Which came first…..the arena chicken or the development egg? Who is ultimately responsible for lining Glendale up with a bond obligation that might put them over the edge?
So when Jerry Moyes tried to play nice with Council in the open meetings in Glendale months and months ago, he wasn’t dealing with a fair deck.
Moyes was continually shunned as he explained the Coyotes were not viable, and the $50 million Jim Balsillie was offering the City to relocate the hockey team was at least enough to cover off some interest.
At the root of memory sticks some points that cannot easily be shaken from the frontal lobe – - the biggest was Glendale’s comment in court that if the Coyotes should leave, they would have to replace the team with another hockey team. That sounds more like a deal with greedy investors promised sales tax related usury over taxpayers – - making it seem less likely the N.H.L. was behind the arena deal (although there were rumors there could be conflicts of interest for certain parties of influence…shhh…..you could be waking up in Vegas! Shhhhh……). Yep, those private mega-suites — sweet! But that’s another story isn’t it? I hate this sport, I hate this sport, show me the next arena, I hate this sport….
And for the need to replace the hockey team with another, we said, “says who?” What kind of team ya got in mind, Glendale? Does it matter?
Bizarre isn’t it that a comment like that came out. One might as easily have missed it, but for some reason it was bizarre enough to stand out and continue to rear its ugly head.
Who really controls the Jobing.com financing? Who’s pulling the strings? Who holds those arena bonds? How did this nightmare financing bubble get born? Why is Mubadala so interested? What’s on the surface is becoming less and less, as the city councillors are on a “need to know” basis now, and they aren’t being told much!
Perhaps a councillor, such as Joyce Clark, who voted against the current deal should ask these questions. Perhaps, but good luck Ms. Clark, the heads in charge have a track record of only telling folks what they want disclosed.
We only need to look at the heavily edited emails sent to the Goldwater Group, as if a slap in the face, “who are you to ask?” gesture. Those emails from a long time ago also stick in the mind, and so does the reasoning of it being in the best interest of the City not to disclose some information.
Which brings us back to issues of democracy.
How is it possible to have a political process where a few key individuals get to dictate how the approval process works? It would seem a few key individuals may have more power at the City Hall in Glendale than is good for the residents. We only need to ask councillors like Joyce Clark what it’s like to get proper information to make a rational decision. I’m sure based on recent experience she is frustrated, possibly suspect of the agenda behind the scenes.
Why is information not readily available, and how come debate is not wide open?
This case has stunk since inception. We could see deception from the beginning. The charade and arrogance continues but it would seem it is coming to an abrupt end.
In a fashion of poetic justice, perhaps potential bondholders are looking at a City that professes a good game, but has a track record that barks, “Warning Wil Robinson”. Perhaps they are looking at the treatment (or lack thereof) of the past owner of the franchise, and are thinking if they can throw him away like an old newspaper, what will they do to us as investors?
Come to think of it, the NHL brass threw Moyes under the rig, too, didn’t they? They were all too eager to dispense with one of their own. No loyalty to anyone from anybody. Cover your butts 101, eh? What was the big secret that is tied to land development, not hockey? Land development or arena land development? Who is the most guilty? Who was deserving the “instigator penalty” for this one? Was it a City that made a bad deal on it’s own, or a group looking to take financing and build, build, build, muhahahahahahaha!
Nonetheless, the party’s over – - locally and globally! Credit is dried up. Like the con man who borrows all over town, and never pays back, eventually his luck runs out.
Who was the greediest? Who might have looked at sideline income that might have justified using other peoples’ money? Who may be suspect based on secrecy and blacking out emails, that would suggest using their positions for potential personal gain? Is it an issue for the fans and players of a hockey league, or the residents of the City of Glendale to be concerned with?
And why did the bullpen immediately get on the phone together as if looking for the relief pitcher in the 9th inning, when we asked if Moyes was the victim of a squeeze play? And why did they jump to this site to see what could be the ugly truth becoming known?
To figure out this whole conspiracy of making lots of money on development we would have to look at two coins — one looking to build a city, the other a potential empire of sports venues.
Yeah, we’d have to look back on our notes, and that would be exhausting, perhaps not worth it at this point. We’d have to see who had big connections and influence with key people in the sports leagues, and in political circles, and had connections with wealthy investors in the background.
No sense to bother with that stuff now, is there? No sense to really join all the pieces and present a clear picture, right?
Oh, and we’d have to see who stood to build the monopoly they wanted, and who they were influencing, perhaps giving a cut of the action. Yeah, that would be too much work. What’s important at this point is whether the Coyotes can hang on, or should they be taken to the woods. We know the answer. We see where the thread dangled, and when tugged it unravelled more than anyone had bargained for. We are tired though, and perhaps ready to hang up our thinking cap. It’s over…. but just to close two other things are stuck in my mind: The vision of the video of the Winnipeg Arena being torn down after the streets were filled with mourning fans, and the other comment that “the league decides where the teams and arenas get built”. Yeah, those are tough ones too. Really makes one ponder, and think of all the possibilities.
The dog of Glendale has been bitten by deceit. It’s turned rabid. Time to take him to the back 40, and put him out of his misery.
The dog isn’t the question, the question is who represents the dog?
