DISCLAIMER: The thoughts expressed here are my own and my own only. I was a volunteer organizer and was the Director of Communications for the Chargers fan group Save Our Bolts. I do not speak for Save Our Bolts, as our group has dismantled since the relocation was announced. What will be shared here are my own personal feelings and experiences. My time with SOB was a fantastic learning experience-- and there is no one I respect more than my former members.
My hope with this is to answer any lingering questions and doubts about what transpired in 2016 during Measure C. I hope this brings some closure for some of you. I'm not blaming the city only nor the team 100%. You will see there is plenty of blame to go around by both parties.
INTRODUCTION TO ME
INTRODUCTION TO ME
I have been a Charger fan since I was 10 years old. Jan 2, 1982, The Epic in Miami game sucked me in. I have spent the last few years building solid relationships with the media, The players on the team and the Chargers front office. This experience has taught me quite a bit about how the team and the NFL as a whole work.
In 2013, I joined Dave "Booga" Peters and his Charger blog called BoltBlitz. He was living in North Carolina and I was here in San Diego. Soon after he moved out here to give us a better chance at success. There were so many Charger pages and the fans were socializa on Social Media quite often. They very seldom though ever met each other. We wanted to take the discussions from Facebook and Twitter and join them to create long lasting friendships through events that we were planning. We held some of the biggest Charger fan meetups ever held in San Diego. 250 fans packed the Tilted Kilt in Mission Valley on May 30,2014. We through fan meetups, bonfires, viewing parties for the road games and of course tailgating at the home games.
May 30th, 2014
Dave "Booga" Peters and Myself
SHUT UP AND DON'T ASK!
In January of 2015, I joined a group that was beginning to form just two months earlier called Save Our Bolts. We were a group of die hard Charger fans refusing to stand bye and just let the team relocate. Our mission was to make some noise and have it heard among the other Owners in the NFL. One by One we might be able to take away the Yes votes and force Dean to stay in San Diego.
The time span covered in this series will cover all of 2016. I personally went through 3 life threatening surgeries in 2016. The stress and the magnitude of what we were trying to achieve might have got the best of me in 2016. I'm stable now and doing better. I don't regret a thing. I have broken the article into three parts. The articles are very long and I'm sorry for that. But there is so much untruths and fairy tale stories of uneduacated people spreading what they know nothing about. In the process leaving behind 56 years of fan loyalty and questions about how the hell did this happen.
I have only one goal here and one agenda. No answer as many of those questions as I possibly can. I promise you the journey is amazing and there is a lot of information here that has never been shared before. I'm still a Charger fan today although bitter at the lack of effort and leadership by the City of San Diego and the Chargers. This was never in 21 years since May 30, 1995 that Alex included the exit clause in the new lease was this really ever close to getting done. The team and all their phony proposed plans to a epic failure of leadership and a city hall that is so corrupt and has been for so long and still is that I think people in San Diego don't even know how our city is being run.
One thing I sure learned in this process. Things are not always they way they appear to be.
I want to thank you all for all for your support. I hope you enjoy the series and Thank You,. I hope this gives you answers and peace as to what happened. Much Respect, TP.
In 2013, I joined Dave "Booga" Peters and his Charger blog called BoltBlitz. He was living in North Carolina and I was here in San Diego. Soon after he moved out here to give us a better chance at success. There were so many Charger pages and the fans were socializa on Social Media quite often. They very seldom though ever met each other. We wanted to take the discussions from Facebook and Twitter and join them to create long lasting friendships through events that we were planning. We held some of the biggest Charger fan meetups ever held in San Diego. 250 fans packed the Tilted Kilt in Mission Valley on May 30,2014. We through fan meetups, bonfires, viewing parties for the road games and of course tailgating at the home games.
May 30th, 2014
In January of 2015, I joined a group that was beginning to form just two months earlier called Save Our Bolts. We were a group of die hard Charger fans refusing to stand bye and just let the team relocate. Our mission was to make some noise and have it heard among the other Owners in the NFL. One by One we might be able to take away the Yes votes and force Dean to stay in San Diego.
The time span covered in this series will cover all of 2016. I personally went through 3 life threatening surgeries in 2016. The stress and the magnitude of what we were trying to achieve might have got the best of me in 2016. I'm stable now and doing better. I don't regret a thing. I have broken the article into three parts. The articles are very long and I'm sorry for that. But there is so much untruths and fairy tale stories of uneduacated people spreading what they know nothing about. In the process leaving behind 56 years of fan loyalty and questions about how the hell did this happen.
I have only one goal here and one agenda. No answer as many of those questions as I possibly can. I promise you the journey is amazing and there is a lot of information here that has never been shared before. I'm still a Charger fan today although bitter at the lack of effort and leadership by the City of San Diego and the Chargers. This was never in 21 years since May 30, 1995 that Alex included the exit clause in the new lease was this really ever close to getting done. The team and all their phony proposed plans to a epic failure of leadership and a city hall that is so corrupt and has been for so long and still is that I think people in San Diego don't even know how our city is being run.
One thing I sure learned in this process. Things are not always they way they appear to be.
I want to thank you all for all for your support. I hope you enjoy the series and Thank You,. I hope this gives you answers and peace as to what happened. Much Respect, TP.
"THE LEAD UP TO MEASURE C"
I'm about to walk you through all that transpired through Measure C. I'm also taking you behind the scenes for a glimpse of what happened and what didn't happen. In my opinion, you will see lots of opportunities the city-team had to reach an agreement.
However, pride,past hurt feelings and failed deals and a sports owner that had no business sense and could not and truthfully should not have been involved with a project this big. This and the intangibles that needed to be done, Needed to be accomplished that prevented even the littlest of progress to be made. Because this City-Chargers couldn't get past their own personal and business flaws. We no longer have a NFL team in America's Finest City.
