Gambling Problem?

By The Observer

2/8/10

We have learned that it’s business as usual for city and county government—or maybe it’s getting worse. As you read this exclusive report, keep in mind that most parts are actually true. Not sure which parts? Ask an elected official. You’re going to be surprised—or maybe not.

First, a little background. In October 2008, the Solano County Board of Supervisors voted to spend up to $2 million to find new uses for the 152-acre fairgrounds property. A NO-BID contract was awarded to Brooks Street, a private developer. A committee called Solano360, consisting of two Supervisors and three Vallejo Councilmembers, was formed to oversee the work.

In June, 2009, Brooks Street presented its “vision” to the Board and to the Vallejo City Council. It was called a “vision” because it contained lots of pretty pictures and no details. In fact, it was a fancy brochure whose purpose was to convince taxpayers they had not just been swindled out of $1.5 million. The plan—er, “vision”—was accepted unanimously and uncritically by county and city officials. (If you didn’t know about about any of this, you’re not alone.)

The next step was to do a Financial Feasibility Study. Brooks Street was asked to spend the remaining part of the $2 million allocated in 2008 so it wouldn’t look like the Board of Supervisors allocated too much. Brooks Street, according to the “vision” was supposed to complete this study in 2–3 months, at which time county and city officials would decide whether to throw away more money.

After an unexplained 4-month delay, the big moment arrived: the Financial Feasibility Study was ready. On Friday, January 15th, around 4:00 pm, a notice was tacked to a bulletin board in a broom closet at Vallejo City Hall announcing a Solano360 committee meeting at 4:00 pm on Wednesday, January 20th. You can see a copy of the notice and agenda at this link:

http://solano360.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/solano360_mtg_agenda-report_2010_0120.pdf

Look carefully at agenda item number #1. It looms large in this story:

Receive and accept financial feasibility report. (Action item)

Four days later all of the players met in a small office on Mare Island that, in simpler times, would have served merely as a politician’s love nest. Present were two Supervisors (J. Spering and J. Vasquez), three Councilmembers (S. Gomes, H. Sunga and Oh! Davis), the County Administrator (M. Johnson), both the Vallejo Interim and Assistant City Managers, County and City Attorneys, and one of the Brooks Street partners called Goldfinger (or Goldie?) and four of his minions. Three Vallejo residents who happened to be touring Mare Island stopped in, thinking there might be coffee and donuts. (There wasn’t, because government has to make tough choices.)

The three members of the public were powerless to stop the unfolding horror, especially without caffeine or sugar. This was apparent right at the start, when S. Gomes announced to the group that she was given the “study” (quotes are definitely needed for this) at 7:30 the previous evening. One of the Brooks Street minions said the “study” was sent out 10 days earlier, although his statement was belied by dates inside the posted PDF file and printed document. Regardless, S. Gomes said she was not prepared to vote for any study she had not reviewed. (You go, girl!) No big deal, said the Brooks Street minions, the meeting was not about the “study”. It was just a pretence to get politicians to skip happy hour and show up at 4:00. It was more important for the city and county officials to find a way to work together and spend more money.

Next the members of the public were asked if they had any comments. They grew panicky, because “public comment” was the last item on the agenda, and they hoped to escape before then. J.Q. Public (not his real name) asked nervously whether three days notice was enough to make arrangements for such an important meeting. Maybe there wasn’t time to get coffee and donuts. This drew the ire of Supervisor Vasquez. He berated Mr. Public for insinuating the obvious, that the politicians were up to something, and said Mr. Public was ungrateful. “We exceeded the requirements of the Brown Act. You’re lucky for Sunday and the MLK Holiday, otherwise there would have been only two days’ notice!”

Undaunted, the two other members of the public made similar comments about the lack of notice. One of them, who picked a copy of the “study” out of a trash can, pointed out that 20 of the 79 pages were ads, and the rest of the pages seemed to be cobbled together. At this point, our public servants got confused. They could not believe that someone actually turned the pages. After all, the “study” says on the front, “Preliminary Draft For Discussion”. Perhaps if it were labeled something like, “Final—You Must Actually Read This,” the document would have gotten more attention.

