Take-Me-Out To The Mesa Council's Ball Game & Photo Opp: Paid In Full

Throw in some peanuts and Cracker Jacks inside the Upper Chamber for last Monday's public meeting and it's hard to beat City Manager Chris Brady's off-season extravaganza with all the boys of a hot summertime all lined up to show a big graphic. This opening image was taken from Twitter.
If you missed the show on Monday, there's a post on this blog to view it.
There are 15 people in the image: a crowd. Some of that is explained below in an article from AZ Big Media.

Other details are omitted . . . If you're not good at connecting the dots, please just believe the mainstream media hype.
Please don't even dare to ask who bought-and-sold some 11,442 acres in carefully-crafted land transfers that follow the usual development playbook to make fortunes off former agricultural lands all with water-rights that run with the land.
The end buyer of the acreage? Saints Holdings LLC.
Time for readers to do some digital work - use the Search box on this blog. Suggestion: type in Mesa Water Farm, Pinal Land Holdings, Natalie Lewis, or Jacob Andersen. Game on!
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 Trading hands, holding companies and joint ventures.
There are some details about the buyer missing, including 'pay-offs' all along the way for what's called "now obsolete water-rights" - the most precious commodity here in the desert. 

Mesa will pay off Sloan Park and Hohokam Stadium ahead of schedule
Business News | 20 Aug | AZ Business Magazine

"The Mesa City Council took steps today to pay off the remaining debt on its two Spring Training facilities — Sloan Park and Hohokam Stadium — ahead of schedule which will save the city millions of dollars in interest payments. With the completion of the sale of City-owned land in Pinal County, City Manager Chris Brady recommended council action that will set aside $54 million to retire the obligation bonds.

“Very few communities can say that they have paid off their stadiums and even fewer in just five years. Now, every dollar generated by Spring Training goes directly to the City,” Mayor John Giles said. “Thank you to the 2010 Mesa City Council who had the foresight to set this innovative plan in motion.”

In April 2013, the City issued $94 million of excise tax revenue obligations to finance the construction of Chicago Cubs Sloan Park and the renovation of Hohokam Stadium, the Spring Training home of the Oakland Athletics.

When issuance of the bonds was authorized, revenue from the sale of Pinal County land owned by the City for its now-obsolete water rights was identified as the funding source to repay the obligations. . .

Roughly half of the bond debt ($45 million) was eligible to be paid off early in July 2017 and was done so shortly thereafter utilizing proceeds from the initial sale of a portion of Pinal County land. The remaining principal ($49 million) will be removed from the City’s outstanding debt obligation.

Source: https://azbigmedia.com

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