However, pride,past hurt feelings and failed deals and a sports owner that had no business sense and could not and truthfully should not have been involved with a project this big. This and the intangibles that needed to be done, Needed to be accomplished that prevented even the littlest of progress to be made. Because this City-Chargers couldn't get past their own personal and business flaws. We no longer have a NFL team in America's Finest City.
First off, never during this process was there a lack of fan support mentioned to us by the team. The team left for reasons that had nothing to do with "A lack of support among San Diego!!!!"
The Murph and Qualcomm was always at at least 82% capacity at every game. Through all the losing seasons, heartbreak after disappointment the fans ofr San Diego supported this team 100%. They ignored the out of touch Owner that simply didn't care about winning half as much as they did. It wasn't until 2010 that the fans began to have LA fatigue by surviving the years and years of a ALL out assault and insulting carpet bombs on their city by Special Advisor to Dean Spanos and political crisis manager Mark Fabiani.The questioning from some of this fan base by outsiders is ignorant, uneducated and just plain fucking foolish.
From 2004 to 2009 every game was sold out and 90% of the fans were Charger fans. Teams and announcers would speak of what a tremendous home field advantage the Chargers had. I will also tell you the stands were mixed full of SD fans and fans traveling from LA. 64,000 Charger fans united against the opposing team. Sadly now some of you have turned on eachother. That might be the saddest thing I've witnessed. Don't tell me how you're a city fan or a team fan and blame the other party for being fake. You know who you are so maybe from here on out you'll respect the other person opinion even if it differs from yours. There is no date available on human emotions of a situation like this. You know who you feel so let others carry on in their way. We'll all be better fans for it.
The Murph and Qualcomm was always at at least 82% capacity at every game. Through all the losing seasons, heartbreak after disappointment the fans ofr San Diego supported this team 100%. They ignored the out of touch Owner that simply didn't care about winning half as much as they did. It wasn't until 2010 that the fans began to have LA fatigue by surviving the years and years of a ALL out assault and insulting carpet bombs on their city by Special Advisor to Dean Spanos and political crisis manager Mark Fabiani.The questioning from some of this fan base by outsiders is ignorant, uneducated and just plain fucking foolish.
From 2004 to 2009 every game was sold out and 90% of the fans were Charger fans. Teams and announcers would speak of what a tremendous home field advantage the Chargers had. I will also tell you the stands were mixed full of SD fans and fans traveling from LA. 64,000 Charger fans united against the opposing team. Sadly now some of you have turned on eachother. That might be the saddest thing I've witnessed. Don't tell me how you're a city fan or a team fan and blame the other party for being fake. You know who you are so maybe from here on out you'll respect the other person opinion even if it differs from yours. There is no date available on human emotions of a situation like this. You know who you feel so let others carry on in their way. We'll all be better fans for it.
My fellow members of the fan groups and I always believed there would be a deal worked out. Even if it came to working until the final hours of a deadline. Sadly, that did not happen. Now it's time you know why!
JANUARY 2016, AFTER THE HOUSTON VOTE
As Dean Spanos made his way home to ponder the option that the NFL gave him. Chargers fans gathered at the Tilted Kilt in Mission Valley to celebrate the night after the vote was announced. We were given a second chance. Our goal was reached when the owners didn't have enough votes to send the Chargers to LA, although it was upsetting to see that St. Louis had lost their team that day. It was so easy for the owners of the NFL to rip the heart out of an entire city. It was done in a heartless manner -- but then again greed doesn't have a heart.
Johnny Abundez with the Charger fan group Bolt Pride (one of Save Our Bolts most popular members) had kept the lines of communications open in 2015 with the other fan group the SD Stadium Coalition. They were a group with views that mostly for all of 2015 we with Save Our Bolts disagreed with. At times, it got pretty intense between the two groups. However now it was time to unite as one and conquer our goals jointly. So we all united as one fan group. We also added another group who were named The Charger Backers as well:
THE SAN DIEGO STADIUM COALITION
"Founded in 2008, the San Diego Stadium Coalition is an organization whose members are fully committed to working with municipal entities to facilitate the construction of a world-class stadium within San Diego County, which will serve as a home for the San Diego Chargers and potentially the SDSU Aztecs, College Bowl Games, and other events. The group’s commitment is fueled by a passion for local sports, an acute understanding of the San Diego market and an unyielding desire to keep high profile events and the Chargers (the region’s only NFL franchise) in the county. The SDSC strongly believes that this goal will be achieved by working transparently with key stakeholders including citizens, politicians, regional business leaders and other key parties."
SAVE OUR BOLTS
"Save Our Bolts is a grassroots fan based organization of NFL fans committed to keeping the San Diego Chargers where they belong. As an organization and individuals, we know that a new stadium that will provide a venue not only to the Chargers, but several other events (super bowls, concerts and Championship games) that will bring economic growth to the entire region. The current stadium is out of date and a drain of tax-payer money, a new multipurpose venue could house many events of which the Chargers would be a small percentage."
THE CHARGER BACKERS
"The Charger Backers continue to be the best fan club in the NFL!" Our club is the first and only official fan club of the San Diego Chargers, having been established in 1961. We support the Chargers and their charities through year-round events. Join us as we volunteer at Charger-supported charity drives, such as the Charger Blood Drive, and meet new and Rookie Chargers at our season lunches and dinners. Our famous happy hours have moved to Buffalo Wild Wings, the former site of Jr. Seau’s restaurant.
Combined we had over 42,000 members nationwide supporting our efforts to keep the team in San Diego. In 2015, Save Our Bolts had a documentary film called "Combined Tackle" released by Jim Wolek. It was about all the emotions and the highs and lows facing all 3 cities that were facing relocation. It was published on May 27th, 2015 and is available on YouTube.
Save Our Bolts also had Espn and Monday Night Football had a segment on us as well. This year, Blue Vision Entertainment and Aaron Roberts who is directing and producing a documentary called "Saving Our Bolts, More Than a Team" was also now trying to film the members of Save Our Bolts. Our message was getting out and it was resonating with the country. "Not our team, Not this Year!
