Building an arena is not as simple as it seems

In the long and hard fought battle to keep their team, Sacramento has felt the need to accelerate the process for the approval of a new Stadium. These efforts have been fast and furious, and on paper, Sacramento has made tremendous progress toward building a new facility. But sometimes the devil is in the details.

Cal Watchdog has been tracking this and has recently put out a two part series examining the process that Sacramento has used to get to the point where the City Council gave approval to move forward with the new building.

Approved by the Sacramento City Council, the latest plan uses overstated revenue projections, grossly overstated projected attendance numbers and city-owned parking garages to sweeten the finances. As with all of the previous schemes to keep the Sacramento Kings in town in a luxurious arena, neither city officials nor local news media have ever performed due diligence to expose the questionable business deal it will be for taxpayers.

Local media have been cheerleading the project, with little criticism or analysis. It’s another typical government-involved project, with bad numbers, pie-in-the-sky plans, lots of hype and no accountability.

(Part 1)Part two digs deeper into the environmental exemptions and job creation claims.

Some other links that might be relevant:

Judge rules AB 900 stream lining law unconstitutional.

California Environmental Quality Act.

California Environmental Impact Reports.