City Hall Elevator Rumblings #31
Rider #1: The Monday, one agenda item council meeting was really sad. What should have been a simple meeting to vote on an extension to Billy Bob’s commitment to secure his $80 million in funds for the $250 million Entertainment Center progressed into a ‘cat fight’ of epic proportions.
Rider #2: No joke! And it wasn’t pleasant seeing one of the council members storming out of their seat several times and loudly admonishing speakers at the dais. It got to the point that I thought paramedics would have to be called to take this council member to Parkland Hospital for Kool-Aid intervention and detox; and then, provide oxygen to another council member who seemed to be dozing while citizens were speaking.
Rider #1: I think we all knew that the vote was going to be 6-3 in favor of granting Billy Bob an extension. What I still cannot understand is how six members* continue to refuse to listen and hear the financial jeopardy they are placing the city in. The current contract with Billy Bob has more holes in it than a slice of Swiss cheese. And Billy Bob gets the cheese...the tax payers get the holes.
Rider #2: Really! The guy has a 100 year lease; doesn’t have an escalation clause included for rental increases for the first 50 years; is not liable for any bonded debt the city will incur; and many other contractual quirks that favor him as the ‘minority’ partner in the agreement.
Rider #1: Of course, if Billy Bob’s lawyers are responsible for drafting the agreement and the council is too infused with his addictive Kool-Aid to protect the city’s interest, this is what happens. And I could be wrong, but quoting Rudyard Kipling at the meeting to solve the financial quagmire six council members are forcing on the tax paying public just doesn’t seem to rectify the issue.
Rider #2: When the bond rating agency returns their results, the tipping point on this issue will be met. And from all appearances, the six Kool-Aid-addicted council members will not flinch from approving Billy Bob’s Boondoggle...maybe short of a DOJ investigation or an Occupy City Hall mob.
- Six members who continue to support the Billy Bob Financial Charade are believed to be: Stopfer, Cannaday, Santoscoy, Gallaway, Webb and Patrick.
A note from counsel: These “candid” elevator conversations have been injected with fabricated nouns, verbs, adjectives, conjunctions, adverbs, modifiers and maybe a few dangling participles….Mark Holbrook