Not bad for a bunch of guys sitting at Starbucks a year earlier planning this thing from the beginning.
Save Our Bolts also had Espn and Monday Night Football had a segment on us as well. This year, Blue Vision Entertainment and Aaron Roberts who is directing and producing a documentary called "Saving Our Bolts, More Than a Team" was also now trying to film the members of Save Our Bolts. Our message was getting out and it was resonating with the country. "Not our team, Not this Year!
Not bad for a bunch of guys sitting at Starbucks a year earlier planning this thing from the beginning.
Save Our Bolts had 19 members and out of that maybe 9 of us were very active with the day to day operations. Our members were diverted. We had Bolt Pride, Die Hard Bolts Club and BoltBlitz.com. Rafeal Alvarez, Donney Cummins, Johnny Abundez , Trevis Thomas and Jesse Constencio represented Bolt Pride. Some members of their group had been inducted into the Pro Football Fan Hall Of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
Save Our Bolts began when a community activist and Charger fan David Agranoff was thinking about what fans could do to try and help the ongoing stadium sage finally reach a conclusion. Boltman -- the unofficial mascot of the Chargers -- whose real name is Dan Jauregui was a member as well. Season Ticket Holders Tyler Roberson, Shawn Walchef (the owner of Cali Comfort BBQ) Rob Lazano, Michael Rosenblatt, Jesse Arroyo former Charger team photographer joined and Marisa Cali became our group secretary and social media expert. She also had the job of trying to keep all of our egos in check. (Not a easy assignment sometimes).
Our youngest member was Richie Farley. He was the only Charger fan to go to Houston to represent the fans from San Diego during the vote. All we were was a bunch of football fans that came together for a single cause. Which in the end resulted in all of us becoming community activists.
The path was not always easy and it took some really long hours of planning and coordinating between us all. We were very passionate about the Chargers and we didn't always agrees one. At times it got really ugly discussing a certain topic or figuring out what direction the group should take after certain events happened. When we were done debating a topic, we voted as a group as to what we would all say with a giving a certain situation. This was all done in private between
We would work our real jobs at 40 hours a week then go home and work on SOB topics adding another 40 hours to our volunteer job. Our meetings would go from 7pm to as late 1:00 am sometimes. That is how we created a mission statement and discussed what are bullet points would be and what our next course of action would be.
After voting, we would all go out into the public as one united voice with one united message. This was vital for our credibility and is why we were able to accomplish so much in such a short time of span in 2015. We used social media as our groups avenue in getting our messages to the public and give any current updates to the fans as soon as possible.
After voting, we would all go out into the public as one united voice with one united message. This was vital for our credibility and is why we were able to accomplish so much in such a short time of span in 2015. We used social media as our groups avenue in getting our messages to the public and give any current updates to the fans as soon as possible.
FAN GROUPS START MEETINGS THE CHARGERS BRASS
As January turned into February, Chargers fans had gotten a little time to relax and breathe. We never stopped working though between the owners meetings and the beginning of Measure C. Looking back now we as members of the fan groups became quite fatigued from such an emotional year in 2015 and all the events that we had planned and held throughout the year. We were actually a lot more tired than I had thought way back then.
We were ready to get going again. The team had just announced that their plan in San Diego would include a location in downtown. This after meeting with the members of the city and the Mayor back on February 22nd at the Complex on Murphy Canyon Road. The team asked the city for an extra $200 million from what SD Mayor offered with CSAG in 2015. The extra costs were for what they said was missing infrastructure costs as well as the added EIR costs in Mission Valley. The Mayor quickly turned the team down on their offer and the Chargers announced the Downtown location the following day.
We were ready to get going again. The team had just announced that their plan in San Diego would include a location in downtown. This after meeting with the members of the city and the Mayor back on February 22nd at the Complex on Murphy Canyon Road. The team asked the city for an extra $200 million from what SD Mayor offered with CSAG in 2015. The extra costs were for what they said was missing infrastructure costs as well as the added EIR costs in Mission Valley. The Mayor quickly turned the team down on their offer and the Chargers announced the Downtown location the following day.
Closely after that, I received an email from the Chargers PR Director Bill Johnston. Our group had been called to Charger Complex to meet with Dean Spanos. After a year of fighting to keep the team here the fan groups and the team wanted to get on the same page. We had been on separate sides of the process for so long by then that there was some tension in the meeting between us fans and Dean Spanos.
We were skeptical of what Dean true intentions were going to be. I knew Bill Johnston and Mark Fabiani from my time with Boltblitz. I also interviewed Fabiani for BoltBlitz a couple times in 2015. We had already began a working relationship that led to a friendship that has since grown and continues even till today. The fan groups were the first group of people that Dean had met with since the vote in Houston. Except for two TV interviews from SD local networks.
We were skeptical of what Dean true intentions were going to be. I knew Bill Johnston and Mark Fabiani from my time with Boltblitz. I also interviewed Fabiani for BoltBlitz a couple times in 2015. We had already began a working relationship that led to a friendship that has since grown and continues even till today. The fan groups were the first group of people that Dean had met with since the vote in Houston. Except for two TV interviews from SD local networks.
I can't lie, once you've been a fan of a team for so long, it is pretty amazing when you walk in the doors of the team complex and enter the lobby to check in for your morning meeting with the team owner. I have even covered the teams practises before as the team gave me press passes from when I was writing for Boltblitz. But this was totally a totally different experience..
There was about 20 of us at the meeting in Feb 2016. Two people were from the Charger Backers, three were from the Stadium Coalition and the rest of us were with Save Our Bolts. AG. Spanos and John Spanos was there along with Dean Spanos, Mark Fabiani and Fred Maas. Maas was hired earlier as a special adviser to Dean for the stadium situation. He recently served as CEO for the Centre City Development Corp in downtown San Diego. Hank Bauer was present sitting in the back along with Bill Johnston.
