Anaheim Insider here.
if you were at the September 3 Anaheim City Council meeting, you’ll remember Mayor Tom Tait’s PowerPoint presentation of his objections to the negotiations framework with the Angels. At the invitation of Council Jordan Brandman, city staff did a pretty thorough job of highlighting and debunking the errors that ran through it.
Mayor Tait is now taking that same misleading and error-filled PowerPoint on the road to community groups in Anaheim, trying to stir up opposition to the negotiation parameters. Not a final deal. Not a proposed final agreement. But a framework for city negotiations with the Angels.
When a proposed deal is actually brought to the City Council for consideration, then of course the Mayor is within his rights to oppose it with all the energy he can muster, as everyone knows he will.
But what is so disappointing about the Mayor’s roadshow is the spectacle of the Mayor of Anaheim actively working to undermining the city government he was elected to lead while it is in negotiations with the Angels. Does the Mayor believe he is strengthening the city’s negotiation position by running around the city trying to alarm residents and businesses owners with misleading and inflammatory claims? How does that help city negotiators bring home the best deal possible for the city?
The Mayor will doubtless receive air support from the Voice of OC, which is probably prepping some slanted piece attempting to lend credibility to the claim that the negotiation framework is somehow a giant subsidy, instead of a pathway to a deal in which Anaheim gets a refurbished stadium and enlists a billionaire to bring economic vitality to a chunk of land that has sat fallow and unproductive for years and years in the custody of city government.
The Anaheim insider predicts the next Tait target will be the Anaheim Convention Center. Apparently, anything that draws people and money to Anaheim is a target.
I don’t get it. I thought he was forbidden to participate in this because of his real estate interests. Why is he allowed to vote if he owns land within walking distance of the stadium? This seems illegal for him to be involved in the negotiations.
It was truly sad to watch Mayor Tait make incorrect statements and for staff and council members to correct him. He sometimes could not make a point with any clarity. It seems as though he is doing this to please the cult run by Amin David and Jose Moreno.
It is as though Mayor Tom Tait missed his proverbial nap. Stomping his feet and saying no to ideas with proven merit and value is alarming to put it lightly. Actively spreading misinformation is something worse still.
It is my hope that the business community takes note. Enabling Mayor Tom Tait to act in this fashion, to the degradation of the Anaheim community, is a serious threat to our economic vitality and must be addressed in the next election.