The politicians decided to move on, literally. They skipped item #1 on the agenda—not a single question for Goldfinger (Goldie?) or his minions—and they began a one-and-a-half-hour mind-numbing conversation about entitlements, or about how to split future revenue between the city and county. This revenue would seem to be highly uncertain or even suspect, given the “study” by Brooks Street, but no matter. It’s more fun to imagine that you won the lottery than to realize you bought a bunch of losing tickets.

Then it was time to get the lawyers involved. They had two goals: (1) get J. Spering and Oh! Davis off the wrestling mat, or at least back into their respective corners; and (2) dot the i’s and cross the t’s on a city and county MOU (which is loosely translated from Latin as “Protect Your Underside”). It was at that moment, when the lawyers were huddled and the Vallejo Interim and Assistant City Managers were distracted (they appeared to be looking at HotJobs.com on their iPhones), that someone held up the “study” and asked a pivotal question: “So, do we attach this to the MOU?”

A few officials laughed out loud, and one of the Brooks Street minions answered the question, perhaps out of turn. He was an economist who worked on the study and had a B.S. after his name (the degree, not the skill). He said, “No I don’t see any reason to do that. It’s very preliminary and there’s no way to get reliable numbers until we actually know what’s going to be built.” In short, he disavowed his own study, and everyone agreed there was no reason to make it part of the official public record.

This exchange seemed to please the two County Supervisors and the County Administrator. They had gotten away with everything! There was no discussion of the “study”, no vote, no minutes, no witnesses to what had just—oops, there were witnesses. The three members of the public were scratching their heads while the three county officials were high-fiving and scratching each other’s backs.

Vallejo City officials seemed a little less enthused and suggested that maybe they should do their own study. (Yes, Vallejo officials, you should.) Then S. Gomes asked the second pivotal question of the evening: “If I understand things correctly, this ‘study’ was meant to show that the project is feasible from a developer’s standpoint, but it’s not really a feasibility study for the city and county?”

Again the man with the B.S. after his name (the skill, not the degree) answered. “Yes, the study says we can get a master developer after spending $3 million more on entitlements, OPA, TIF, CEQA, NFW, etc. Whether this is feasible for the city and county is a different question.” Our public officials missed the irony of the exchange. Members of the public were on the edge of their seats waiting for the obvious follow-up question, but it never came. (“Didn’t we just pay you for that kind of analysis?”)

Someone asked if there were any outstanding issues. Mr. Goldfinger (Goldie?) raised his hand. He was soft-spoken and deferential, nothing like the ominous figure portrayed in the movies. He said politely, “I just wanted to let everyone know that I received a phone call from Six Flags. They have some concerns about parking.” There was an awkward silence. Everyone turned toward Mr. Spering. He harrumphed, then issued his proclamation: “They’ll just have to work things out with the developer.” This was a surprising answer from a supposedly pro-business official—apparently it matters which business. Does Mr. Spering know that Six Flags is one of the economic engines of Vallejo? Besides, what happened to all the happy talk about synergy from last summer? Mr. Goldfinger (Goldie?) must have felt bad for bringing up the subject. He said sheepishly, “Well, I just wanted to put that out there.”

Now the-meeting-that-no-one-was-supposed-to-know-about was adjourned. The three members of the public went quietly back into the real world to earn a living, put food on the table, pay their mortgages, and hopefully save enough money to retire some place else—a place where there’s no talk of bankruptcy, staff layoffs, or fighting crime by reducing the number of police officers—that is, a place where politicians put the interests of taxpayers ahead of developers.

And there you have it. City and county officials are moving full bore on a $156 million project, including at least $35 million in public funds, with either no study or an incomplete or misleading study. (We can’t decide which reflects less badly on our community.) If you don’t believe any of this can possibly be true, contact your City or County representative, City or County Attorney, City Manager, County Administrator, The Vallejo Times-Herald, or Jason Keadjian, the spokesperson for Brooks Street. Then show up at the February 9th City Council or County Board meeting and express your displeasure. If politicians still don’t understand the severity of this situation, there’s an election in June. Then you can show your strength and cast a vote for sanity.