BROKEN PROMISES
BROKEN PROMISES
Dean looked relaxed and he always made eye contact with us. He explained how he wanted to move forward and not talk about 2015. The things that were said and done he wanted to put in the past. We explained to him very clearly how angry fans were. Even the most die hard fans were ready to quit the team for good. Rafael Alvarez made clear to Dean that we were all volunteers. We had been through enough and that moving forward he had to be open, honest and transparent with the public and us or we would just walk away. Dean explained that he is in this 100% and even budgeted 10 million to the campaign. Their lawyers were writing a plan with the 50.1% vote in mind.
Mark explained the Citizen Initiative process to us. Dean added that he would do a massive PR campaign across San Diego to help build trust. He promised he would attend several town hall meetings all over San Diego about every 2 weeks. "You name a location and we'll be there." They wanted to throw rally's and events throughout the year. This was going to be a real grassroots campaign they said. They wanted us to be a very big part of it all.
You can see from what was said in that meeting and what actually happened is something that either changed or this was all a bag of dog shit from the beginning.
You see being heavily involved in the campaign is one thing. Campaigning for Measure C all by ourselves and ourselves only is two totally different approaches. I wish they did let us run the campaign by ourselves from the beginning. We would have done a much better job running the campaign. We thought we were following their lead at the time of this meeting Feb 2. They did vow that the fan groups would have total access to all of them at any time. To their credit on that part, they lived up to that 100%.
You see being heavily involved in the campaign is one thing. Campaigning for Measure C all by ourselves and ourselves only is two totally different approaches. I wish they did let us run the campaign by ourselves from the beginning. We would have done a much better job running the campaign. We thought we were following their lead at the time of this meeting Feb 2. They did vow that the fan groups would have total access to all of them at any time. To their credit on that part, they lived up to that 100%.
Philip Rivers walked into our meeting towards the end and personally thanked everyone of us one by one for the hard work we had put in thus far. Rivers was quite the surprise. Dean did state he had 12 to 15 players ready to go out and campaign and advertise the measure as soon as he needed it. They really wanted our help with influencing the Mayor. Our group had a very cordial relationship with Mayor Faulkner during our monthly meetings with him.
"Without the mayor and city council this won't pass." That came from the mouth of Dean Spanos to us. They were very clear about this!
Fred Maas who is good friends with the mayor was updated him every 2-3 days throughout the beginning and details of Measure C.
"Without the mayor and city council this won't pass." That came from the mouth of Dean Spanos to us. They were very clear about this!
Fred Maas who is good friends with the mayor was updated him every 2-3 days throughout the beginning and details of Measure C.
With the location in downtown now, Johnny Abundez explained to Dean and anyone who would listen how absolutely vital it is that the team reach out to the residents of Barrio Logan. They promised us they would attend Chicano Park Day. This is going in their backyard so reaching out early and settling fears is enormous.
Even I explained that (Barrio Logan) won't win you the election but they could lose us the election. We also talked about getting county voters involved and get them ready for volunteering in what was going to be a required city vote only because there was no county money involved.
Even I explained that (Barrio Logan) won't win you the election but they could lose us the election. We also talked about getting county voters involved and get them ready for volunteering in what was going to be a required city vote only because there was no county money involved.
The citizen initiative also avoided having to deal with the EIR in downtown. It's the same thing the team did in Carson a year earlier.
The MLB All Star Game was coming to San Diego in July at Petco Park. This would attract national attention to our city's downtown landscape. I asked the team about Comic Con and if the Padres were behind the teams plans? What talks have taken place between the three parties? Dean stated they haven't yet talked to either one of them yet. WHAT? Are you kidding me? Oh boy, this should be fun!
QUICK OVERVIEW
QUICK OVERVIEW
Okay folks, take note here...Dean Promised to us...
1. Town Hall Meetings with questions and answering sessions every week or two.
2. Dean said he had 12-15 Players "ready to go out" to support Measure C.
3.Dean will be everywhere out selling the measure. We'll have a massive PR campaign ready to go. There will be a big announcement at the end of March to kick this off.
1. Town Hall Meetings with questions and answering sessions every week or two.
2. Dean said he had 12-15 Players "ready to go out" to support Measure C.
3.Dean will be everywhere out selling the measure. We'll have a massive PR campaign ready to go. There will be a big announcement at the end of March to kick this off.
At the end of the meeting we all took pictures. It was a cheesy photo opt but that is exactly what the team needed at this point. One thing for sure this was going to be interesting to see if the team does what they said they were going to do. Talking is cute but now is the time for action.
CORY BRIGGS AND JMI REALTY
Around March, Save Our Bolts wanted to do a media training session. Last year, Save Our Bolts was kinda of the media darling. We knew this time it would be different. We would be talking politics in great detail.
David and I knew it wouldn't be so friendly this time around. The team had heard about our meeting and wanted us to meet with Cory Briggs at our get together.
Cory Briggs is a well known environmental lawyer who wrote a similar plan called the Citizen Plan months earlier that also would be on the ballot. I really enjoyed Briggs a lot. This could be the beginning of a good friendship. He was straight forward and to the point. Cussing like a Navy sailor he is much different than the Briggs the media talks too.
David and I knew it wouldn't be so friendly this time around. The team had heard about our meeting and wanted us to meet with Cory Briggs at our get together.
Cory Briggs is a well known environmental lawyer who wrote a similar plan called the Citizen Plan months earlier that also would be on the ballot. I really enjoyed Briggs a lot. This could be the beginning of a good friendship. He was straight forward and to the point. Cussing like a Navy sailor he is much different than the Briggs the media talks too.
No attorney has sued more using the state main environmental laws than Briggs. He is the main person that got Mayor Bob Filner removed from office for his sexual harassment allegations. People fear Briggs and his lawsuits. He has over $2 billion dollars worth of projects are tied up in the San Diego courts. Briggs is either loved or hated it just all depends on who you are talking too. He is very much against the Hoteliers and how they have conduct their shady business in the city. He stopped the Hoteliers bay front expansion of the convention center because of a illegal tax opposed upon taxpayers without a public vote. Let me repeat that. They wanted the TOT raised but only to fill their pockets. The city council quietly passed their amendment and it was struck down in the courts as shady and illegal.
