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Ken Fait, the Fairgrounds’
presumptive owner presumptuous “owner.”
What the hell? Register headlines telling us that “The New Owner” is promising to give all the full-time Fairgrounds workers their jobs back, the day after they all got pink slips from the state? Everyone acting like the sale to Facilities Management West, still postponed till at LEAST after the Dec. 15 hearing by Judge Horn’s restraining order, is a fait accompli? (Pun intended!)
Thank God for the Daily Pilot’s excellent columnist William Lobdell who saved me a lot of work yesterday putting it all into perspective. Now I can go back to all these Christmas musical arrangements I need to get written this week. (Vern)
Lobdell: Stay vigilant on fair happenings
You’ve got to grudgingly admire Facilities Management West’s moxie.
The winning bidder to buy the 150-acre Orange County Fairgrounds property in Costa Mesa (at a bargain basement $20 million down and $80 million paid over 40 years) has gone for what salespeople call the “presumptive close.”
Relying only on its public relations efforts of late, you would think that a) the Newport Beach-based company already owned the property and b) it would soon be taking over operations of the Orange County Fair.
How presumptuous.
But what did you expect from a company that abandoned a partnership with the city of Costa Mesa — jilted like a teary-eyed bride at the altar — during the bidding process in order to get a better deal for itself?
Don’t let Facilities Management West’s clever public relations campaign fool you. The company still has to clear two high hurdles — on two different tracks — before its assumptions match reality.
First, it needs to complete the deal to buy the fairgrounds property. But litigation, community opposition and a new Democrat governor potentially stand in the way of getting the public property in private hands.
Watch how much pressure Facilities Management West brings in the upcoming weeks to close the deal by year’s end. It doesn’t want to risk what a Gov. Jerry Brown administration might do.
But let’s say, for argument’s sake, that Facilities Management West clears that hurdle and becomes the property’s owner. It will have bought 150 acres of land. That’s it.
It did not purchase the Orange County Fair itself. That entity belongs to the people of California via the 32nd District Agricultural Assn.
People are rightly confused about this because of last week’s events. Why, for instance, did the state issue pink slips to the workers of the 32nd District when it still is the operator — and guardian — of the public’s fair? And why did Facilities Management West promise jobs to those full-time employees, as if it had already worked out a deal to operate the fair?
Does anyone else get a foreboding sense that powerful GOP forces in Sacramento and Orange County are doing everything possible to help Facilities Management West buy the property and wrangle control of the publicly owned fair by the end of the month?
Be sure to read the rest, it’s all timely and important!
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Another good recent piece: “Can Gary Hunt Deliver the OC Fairgrounds to FMW in Time For Christmas?” from Reggie Mundekis’ Pacific Progressive.
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ALSO:
Another point to consider is that a lot of programs and activities at the fairgrounds are only possible with help of numerous volunteers and it remains to be seen how many of them will want to “work for free” for FMW, a profit making business. Perhaps, FMW would welcome the volunteers quitting (maybe even give them a push) so they could claim the fair business isn’t economically feasible and turn the property into a mall, hotels, etc.
The unscrupulous attempts by Facilities Management West to swindle the fairgrounds away from the public exemplify why private companies are incapable of protecting public property. They are only interested in profits to the detriment of the people. They are trying to rob us of our property!
That’s true, but let’s not sound like that’s not what private companies are supposed to do. It IS what they are supposed to do – make a profit for themselves and their shareholders.
That’s why they don’t belong in every single aspect of public life.
Yep. Private corporations should not own national monuments, parks, or fairgrounds etc., they also shouldn’t be receiving handouts from taxpayers. Disneyland doesn’t need a handout. If they did, then that would mean they are doing something wrong. The most financially prudent thing to do in this case is to not sell the fairgrounds. It doesn’t cost taxpayers any money at all to operate and even helps generate tax revenue. Whether you are a Democrat, Republican, Independent, etc., don’t let your government charge you money for swindling you out of something you already own.
Let the “Public” buy the property with the cash sitting in the Wall Street banks.
Let the pension funds make an honest buck from renting space to the Fair and others, instead of adding up toilet paper returns for Wall Street that disappears every 10 years or so on economic downturns.
Just think, there is a 20 percent return on assets just by cutting out the Wall Street cut.
The pension fund managers should be looking at money making projects that earn dollars for future pension payments and stop investing in toilet paper rolls from future Wall Street losses.
Larry Morrissey, you hit the nail squarely on the head. That property will slowly, but surely, be developed. We can kiss our fair goodbye.
Corporate welfare has got to go. Taxpayers shouldn’t have to finance FMW at a time when our state has such a huge deficit. The most financially responsible decision would be to hold on to it since it costs the taxpayer nothing to operate. Let’s hope Jerry Brown does the right thing and cancel the sale and preserve our history and culture.
The LORD will NOT allow MURDER (with Tobacco Drugs – Second-hand SMOKE KILLS) to continue to go on on this property.
The first thing to help with the situation will be “TOBACCO FREE ZONE” signs everywhere on this property.
Whether theatre shows, farmer’s markets, swap meets, carnivals, or business meeting place……………..this property MUST GO TOBACCO FREE!!!!!!!!!
Tobacco drugs have a HUGE liability on them!!!!!!! …..in TRUTH!!!! ….and the liability is going on……………..so……………..