During the last BOCC meeting (1/9/19), several statements were made that indicate that our county commission not only intended to conduct negotiations with the Tampa Bay Rays out of the view of the public, who they expected to bare half of the billion dollars of constructing a new stadium in Ybor City, but that they intend to CONTINUE negotiations without public scrutiny. All text in white are directly from the official closed caption scripts of the commission meeting.
Mariella Smith: Over four years ago in October of 2014, a working group was formed to explore the potential of having a stadium in Hillsborough County. Commissioner Hagan was designated as the county's representative, the mayor represented the city of Tampa and we had a representative from the sports authority and some private interest were on that working group. Things are very different now than they were when this working group was formed over four years ago. Things are different now than they were when we last discussed this. Some of the main reasons for having a working group that could operate out of the sunshine no longer apply. For example, they selected their preferred site location and that is public knowledge now. The county has presented a proposed funding framework and that is public knowledge and with all that public information, the public has been wanting to be more involved in the discussions and have more input.
This working group was obviously never meant to "explore the potential of having a baseball stadium in Hillsborough County"; it's purpose was to secretely negotiate a financial deal with the RAYS franchise. Commissioner Smith describes the working group as one whose intent was to work outside the state sunshine laws, i.e. without public knowledge, and how information discovered by a local news media outlet made the negotiations known to the public. Because of the public becoming aware of those negotiations and the resulting backlash against a Rays stadium, Commissioner Smith rightfully felt that this secret working group no longer applied and should be disbanded.
Ken Hagan: I completely agree with those comments. Working within the confines of the sunshine law can be challenging.
Commissioner Hagan affirmed the difficulty of conducting business in the light of public scrutiny. OF COURSE IT IS when you know that the public would disapprove of what is being negotiated. On more than one occasion Ken Hagan stated clearly that he intended for the process used by the Atlanta Braves franchise to relocate their stadium to be the blueprint for how he planned to conduct the process for the Rays franchise move to Tampa. The Atlanta Braves process was conducted completely in secret and even approved by the Cobb County Commission secretly. The president of the Atlanta Braves, John Schuerholz, later admitted that the deal had to be in private to avoid a public backlash (HERE). Ken Hagan intended to keep the Rays negotiations secret from the public for the same reason. How is that even close to being ethical for a commission whose sole purpose is to represent the needs of the people of Hillsborough County?
Less Miller: And the other thing, our attorney is still having conversations both with the baseball commissioner and with Stu Sternberg. I didn't want you to leave here thinking all conversations have stopped because until the Rays sign a contract with Saint Pete or some other city, from our point of view, keeping the lines open are important and, in particular, our attorney wanted both the baseball commissioner and Stu to know that we, in fact, when we said we had private investment money, [w]e did. He offered to provide that to the baseball commissioner as evidence because the commissioner wrote a rather unpleasant letter to us saying he didn't think we had the money. We did have private investors who provide a proposal. He wanted Stu to know that as well. We had our 50% and I didn't want anybody to think....(at this point, Less Miller was cut off by another commissioner)
Here, Les Miller, placating those with financial interests, makes it clear that negotiations WILL continue, and continue outside the state sunshine laws. He also stresses that 50% of the cost for building the stadium has been committed by private interests but neglects to mention that the other 50% would come from public funds. The baseball commissioner was right in saying that we didn't have the money. That other 50%, that $500 million, would be OUR money and the commission, by voting to continue the working group and continue negotiations outside our sunshine laws, are effectively saying that our voice doesn't matter in decisions concerning how OUR money is to be spent. If they are allowed to continue this debacle unopposed, it will benefit only a select few individuals at our expense. Public funds are intended to be used to benefit the PUBLIC and not enrich a few. Independent studies overwhelmingly show that major sports venues DO NOT economically benefit the communities in which they operate.
WHAT DO WE DO WHEN THEY STEAL OUR MONEY?!
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