Briggs taught us that the media is not our friend. He said the media is only focused on one thing and one thing only. That is whatever their story is at the time. He told us what we needed to know instead of what we wanted to hear. The fan groups joined Briggs as partners in the what would soon to become war over Measure C. Just liked Briggs predicted.
INTERESTING LINKS
Learn more about Briggs here with Liam Dillon of the Voice of San Diego...
Learn more about Cory Briggs and the Chargers nemesis The Hoteliers here... http://ourcitysd.com/how-powerful-are-the-hoteliers/#sthash.CZ4mciyF.dpbs
George Mullen website http://www.hotelierscabal.com
A week after we met with the Chargers we also met with former State Senator Steve Peace who was representing John Moores with JMI Realty. He is also John Moores' senior advisor. JMI was helping the team with the planning and campaign agenda in regards to Measure C. Peace one of the most knowledgeable people on the subject of politics in San Diego that I have ever met.
John Moores CEO of JMI Realty and former Padres owner that helped build Petco Park in the 1998 election. Some voters still has a bad taste in their mouth because of Padres promises that were unkempt. As beautiful as Petco is in Downtown. It is Moores who benefited from the $300 million tax payers contribution to his $450 million dollar project from 1998. He also got all developmental rights to all of the surrounding property around Petco Park. Petco was built building relationships and reaching out to the media and the voters in the communities of San Diego. Dean never even attempted either of those approaches.
Read more about the difference between Petco and Dean wanted palace in DT here with the the Voice of San Diego article by Lisa Halverstadt
As written..
Shall an ordinance be adopted authorizing the City of San Diego to enter into agreements to redevelop an area of downtown, and construct a multiple use ballpark, provided that 1) the City's participation requires no new taxes, is capped, and also limited to redevelopment funds and an amount equivalent to certain hotel tax revenue; and 2) the San Diego Padres guarantee substantial private contributions, pay all ballpark construction cost overruns, and play in San Diego until 2024?
NOTE: Petco was approved with a majority vote of 59.6%.
All the great work Moores and Lucchino did leading up to that vote in 1998 within the communities, business leaders and reaching out to all the voters. That is how you get stadiums built in communities! But given all that the measure only got 59%. Measure C with Dean Spanos as the leader needs 67%.
Editor's Note..Jesus H Christ with that last paragraph I think I have PTSD, I'm going to go have a drink.
John Moores made millions and millions off of the Petco project. Until his divorce caused the Padres payroll to fall to embarrassing levels. More of the same ole lies and empty promises made to San Diego's tax payers. Moores promised a new stadium would mean fielding a competitive team every year. Nope, just the rich getting richer and the tax paying voters left hung out to dry to support another billionaires projects.
Editor's Note..Jesus H Christ with that last paragraph I think I have PTSD, I'm going to go have a drink.
John Moores made millions and millions off of the Petco project. Until his divorce caused the Padres payroll to fall to embarrassing levels. More of the same ole lies and empty promises made to San Diego's tax payers. Moores promised a new stadium would mean fielding a competitive team every year. Nope, just the rich getting richer and the tax paying voters left hung out to dry to support another billionaires projects.
Moores was a big supporter and alumni to SDSU. Moores relied to us that he wanted us to put pressure on the Mayor to sell the land of Mission Valley 166 acres to SDSU for $1.00. Even though Prop C revitalized downtown many voters again felt lied to and betrayed because of the broken promises before the election. http://ourcitysd.com/business-economics/petco-park%27s-broken-promise/#sthash.sidgaKa7.dpbs
JMI Realty promised us in the meeting they would be heavily involved in the campaign process. I was just thinking to myself THANK GOD! Although, Peace said his role in the campaign was "undefined" at that moment. Great so Dean Spanos who couldn't get a coalition of kids together to build legos is in charge of the campaign while the former 20 year vet State Senator role is "Undefined". I need another drink.
That upset me because Peace had a aura about him. He was knowlegable, he led a room when he spoke. I don't know what makes a leader a leader. They have the IT factor. Steve Peace had IT. Haha Steve Peace did love himself some Steve Peace.
But he was a much better salesman than Dean could ever be. Steve Peace and Jim Steeg would have been perfect advocates for Dean in his desires to accomplish a stadium in San Diego. Steeg who was employed from the team from 2004-2009 wanted Dean out into the public and media more. It is called relationship building and Dean suffered from it badly. Dean could seldom even find a developing partner for his fake proposals around town that Mark was whispering in New York NFL Office "look we are trying but nothing" Building relationships with the cities most powerful people. (The mission valley 2004 proposal where dean would build it himself, Wasn't going to happen. He couldn't find a business partner. You know why? No one trusted Dean Spanos to make a good business decision. If it wasn't for Alex Spanos successful construction company and Dean wife Susie brains. Dean and his two boys would not own the Chargers. All three would probably be working at a used car lot in El Cajon owned by Bernie Wilson.
Dean ran the franchise never connecting with the community or the fans. Now that flawed business trait is coming back to bite him right in the ass. He made so many errors during the of course of the campaign.
Oh wait, I take that back. In order to error you must have put forth an effort and/or decision. That never happened.
Back to the meeting with JMI Realty...The shocker that came out of the meeting was when he told us without a doubt Measure C was going to be 67% vote for approval.
We were told that former City Council woman Donna Frye approval would be pivotal moving forward if we wanted to succeed. "Don't underestimate her power in this town." I remember Frye for not supporting Petco at that time and my opinion of her wasn't too great. I never met her in person though so I tried to keep my mind open about her. I did know she was very powerful in San Diego politics.
Peace informed us how the NFL had been moving away from suburban NFL stadiums in new cities. JMI was very also concerned with a loan Dean was receiving from Goldman Sachs (also a client of Fabiani) and the amount of the loan. He told us there would be a very tense meeting later that week between JMI and Dean. He was concerned Dean was seeking to much money on loans. Again we talked about Barrio Logan again and the importance of them feeling included in every step of the way.
