We have enough signatures to put the $850 Million on the ballot!
Read our Press Release here! Call to Action! Please attend the City Council meeting tonight
Tuesday Jan. 24th 7 pm to speak about why the city council should put our petitions on the ballot.Why should we get a vote on the DDA? (DDA = Disposition and Development Agreement)
1) What Santa Clarans voted for in Measure J in June 2010 (pie chart on the left from the 49ers Measure J stadium campaign) does not match what's in the DDA (pie chart on the right with $850 million in loans from our Stadium Authority and Zero dollars in financing directly from the 49ers). This does not include the interest payments on the loans, which will be many tens of millions each year.
2) Many citizens voted 'yes' because they thought the stadium deal would help schools. The school district's budget reports that the schools have already started to receive money from the Revelopment Agency property tax kickback from Measure J. (Measure J did trigger an extension of the Redevelopment Agency in time, which gave the schools property tax dollars.) Unfortunately, the RDA kickback money to the schools is small in comparison with the $17 million school budget shortfall last year, and estimated $12 million school budget shortfall this year. The stadium deal, the DDA, gives nothing more to the schools. Here's the link to the school district's budget (see page 2 for the Measure J RDA property tax money information.)
3) Santa Clarans should get a vote on whether or not the Raiders can come here. Raiders games would double the amount of traffic, parking, noise and other impacts. According to Measure J, only the 49ers get to decide on whether to bring the Raiders here. Most voters were not even aware that Measure J can bring the Raiders too.
4) The DDA doesn't fix any of the parking/traffic/noise problems on the north side. No private parking lot owners have signed up to allow their lots to be used-no one knows where 22,000 cars will park on game days. People on the north side voted 'No' on Measure J.
5) And now the city has admitted that the Youth Soccer Park won't be usable by our kids on NFL game days.
6) Goldman Sachs is managing all the financing aspects. We don't want Goldman Sachs to do for Santa Clara what they did for mortgage-backed securities, the debt crisis, international markets, and Greece. Our members tell us that Goldman Sachs helped hide the debt problems in Greece until the problems became overwhelming. That country now has tremendous financial problems.
SF Chronicle article link on the referendum here.
Here is the 49ers Measure J ballot. Voters did not authorize our Stadium Authority to take on $850 million.
Urgent - Write the NFL - DDA problems listed below:
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Here are the major problems with the DDA:
The 49ers' Stadium Disposition and Development Agreement (DDA) 'runs' to 421 pages, but it can't hide:
1. The price tag for the 49ers' Stadium is over $1 billion (DDA page 2) (not $937 million from the Term Sheet) and the increase isn't considered a 'cost overrun' paid for by the 49ers. Santa Clara's Stadium Authority will be paying that increase.
2. Stadium Authority debt will be $850 million (DDA page 2.) See our article on how the 49ers Measure J stadium ballot measure and campaign didn't bother to mention the Stadium Authority debt/loans:
http://santaclaraplaysfair.org/index.php/howtheywon
3. The graphic showing the DDA financing does not list any financial contribution from the 49ers. The 49ers are contributing Zero of their own dollars for financing. Recall that the Term Sheet said the 49ers would pay for $493 Million. In the 49ers Measure J campaign citizens were told that the 49ers would pay for > $800 million (and our council members/mayor told us in the media that the 49ers would pay for 92%).
4. The Fixed Ground Rent payable to our city's General Fund is atrocious. In the first year, the 49ers will scoop out a minimum of $130 MILLION - while paying our General Fund $180 THOUSAND (DDA page 3). This is unchanged from the Term Sheet.
5. Our Stadium Authority will lose control of the stadium from August 1 through January 31 (DDA page 86) because it cannot afford to operate it year-round. (DDA pages 6-7).
6. A bled-to-death Redevelopment Agency can no longer issue bonds at 5.75% for the Stadium Subsidy, but it will be taking cash advances of over $30 Million from the 49ers themselves at 8.5% per year (pages 5 and 54). The Supreme Court has just upheld Governor Brown's decision to do away with Redevelopment Agencies. We don't know how Santa Clara is supposed to pay for the $40 Million in Redevelopment dollars promised for stadium construction by Measure J.
7. Stadium Authority debt principal, interest, and operational costs will be far more than $30 million/year. Think about the annual interest that will be due on $850 Million in loans to our Stadium Authority. Then add to that the payments for principal and stadium operating expenses (often at least $20M per year). We're easily talking > $50 million/year to $60 million/year.
8. The DDA contract is with a limited liability company (Stadco) not with the 49ers. All of the risk and liability is on Santa Clara and its agencies.
Visit the blogs, make comments, and email us with questions, too! What we don't know, we'll find out: