Why do we give our money away?

Glendale Ballpark Deals in Limbo

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/05/24/20090524ballsalestax0524.html

I just don't get it! Never, in the history of government, has anyone in government offices, under the direction of government officials, with the help of government entities, been able to effectively negotiate anything worthwhile! When Glendale bought, and paid for, the now-named Jobing.com Arena, they used taxpayer money, "in their best interest", hoping it would generate a tax revenue windfall. It didn't! In fact, their complicated and sophisticated negotiations gave them concessions and deal, and then, to top it off, refused to put ANY teeth into the contract for failing to honor their agreement. I am, of course, referring to the 8 months of back rent owed by the Coyotes that their only recourse was to send a stern letter asking for the money. Now the Coyotes are in bankruptcy and threatening to move to Canada. I wonder how much money the citizens of Glendale made on this deal, after the building and other fees that went into its construction, not to mention all the lost concessions and tax revenues. I'm thinking we made a deficit profit (for the academically challenged, that would a debt, which must still be paid...BY THE TAX PAYERS OF GLENDALE!).

Now, Glendale has been in negotiations for 2½ years to receive monies from tax payer funded projects. Oh wonderful, here we go again. They made agreements, verbal or otherwise, then committed money to construct facilities, and then...wait for it....

WAIT FOR IT!

Never completed the paperwork! What rocket scientist thought that would work better then actually writing the deal down on paper and forcing a legally binding commitment? Now the City of Glendale basically has no "legal" right to claim the money as there was no agreement officiated and consummated (a signed paper for those still challenged).

When are we, the people of this city, county, state, country, whatever, realize that giving the government any kind of control with our money is just plain stupid? I'll leave you with this parting thought: President Obama ran his campaign on the platform of CHANGE, in which he kept his word. He changed our hard-earned tax dollars into C - H - A - N - G - E! He even managed to C - H - A - N - G - E our money from our hands to someone elses, like Bank of America, Chase, GM (bankrupting), and Chrysler (bankrupting), and even foreign entities.

Do you suppose this falls under the category of "good negotiations"?

Glendale Charges the Little Guy, Gives the Big Guy a Pass

http://www.azcentral.com/community/glendale/articles/2009/03/04/20090304gl-coyotes0304-ON.html

Headline: No penalty for Coyotes' missing payments to Glendale

The Phoenix Coyotes won't have to pay any penalties to Glendale for missing eight months of rent and other charges at Jobing.com Arena. Glendale's contract with the team doesn't stipulate any fines for late payments. The Coyotes have an "unlimited" amount of time to repay or rectify any missed payments, the contract reads, as long as the team "commences to cure such breach within 30 days after the team's receipt of such notice."

So what does 8 months of payments look like? The NHL team shells out $42,708 each month to Glendale for rent at the city-owned ice hockey arena, as well as a percentage of parking fees, sales taxes, security costs and repairs. That's $341,664.00 in rent alone, not counting the "other fees" Glendale is not getting. Mind you, this total continues to increase when another month is not paid.

So what happens when you or I miss our monthly water payment, that is around $75.00? We get disconnected! Let's look at this. We'll assume 1,000 Glendale utility customers don't pay their monthly bill of $75.00 and they get disconnected two weeks later. That comes to: $75,000.00 due. Now factor in that an employee of Glendale must make physical contact with each address to disconnect the water, so now we're adding in gas, trip time, employee wages, printing of the little piece of paper they hang on the door to say your service was disconnected, and finally, maintenance on a fleet of vehicles to do all of this. And let's not forget the multiple mailers with paper, envelopes, postage, and the person who now assembles everything. Now they are losing money. Have no fear, if they can't get YOUR money for the $75.00 bill, which now adds a disconnect/reconnect fee, adding another what, $50.00, they go after the rental landlords (see http://www.azcentral.com/community/glendale/articles/2009/01/30/20090130gl-rental0130-ON.html, "Glendale wants landlords to pay tenants' overdue utility bills"), if there is one, now incurring legal and court fees, attorney's fees, and who knows what else. Now the deficit is probably hovering over $140,000.00, or more, to collect those 1,000 customer's due.

Wow! That's amazing! All that for a thousand customers in default. For the Coyotes, they send a well-worded letter that costs maybe a buck total to produce and then just wait...and wait....and wait...and WAIT.

Have no fear, though, if the Coyotes ever leave Glendale "early" we are entitled to a $750 million penalty. Of course, if the Coyotes ever leave, it'll probably be because no one is attending their games and they are bankrupt. You see, those same 1,000 customers who can't pay their measly $75.00 water bill can't afford the $15.00 to $300.00 dollar tickets, plus parking, plus the heavily taxed food and beverages, and any memorabilia, that, oh wait, the Coyotes aren't giving to Glendale anyways.

Explain to me again how Glendale made a good choice to bring the Coyotes here.