We explored the power of Social Media in today's elections. I brought up how we needed to have to control of the narrative in the comment sections of the UT, Voice of San Diego and Facebook.
Everyone from Mark to Cory to Steve seemed to be preparing us for a war that would come in regards to the initiative but telling us slowly not to scare us. They knew what we didn't at that time. The Measure C debate was going to be a bloodbath between the proponents and opponents of the measure.
With the no tailgating in downtown now and the push for public transit over driving to the venue we knew going in, this was not going to going over well with this fanbase. Tailgating in San Diego is a family tradition that is cherished by so many of us. Repairing the wounds that had been inflicted on the fans and the city from the team over the past few years was going to be huge to overcome. How this will be presented to the public is going to be vital. Dean should have turned this venture over to the experts in political campaigns to decide on how to proceed. This is just one of many missteps Dean Spanos overlooked, miscalculated or simply didn't give a shit.
Dean asking the public for money will go over about as well as Osama Bin Laden selling bibles in Afghanistan. It's one thing to ask for help from taxpayers for a stadium but this was one projecting to be over a billion dollars by a person the citizens didn't like and most importantly DID NOT TRUST.
How would questions by the media and public be addressed? The answers to these questions can make or break the election. These simple steps were mishandled to a almost retarded flaw. The answers should have been done with sincerity, honestly and answered fully. If we were going to stand a chance at the approval of Measure C.
Everyone from Mark to Cory to Steve seemed to be preparing us for a war that would come in regards to the initiative but telling us slowly not to scare us. They knew what we didn't at that time. The Measure C debate was going to be a bloodbath between the proponents and opponents of the measure.
With the no tailgating in downtown now and the push for public transit over driving to the venue we knew going in, this was not going to going over well with this fanbase. Tailgating in San Diego is a family tradition that is cherished by so many of us. Repairing the wounds that had been inflicted on the fans and the city from the team over the past few years was going to be huge to overcome. How this will be presented to the public is going to be vital. Dean should have turned this venture over to the experts in political campaigns to decide on how to proceed. This is just one of many missteps Dean Spanos overlooked, miscalculated or simply didn't give a shit.
Dean asking the public for money will go over about as well as Osama Bin Laden selling bibles in Afghanistan. It's one thing to ask for help from taxpayers for a stadium but this was one projecting to be over a billion dollars by a person the citizens didn't like and most importantly DID NOT TRUST.
How would questions by the media and public be addressed? The answers to these questions can make or break the election. These simple steps were mishandled to a almost retarded flaw. The answers should have been done with sincerity, honestly and answered fully. If we were going to stand a chance at the approval of Measure C.
It was not going to be a just a group or two opposing the plan either. It wound up being an Army of opponents that was quietly preparing themselves at the same time as our meetings to destroy the Measure C even before it was announced to the public. This was being led by a friend of The Hoteliers Tony Manolatos .The location of downtown wasn't going to go over well with the fans that we already knew.
I was still very concerned about who was going to sell this measure to the public. If it was going to be Dean as the main selling person then I knew we were fucked!
NEW RULE: If you can't build a stadium 100% on your own then maybe you shouldn't own a NFL team.
NEW RULE: If you can't build a stadium 100% on your own then maybe you shouldn't own a NFL team.
It was about this time that Comic Con announced they were more interested in the convention center being expanded contagiously rather than the one proposed. They were not going to be supportive and they make the city way more money than a stadium ever would. SDSU was quiet in public but we were told they were dead set against helping the team in any way shape or form.
WIKI PAGE FOR JIM STEEG https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Steeg
WIKI PAGE FOR DEAN SPANOS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Spanos
JOHN MOORES DIVORCE AND THE RESULT ON THE PADRES BY THE UT BRENT SCHROTENBOER http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/padres/sdut-moores-divorce-finally-over-2011jan25-htmlstory.html
SECOND MEETING WITH THE FAN GROUPS, CHARGERS AND WITH GOLDMAN SACHS
April 7th, 2016 we met with the Chargers again. This meeting was more about the details of the Measure and the process that would unfold. We had a conference call with a man named Tim at Goldman Sachs.
Scott Lewis is the CEO of The Voice of San Diego as links have been previously posted. They are a online news source that had pinned the nickname for the convention center expansion/ stadium. Scott Lewis gave birth to the name Convadium. It would become the term used for the project by most opponents. The name sounds complicated and isn't appealing to voters. Thanks a lot Scotty.
So we began a conference call with Tim from Goldman Sachs. He went into the financials of the Convadium with us and reviewed all the little details of the plan with us. The further we got into the process the more complicated this measure became. A lot of lawyer language and details hidden in that language.
Scott Lewis is the CEO of The Voice of San Diego as links have been previously posted. They are a online news source that had pinned the nickname for the convention center expansion/ stadium. Scott Lewis gave birth to the name Convadium. It would become the term used for the project by most opponents. The name sounds complicated and isn't appealing to voters. Thanks a lot Scotty.
So we began a conference call with Tim from Goldman Sachs. He went into the financials of the Convadium with us and reviewed all the little details of the plan with us. The further we got into the process the more complicated this measure became. A lot of lawyer language and details hidden in that language.
A hotel tax (TOT) was how they came up with getting the funds due to a total lack of support of public funds in our city. The Chargers only solution was to do a Citizen Initiative as done in Carson a year earlier. This had major complications in itself and in my opinion seemed and was fatal.
A Citizen Initiative could only include the city contribution. If there is no county money involved in the contribution then the county is not allowed to vote on it.
That involves a vote by the County Board of Supervisors. (Which had no chance of passing) at all we learned in our discussions with the county.
