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Supes to governor: Scrap the fairgrounds sale
November 24th, 2009, 11:20 am · 39 Comments · posted by Jennifer Muir
The Orange County supervisors voted unanimously this morning to urge Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to block the sale of the Orange County Fairgrounds.
The city of Costa Mesa last week agreed to ask the governor to scrap the sale, and advocates call today’s move a critical step toward preserving the fairgrounds. The county’s resolution also asks other Orange County cities to join in solidarity opposing the sale.
“We hope the governor will give us a big Christmas present,” said Reggie Mundekis, a member of the Orange County Fairgrounds Preservation Society. “This is a very critical point for us today.”
Schwarzenneger has advocated selling the 150-acre fairgrounds to help close a massive state budget deficit — a move approved by lawmakers.
Updated 6 p.m.: County supervisors had initially supported selling the land, if the state required the new owner to continue its tradition as a fairground, events center and equestrian facility.
The state didn’t require those conditions when the land went on the market last month. So Supervisors John Moorlach and Bill Campbell asked the board to oppose the sale.
A spokesman for Schwarzenegger said his office had not yet received requests from the county or the city of Costa Mesa, so he couldn’t comment on them. He said the administration plans to move forward with the process to determine if a sale is beneficial to the state. If it’s not, “it’s the administration’s prerogative to halt the process.”
But the governor has said the state shouldn’t be in the real estate business.
“In these difficult economic times, the governor is committed to doing everything to shore up state revenues and realize savings for the people of California,” spokesman Mike Naple said.
The decision to sell the land left local community leaders scrambling – and sometimes fighting – over how to preserve its tradition.
Members of the Orange County Fair board in October formed a nonprofit foundation to explore buying the fairgrounds. The county is looking how to borrow internally to buy the land if it does go on the market, Moorlach said Tuesday. And the city of Costa Mesa also could bid if the sale moves forward, City Manager Allan Roeder said.
Meanwhile, a lawyer for the county last month accused the fair board and its foundation of going too far in its own efforts to buy the property. In a complaint filed with the state Attorney General, county counsel Nicholas Chrisos alleges fair board members illegally used public money to pay former state Sen. Dick Ackerman and his law firm to influence the sale of the land to ensure their foundation could qualify to bid.
Chrisos believes that fair board members could benefit financially from the contract because if their foundation is the successful buyer, members could enjoy financial perks, such as free parking and concert tickets. The district attorney’s office is looking into the complaint, a spokeswoman said.
Kristina Dodge, who heads both the fair board and the foundation, said Tuesday that the allegations are hurtful and untrue. She said the fair board hired Ackerman to help the fair board navigate the complicated process of selling the fair, not to lobby.
“We would never ever knowingly break any laws let alone bend any laws,” