Rip (Off) City
The Trail Blazers are in the news again today, the action is off the court, and it ain't good. First, OPB has a wicked hit piece posted this morning about Tom Dundon, the guy in charge of the ownership group that's buying the team from the Paul Allen estate. The deal is scheduled to close on Tuesday.
According to OPB article, which is extensive, Dundon made some of his fortune literally exploiting poor people with predatory car loans. The company he was managing got in big trouble for it, and reportedly some of its worst practices were Dundon's idea.
The guy's shady past isn't exactly news, but what struck me about the story is that somehow, overnight, the price tag for the Moda Center renovation, which Dundon says must be fully paid by taxpayers, has jumped from $600 milion to $870 million.
Lawmakers recently approved $365 million in public funding to renovate Portland’s 30-year-old Moda Center, home to the Blazers, one of Oregon’s most prominent businesses. The bill awaits Kotek’s signature. Combined with city and county money, the total proposed public backing has reached $870 million, far exceeding what the team originally asked for.
I've been saying for weeks that the politicians should tell Dundon and the league to go pound salt. My love for the Blazers died when they started tanking away the seasons with lousy teams and a sleazeball coach. Now they'll have sleazeball ownership, too? Let the billionaires renovate their own funhouse.
Which brings us to another Blazer story, in the Weed, where that rag's fair-haired genius, Portland City Council member Steve Novick, is dead set against spending a penny out of the city's notorious "climate tax" slush fund to spruce up the Blazers' arena. Little Stevie is the swing vote on the council these days, and between him and the socialistas sitting on his left, he could derail the city's part of the deal. A fly in the ointment, as it were.
When I find myself agreeing with Novick, I'm always a little nervous. He's been a big part of the mess that the city's in today. But like him, I don't enjoy being blackmailed. Particularly not by a bunch of creeps.
Portland potentially losing the Blazers would really be the icing on the cake. A very moldy and rancid cake that is.
ReplyDeleteName me one billionaire that didn't rip off the little guy in one form or other. And it's not just pro sports- how much money has the U of O (and all the others) spent on sports, which is one of the chief reasons tuition has gone way above the rate of inflation? How many billions have been given out to non-existent "healthcare" and "education" businesses? California by far leads the way- even though Minny has gotten most of the press lately). Oregon's grift in that area is just starting to crack the surface, but we always follow Commifornia's lead.
ReplyDeleteSo as much as I don't like being pushed around by rich sports owners, that is the price of admission. I'd much rather spend money on improving the arena, then having an underground welfare system that shells out who knows how much to who knows who?
And btw- the Climate Action Fund is just another slush fund to solicit political favors. No wonder the hook wants to keep it around.
No one who is not self-interested or on the pad has made a cogent case for why the arena must be, somehow "impoved." No one dares use the term, "upgraded," or even the far more accurate, "comfy for expense-account types." When sports is involved, pols lose their marbles.
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