This was heart breaking for us as a group. The majority of the teams fans and season ticket holders were from Northern San Diego and especially to the south in Chula Vista, National City and Imperial Beach. The districts that could not be heard was the heart of the Chargers in the city. These were the most loyal and devoted die hard Chargers fans silenced by the lettering of the law in California. Our external poll numbers for Measure C was at 35%. We decided to mainly keep those poll numbers to ourselves. Passage was 67% and we are at 35%. In politics that is a MT. Everest climb ahead of us. We needed a Hail Mary!
A Citizen Initiative could only include the city contribution. If there is no county money involved in the contribution then the county is not allowed to vote on it.
That involves a vote by the County Board of Supervisors. (Which had no chance of passing) at all we learned in our discussions with the county.
This was heart breaking for us as a group. The majority of the teams fans and season ticket holders were from Northern San Diego and especially to the south in Chula Vista, National City and Imperial Beach. The districts that could not be heard was the heart of the Chargers in the city. These were the most loyal and devoted die hard Chargers fans silenced by the lettering of the law in California. Our external poll numbers for Measure C was at 35%. We decided to mainly keep those poll numbers to ourselves. Passage was 67% and we are at 35%. In politics that is a MT. Everest climb ahead of us. We needed a Hail Mary!
We would have eight weeks to get 67,000 verified city residents only signatures. It would then be audited and hopefully verified with the city clerk office and adopted by the city council in July. Dean hired a professional signature team to get the signatures. This company worked with the Sacramento Kings with their efforts to gain signatures and worked with Dean in the effort in Carson. A select few of us group members were also authorized signature gatherers.
The East Village site for the stadium didn't include the cost of $75 million to cleanup and move the bus yard.The city was obligated to pay for MTS to seek and relocate to a new location as well.
The team would train us officially as signature gatherers to do what we could to kick start the initiative. We all knew our roles and were ready to go out and fight for this thing finally. Our spirits were high and our energy was rebuilt. All that was left was the Chargers to inform us when the press conference would be to have the announcement. We were planning on starting the campaign off with a big bang!
The East Village site for the stadium didn't include the cost of $75 million to cleanup and move the bus yard.The city was obligated to pay for MTS to seek and relocate to a new location as well.
The team would train us officially as signature gatherers to do what we could to kick start the initiative. We all knew our roles and were ready to go out and fight for this thing finally. Our spirits were high and our energy was rebuilt. All that was left was the Chargers to inform us when the press conference would be to have the announcement. We were planning on starting the campaign off with a big bang!
I was talking to Mark almost every day at this time. Throwing questions at him about the laws in regards to the signature effort. I asked many times because of our work schedule when the announcement would be. The word was always the same. It will be soon and then a delay. Then we heard soon again followed up with another delay.
I knew Dean wanted to have several local business leaders on his side to support the Measure at the presser. They had no luck in recruiting any business leaders in San Diego. The carpet bombing he allowed happen has plagued him like the flu in the business community.
No one wanted their business associated with the toxic Chargers' brand. The Mayor was dead silent on the issue and they knew it was probably going to stay that way so the Mayor could avoid taking a side in such a hot topic right before his re-election. The Mayor cowardly act would hurt our cause greatly. It also worried our opponents position. I have never in my lifetime seen a man go from the way he acted in 2015 to the play it safe scared little rat he became in 2016. The monthly meetings we had with him even briefly stopped. History won't judge this Mayor well in the future. We already knew the city council had no backbone especially when it came to the hoteliers. Now the Mayor was beholding to them as well.
We deserve better San Diego. Forget about who's on who's side. The leadership in this city should be criminal for how long it has been going on. November 2018 you can change that. Vote all 9 City Councilman out.
1995-2017 San Diego was a city with no leaders.
The 2nd meeting at Chargers Complex
I knew Dean wanted to have several local business leaders on his side to support the Measure at the presser. They had no luck in recruiting any business leaders in San Diego. The carpet bombing he allowed happen has plagued him like the flu in the business community.
No one wanted their business associated with the toxic Chargers' brand. The Mayor was dead silent on the issue and they knew it was probably going to stay that way so the Mayor could avoid taking a side in such a hot topic right before his re-election. The Mayor cowardly act would hurt our cause greatly. It also worried our opponents position. I have never in my lifetime seen a man go from the way he acted in 2015 to the play it safe scared little rat he became in 2016. The monthly meetings we had with him even briefly stopped. History won't judge this Mayor well in the future. We already knew the city council had no backbone especially when it came to the hoteliers. Now the Mayor was beholding to them as well.
We deserve better San Diego. Forget about who's on who's side. The leadership in this city should be criminal for how long it has been going on. November 2018 you can change that. Vote all 9 City Councilman out.
1995-2017 San Diego was a city with no leaders.
The 2nd meeting at Chargers Complex
Now before we go on let's meet some of the major players that played a pivotal role in this game moving forward so you can follow better.
TONY MANOLATOS
FORMER CSAG SPOKESMAN POLITICAL CONSULTANT
Tony has a lot of influence by the contacts he was able to form from being a former UT writer to his stints working while working for people at city hall. He is a controversial figure because of his involvement in the Grossmont School Bonds (accused of using bond money to pay himself) and the whole being arrested for allegedly domestic violence against his wife.
Let me end this speculation. Tony Manolatos was paid and he was paid illegally by the Mayor Chief of Staff Jason Roe. Sometimes alchoal can sink ships. Tony is a snake and a shit stain on society. He himself leaked to Save Our Bolts the CSAG plan at a deli in La Mesa the Friday before the announcement on Monday. He delivered the top secret documents to us so we could better prepare our statements for when the announcement took place.
My opinion on Tony..
He does what is best for Tony. There is no level he won't stoop to. He is a piece of scum as a human being and a professional. Calling me out of the blue at 7am. That was the day I publish a very detailed interview with Mark Fabiani for the blog BoltBlitz. He was whining about the article where I questioned some tactics he had used on a radio show speaking about the team. If you let a sports blog opinion get under your skin wow you might be in the wrong game. Then again you are the think skinned person who --- out of his wife. "Allegedly of course." Think of Karl Rove the political hack that was called George Bush Brian. That is Tony Manolatos but without the brain. Now, you know Tony Manolatos.
