That is Question #1 first revealed as something else, then this blurb "The City is proposing the approval of a $100 million 2020 Bond Program that leverages $62 million in reimbursements from the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) to go towards Regional Roadway Improvements, for a total of $162 million available for the Mesa Moves program".
WHAT IS IT REALLY? Highway Robbery paving-the-way for more Fields of Schemes to accelerate private wealth-creation fueled by the burden of more public debt obligations. Make the developers pay - Saints Holdings (and all its hard-to-track for-profit affiliates) have plenty of money!
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RELATED CONTENT ON THIS BLOG: and you can always use the Searchbox - type in Mesa Water Farm, Pinal Land Holdings, Deputy City Manager Natalie Lewis, or Jacob Andersen, or Heritage Park Game on!
The Charades ----
25 August 2019
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.
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?
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.
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
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
19 March 2017
InThe Cubby-Hole @ Sloan Park: Big Biz or Big Bad Debt for Mesa Taxpayers?
Do Stadium/Ballparks Save Cities?
Source: The American Conservative
Baseball stadiums are expensive to build and property prices have always been high, especially considering the amount of parking needed to accommodate 15-20,000 people.
As a result, teams want public financing, tax abatements, and all the other ills that crony capitalism promotes.
Paid for with higher taxes, increased public indebtedness, and highway improvements, the stadiums/ballparks were sold to city, county, and state governments as a form of economic development and urban regeneration.
None of that has happened most of the time - here in Mesa it's questionable with another pitch for another stadium using the same playbook to hoodwink taxpayers to finance the games of millionaire sports team franchise owners or to finance some dodgy real estate development schemes of one kind or another
According to Bloomberg in 2013, sports stadiums don’t fulfill development goals because they’re empty much of the time, the jobs they create are low-wage, and they divert spending on food and beverages from other businesses... retail sales-and-use taxes do get a boost if it's only for the one month of spring training.
Stadium deals are no better than ordinary economic development funds.
Back in December of 2012, the New York Times found that states and cities spend up to $80 billion a year on economic development incentives with nothing much to show for it in the way of stronger economies or more and better paying jobs...
as long as team owners use threats to move a beloved team as emotional blackmail against an entire city—and public officials think can win votes on bad deals—sports franchises will continue to feast on public funds like a slugger on hanging sliders.
Matthew M. Robare is a freelance journalist based in Boston who writes about urbanism and history. This article was supported by a grant from the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation.
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RELATED CONTENT FROM MAINSTREAM CORPORATE MEDIA JUST A FEW DAYS AFTER EARLY VOTING STARTED:
SE Mesa a big focus in city’s $100M bond issue
2020 Mesa Moves Bond Program | City of Mesa
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