It's hard to consider Wolff's proposal as a "contortion" if the "extraordinary benefit" is part of the law. That's not to say the MN isn't trying.
Then we should start referring to Lew's plan as "The best deal ever offered by any developer, to any city, in any era." Of if that's too soft, how about we write letters to the Murk complaining that Wolff is "destroying the Quakes' future" with his "inexcusable giveaway to the City of San Jose."
My opinion of the deal has been made clear by my responses to the various articles where it has been mentioned.
Owns? Pardon me if I didn't read the news in the Merc, but I thought it was just an option on the Edenvale land, and a negotiating agreement on the FMC land.
I think he exercised his option on the i-star land back in June. Thats what drove the timing of the June 12th council meeting - the option was coming up the following week.
i don't claim to know much about politics or real estate, zoning, re-zoning, no-zoning or even ozoning. I am just a footie fan, if they build it I will come.
I think I have heard of this happening before, of course it is with the City of Fremont and gee wiz, it's the same developer. The man is a genius to be able to come up with a win win situation and the Merc just doesn't know how to handle that. There isn't any bad news here and since they seem to have to be against everything, they seem to be making up stuff or just trying to ignore it and hope it goes away.
Yesterday night on KLIV 1590, Chuck Reed was taking questions on the air live at 7pm. I was driving home and decided to call in. To my surprise i got on and asked him why he thinks the Murky News is trying to cause controversy with this deal since its a win win for all? (I do not know if anyone on these forums heard it, better yet, i got a little nervous during my question) Anyway, I started by saying i was one of the fans at the council meeting, then Reed asked if was i the one wearing the Quakes jersey. After our chuckle, he told me he was not about to criticize the Murk on the radio (i think they own the station?) but that in his conversation with Lew and all his business partners, he had made it clear that all their rules and regulations for rezoning had to be followed by all. And so far, he felt they were living up to that. Unfortunately there is not audio of the interview show I think he is on this station once a month, hopefully next time, more Quake fans can call in.
I didn't hear it, but thanks for calling in. He's wisely taking the high road on this, which is in the best interest of all. Basically, it's "we have rules, we told him he has to play by the rules, and it appears that the proposal is playing within the rules." That leaves very little room for criticism.
Yes thanks for calling in! Reed maybe playing this just right. He should be unscathed by the SJGP mess since he always opposed the subsidy. And it will be a BIG MESS. It's kind of a Nixon to China thing. Only a hard core fiscal conservative will be able to cut this deal. If Chavez was Mayor and the wheels just fell off the SJGP a couple of weeks before the big council meeting we'd be hosed.
Nixon was a lot of things but being a die-hard anti-communist was what enabled him to go to China. Though he did kind of act like a communist when he imposed national wage and price controls in '71.
Not to mention his proposal for single payer, all inclusive medical coverage for all citizens. The wage and price freezes were a reaction to the "out of control" inflation of that era.....about 4% (annually) as I recall. Nixon's downfall was solely his paranoia.
Single-payer, all-inclusive medical coverage? Oh, no, we wouldn't want that. It's much better to have the present situation we have now in medical care in this country (sorry--in the U.S.) not that socialized medicine.
Ask somebody in a socialized med country that's waiting years for a kidney. Having said that, the insurance companies suck.
Eminent domain action item [karma] - bulldoze the Merc headquarters off Brokaw/880 and build an SSS. The paper seems to be rapidly deteriorating anyway, right? Ergo, extraordinary benefit.
I had my lower back re-constructed in 1996 (I have pedicle screws, a couple of titanium rods, plus they did a laminectomy and bone fusion). Once the diagnosis was complete, it took almost two years to get my insurance company to OK the operation.....then they did not notify me or the surgeon, which added another six months. I chuckle when I hear the stories about how people need to wait for elective surgery in other countries. I also question the stories about the waits for necessary operations. The negative stories are only valid if they are in the context of comparison to the wait involved in the current US insurance nonsense. When organ transplants are involved, much of the wait often has little to do with who is paying the bill. I have a very good friend who is now in her 80s. She is a staunch conservative Republican, living in Bullhead City AZ. She was born in Britain and lived in Canada for about half of her life. Her family still lives in Canada. Even though she is a real conservative (not to be confused with today's younger posers), she contends that the Canadian system is, by far, superior to what the US offers. Before becoming a US citizen, she always went to Canada for major medical care, even though she could easily afford care in the US. Again, sorry to get so far off topic (which leads me to believe the actual topic has probably been beat to death in the first place). But, when someone posts something about which I have an opinion, I will respond. I will say that my friend loved British football.....at least that gets us close.