Progressive comrades: L. to R: Ashleigh Aitken; Al Jabbar; Jose F. Moreno; Ryan Ruelas; Annemarie Randle-Trejo
Annemarie Randle-Trejo, the AUHSD trustee and progressive activist running for Anaheim City Council from District 4, spoke at last week’s council meeting to announce her opposition to the agreement that will keep the Angels in Anaheim for at least 30 years, while generating hundreds of millions in revenue for the city in the years to come.
At a special meeting on December 20, the council voted 5-2 to approve a purchase and sale agreement (PSA) to sell the stadium site to Arte Moreno-led partnership SRB Management for $325 million. The agreement also provides for the Angels to continue playing in Anaheim until at least 2050.
The next step is for the city and Moreno to negotiate a Development and Disposition Agreement spelling out the details of developing the site – which will likely include a new or modernized Angel Stadium.
Randle-Trejo works for the Anaheim Elementary School District and is a member of the Anaheim Union High School District Board of Education. She is a close political ally of left-wing Councilman Jose F. Moreno and is running for council as part of his slate of candidates.
It was a make-up appearance by Randle-Trejo, who was unable to join other members of the Moreno claque, such as Al Jabbar, J. Paolo Magcalas and Ryan Ruelas, who spoke at the December 20.
Claiming that “many” were against the agreement, Randle-Trejo declared she was there to “add my name” to those “who oppose the Angels deal.”
Randle-Trejo objected that a project labor agreement for her “labor brothers and sisters” wasn’t “built into the deal now.”
She also blasted “the affordable housing portion of the deal. That doesn’t go far enough to help those barely making a living wage.”
It was clear from Randle-Trejo’s comments that she hadn’t read the agreement she was lambasting: the PSA doesn’t contain an affordable housing provision. Affordable housing is among the matters – such as a project labor agreement – that can be discussed and hammered out during DDA negotiations between the city and SRB Management.
“The many who came forward from the Anaheim Performing Arts Center Foundation who wondered why you didn’t honor their ENA [exclusive negotiating agreement],” complained Randle-Trejo.
Randle-Trejo claim is false. In 2018, the city of Anaheim exercised its right to terminate the ENA after APAC failed to meet its mutually agreed upon fundraising milestones. If anything, APAC failed to honor its part of the ENA.
“What I wonder about is APAC folks were told to be quiet,” claimed Randle-Trejo, while offering no evidence that anyone, from the city or otherwise, had told APAC supporters “to be quiet.”
Interestingly, Randle-Trejo has no discernible record of supporting development of the Anaheim Performing Art Center prior to its sudden usefulness as a political tool for undermining the Angels agreement.
“The council majority still doesn’t do what the people want,” she moralized in the manner of progressive activists, who unfailingly conflate their demands with the will “of the people.”
Randle-Trejo also touched on other messages from the Jose F. Moreno 2020 campaign playbook, such as rent control. While Randle-Trejo demonstrated a lack of understanding of the agreement she was opposing, it was clear her appearance was an early salvo in her council candidacy – one that made it abundantly clear she will be marching in lock-step with Councilman Jose F. Moreno.
First and foremost the comparison to this deal should be the Anaheim Ducks deal where the city sold 16 valuable acres for 625k/acre. You cannot be for the Ducks deal and against the Angels deal. The timing for public comment/review was longer with the Angels deal vs the Ducks deal.
Secondly the 625k/acre was a huge giveaway. That amounts to at least 15 million up front to Samueli in concessions. Some proponents claim that the diminished value of the 16 acres was due to Samueli assuming operational control of ARTIC. So giving away at least $15 million up front for Samueli to operate ARTIC is a good deal? The ARTIC management deal is commensurate with the lease of the City owned Honda Center. All this does is push back the losses of ARTIC, assuming there is a permanent loss in perpetuity.
There are no property taxes generated on the Honda Center arena. The city will own it even after the lease term ends and Samueli or the current owner of the Ducks in 2040 will own all the parking lots around the arena. So in summary the city gave away the 16 acres for a fraction of their value in return for deferring the operational expenses of ARTIC for 20 years? One thing is permanent the other is not.
The city was very clear that they would use the Anaheim Ducks framework for the Angels deal. I am not sure how someone can be for one deal and not the other. Either you are for both deals or you are not.