THE HOTELIERS
BILL EVANS
You notice the personal names of the hoteliers are rarely used. There almost like a phantom in the night group. That is by design not an accident. There are 474 hotels with over 60,000 rooms in San Diego county. Most of them reside in downtown. Most hotel owners are friendly and family oriented people. . . There is 3 men that are at the top of the board. These three are known as "THE HOTELIERS."
Bill Evans, Terry Brown and Richard Bartlett.
Those are The Big Three and together they own the biggest hotels in San Diego. They don't just own hotels, some would say they conduct policy at City Hall. as a ventriloquist controls his puppets. Through their gifts and donations to their handpicked political campaigns they achieve the influence and power that they crave. Especially when it comes to downtown. Under them, you'll find Tony Manolatos, April Boling, Steve Cushman and the SD Lodging Industry, SD County Taxpayers Assc and the TMD working together for their special interest. .And people wonder why nothing gets accomplished in this city.
They want a contagious expansion of the convention center. Nothing less and who it may affect negatively those people be damned. For instance, they imposed an illegal hike of the TOT ( hotel tax) without a public vote. They are powerful insiders at city hall. Funny thing is neither one of them can make a good business decision. Everything they touch turns shit. They powered their way into the Balboa Park celebration which led to be a real embarrassment for the city.
Some believe that they planned the Chargers moving years ago. Get the Chargers out of San Diego, raise the TOT to expand the convention center contiguous as they wanted and have developers take over mission valley with condos and hotels.
Local longtime columnist for the UT Nick Canepa chimed in about the Hoteliers in an article right before the team left. "If they go, they go. And, if they do, it will not be on them, (the team) although, they will get the blame. It will be on the city. The Qualcomm stadium slumlords that allows the facility to retrogress, and now the hoteliers, who don't want a multi-use downtown stadium."
Mark Fabiani "The hoteliers have no interest in having us downtown. So we've gotten the message. The people who are in charge of the city are nothing more than puppets to those who run the hotels."
If you are going to truly understand how this city runs you need to see the secret components of what happened quietly out of the public eye. Therefore it is essential that you at least understand all the players involved. I will provide you with a link to political donations and a very informative (little extreme but facts are there) website designed by George Mullen. You can link up the dots if you so choose. Follow the San Diego Lodging Industry, Tourist Marketing District, (TMD) San Diego County Taxpayers Assoc, The Mayor to the City Council to the Big 3 Hoteliers of Bob Evans, Terry Brown and Richard Bartell.
https://hoteliercabal.com/ Just click on political donations to see how the money gets funnelled in this city from the special interest groups into the city council bank account.
https://hoteliercabal.com/ Just click on political donations to see how the money gets funnelled in this city from the special interest groups into the city council bank account.
Little introduction is needed here. Known in San Diego as a Darth Vader like character. He is a political strategist and crisis management expert. He has worked with Tom Bradley, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Lance Alworth, Bill O'Reilly and Goldman Sachs to name just a few of his clients. He was hired by Dean Spanos in 2002 as a special consultant. Mark is a Harvard graduate and was a research assistant for well known attorney Alan Dershowitz. His tactics can be questioned as bullying and in your face style of accomplishing his goals but his methods usually provide results. He co-wrote a book called "The Master of Disaster: The 10 Commandments of Damage Control."
DISCLAIMER: Mark is a very good friend of mine. I want to put that out there right now. In the days of me being just a little Chargers blogger on a Chargers fan website. to my time with Save Our Bolts until today, Mark has always treated me well. We did two interviews in 2015 on the stadium issue. I worked very closely with him in 2016, almost every day on Measure C. Personally I have never had a problem with Mark and he has always been there for me. I always found him to never have lied to me. He might rewrite the truth but he never blatenly lied to me. Even if I didn't want to hear the truth at the time.
His tactics led to some really ill will between him and city hall. But he got San Diego to start talking about a stadium finally. Was it to harsh and harmful? That is your decision to make not mine.
His tactics led to some really ill will between him and city hall. But he got San Diego to start talking about a stadium finally. Was it to harsh and harmful? That is your decision to make not mine.
These are the main players. The fan groups have met with Cory Briggs, JMI Realty, The Mayor over a dozen times and Goldman Sachs with Dean Spanos several times. Johnny was in talks with the community of Barrio Logan and we were looking to bring on volunteers to help aid our cause. We probably know the plan better than the team at this point. The Mayor was acting different than he did in 2015 up to this point. The communication between us and them was declining on their part. Tony Manolatos who was a partner to the fans in 2015 has taken a much different tone in 2016.
LEARNING EXPERIENCE
LEARNING EXPERIENCE
"Everyone has a agenda!" That keeps running through my head. The advice I was given near the beginning of all this by a close friend with knowledge of how the team and the NFL worked.
Tony was becoming more and more attackful as time went on. The feeling among most fans was skeptical but with some excitement as we were all approaching March of 2016.
There did seem to be a almost avalanche of emotions that reflected anti Dean Spanos.feeling in the city of anti-Dean and anti team. It was clear we were going to have our work cut out for us leading up to November.
Tony was becoming more and more attackful as time went on. The feeling among most fans was skeptical but with some excitement as we were all approaching March of 2016.
There did seem to be a almost avalanche of emotions that reflected anti Dean Spanos.feeling in the city of anti-Dean and anti team. It was clear we were going to have our work cut out for us leading up to November.
The announcement had to be big. A game changer. We had to change the negative narrative that was clouding the city. Thankfully, the big announcement was coming soon or so we thought at the time.
Part 2 of this series will be coming out soon. You can find me on Facebook at Thomas Powell or on Twitter @tpowell619
Part 2 of this series will be coming out soon. You can find me on Facebook at Thomas Powell or on Twitter @tpowell619
Great read Thomas. Thanks for tackling this intensely complicated story.
ReplyDelete