics, it has taken this long to get a proposal to the ballot in the form of Measures Q and R.
The proposal failed in spectacular fashion Tuesday, and no one was surprised. The owners of the Sacramento Kings and local governments never came to terms on an arena deal. Neither the team's money nor its controversial primary owners, the Maloof family, were behind this campaign at the end.
Only the die-hards were willing to increase the county's sales tax by a quarter cent for 15 years. The rest of the community was simply either confused or fed up with a billionaire family that walked away from negotiations because city and county officials wouldn't give them everything they wanted. The Maloofs abandoned their strongest supporters and, reading their recent quotes, now wallow in self-pity. Amazing.
It will take the passage of time, the cooling of heads and the mending of nerves to divine the lessons of this unfortunate campaign. The result was simply so overwhelmingly negative, it is hard to discern anything other than a primal scream from the voters. Surely some objected because Measure R, the quarter-cent sales tax, was technically a general tax that the county could spend however it wanted. Others balked at Measure Q, an advisory measure calling for a "sports and entertainment facility," because it left undecided where this building would actually be constructed. The only thing for sure is that arena backers should never try this formula -- a fuzzy proposal combined with a nondeal -- ever again.
The big questions -- where to build that arena and how to finance it with a combination of public and private funds -- remain unanswered. Before the elusive solution is found, some cold, hard realities will have to sink in with the Maloofs and the National Basketball Association.
This is a unique market in a unique state with very, very high hurdles to pass new taxes. The Maloof style of doing business -- smiles for the camera on the outside, cutthroat negotiations with the government behind closed doors -- is not a recipe for a successful public/private partnership.
Some realities will also have to sink into local political and civic leaders. Translating the community's affection for the Kings into a new facility will require more skillful leadership than has been on display to this point.
Arena supporters say they are forming a permanent organization to keep the idea alive. Good. It's time for us to step back, take a deep breath and think about Plan B.
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