Boondoggle
The lady doth protest too much methinks. The Plain Dealer is the one rewriting history. In an earlier editorial, the paper described all of the wonderful things that Gateway has brought to the community. The bottom line is that whether they knew it or not, in May 1990, county voters were voting whether to keep the Cleveland Indians or the Cleveland Browns. They chose the Cleveland Indians. The minute that vote was finalized, Art Modell was as good as gone.
The paper provided only anecdotal information about the jobs created by Gateway. Yes, there might be 70 jobs that were generated (or more likely substituted) by Gateway which are now held by residents of Warrensville Heights and for which Mayor Sellers is grateful but what kind of jobs are they? Are they full-time? Do they pay a living wage? Are they union positions like the jobs that were at Cleveland Municipal Stadiums. When Gateway first opened, many of the concession stands were operated by volunteers in exchange for a donation to the group they represented for which I'm sure the Cleveland Indians deducted on their taxes. The ballpark was cleaned by a temporary labor service. Everything was done on the cheap with respect to jobs.
Now you're stating that trivial facts are getting in the way of the matter at hand. When the County was approached. Who the bond counsel is. I noticed that you managed to resurrect the "stories" of Ed Fitzgerald's personal life and how it doomed his gubernatorial campaign. When are you going to let go of that one, Fido. Most likely, the plan for the "transformation" of the New Downtown Basketball Arena came on May 24, 2015 when Adam Silver, Commissioner of the NBA, announced that Cleveland would not get the 2018 or 2019 NBA All-Star Game unless there was a dramatic upgrade to a building that was barely 20 years old. Silver's announcement shouldn't have jumpstarted a conversation about upgrading the New Downtown Basketball Arena, it should have prompted an investigation of the NBA by Congress for anti-trust violations or extortion.
Forget the bond counsel issue, forget the timeline. The upgrade of the arena at taxpayer expense is a bad idea. The building does not need an upgrade. It is fine. There are much better uses in Cleveland and in Cuyahoga County for taxpayer dollars than a $140 million project which stands to benefit the 30 or so people in the country who happen to own NBA franchises. You report that the cost of the improvement will be made from rent. How has that worked so far. Do everybody a favor and publish the dollar amounts that have been paid by the Cleveland Indians since 1994, the Cleveland Cavaliers since 1994 and the Cleveland Browns since 1999. And wasn't rent from the arena supposed to go to the Gateway Economic Development Corporation? And by the way, how is the Gateway Economic Development Corporation doing? Certainly that would be a barometer of how well Gateway I is working. As of December 31, 2015, the last date for which financial data are available on the Auditor of State's website, Gateway has a net position of -151 million. That's Negative One Hundred Fifty One Million Dollars. It has debts totaling over $213 million dollars. In the position in 2015 is actually greatly improved over 2014 because in 2015, Gateway started receiving some rather larger infusions of cash from Cuyahoga County. Rent income doesn't even cover operating expenses for Gateway much less the financing costs of Gateway. And you propose taking that rent and diverting it to an improvement which exceeds the cost of the original budget for the arena in nominal dollars.
How many buildings in downtown Cleveland are newer than Gateway? How many non-tax-subsidized buildings are newer than Gateway. The only discernible benefits from this project for the City of Cleveland is the possibility of being awarded an NBA All Star Game. All of the other benefits would accrue to Dan Gilbert, his fellow NBA owners and a small handful people who don't need any further public assistance. That NBA All Star Game is too expensive. Let some other cash strapped urban center have it.