More on the arena talks

Good discussions on the arena question the other day, so I’d like to try to keep that going. I am definitely sympathetic to those who believe that not paying the tax guarantees the Kings will skip town. We have to pay money or something bad will happen to us… I think I saw that on The Sopranos.

Talks will resume today in beautiful Las Vegas, Nevada (if you’re wondering, yesterday was apparently “exhausting but productive” according to Darrell Steinberg–more on him below). Here is an interesting tidbit from today’s update: “In Sacramento, another major cost escalator on projects over $25 million is a city requirement that workers be paid Bay Area-scale wages.” Huh? How’s that again? Part of the added cost is that the added cost adds additional cost. I don’t know how this State can afford to buy the paper that the budget is printed on (when it gets around to being printed).

Also not helping the cause is Steinberg. Isn’t he a populist, a liberal Democrat, a proponent of “responsible development“? Note in that article that Steinberg led a group to oppose Arnold’s deal that would have led local gov’ts to rely heavily on sales tax revenue. Now he’s working for the Maloofs to make sure they’re able to get their new arena built using tax revenue. What’s good for the gander is not good for the geese, apparently.

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Author: CoolDMZ

"X-ray vision to see in between / Where's my kimono and my time machine?"

5 thoughts on “More on the arena talks”

  1. I am definitely sympathetic to those who believe that not paying the tax guarantees the Kings will skip town. We have to pay money or something bad will happen to us… I think I saw that on The Sopranos…

    From the Bee:

    All parties agree this is the last chance to make a deal and get the measure before voters in November. If talks fail, the next chance the issue could go before voters is in 2008, a scenario that officials say could result in the Kings franchise leaving the city.

    and from Joe Maloof:

    And the longer we wait, the higher construction costs will go. Copper, steel, they’re already astronomical. We just can’t wait another two years (for 2008 ballot).

    I don’t see this as a “belief” at this point. You may not like being held hostage by the team, but that’s the situation we’re in. Like it or not, we’re going to be voting on whether or not the team stays in Sacramento. My 25 cents per $100 says yes.

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  2. My 25 cents per $100 says the Kings can kiss my butt, sometime when it’s not busy sitting at a RiverCats game. Yeah, I said it.

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  3. “a scenario that officials say could result in the Kings franchise leaving the city”

    that’s so transparently biased it makes me want to kick a puppy.

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  4. Well, the talks didn’t result in a plan. I’m guessing it’ll be the Las Vegas Kings before too long and Sacramento will once again return to not having a professional sports team.

    …Not like I watch professional sports.

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  5. Cool – Great Job on the Steinberg flop-flop. Great research. Good old steiny is notorious for his abillty to create creative ways to tax you as He and his cronys have found numerous ways to tax the living hell out of the state over the last 4 years. He is an expert on taxing you and that’s why he was hired by J&G.

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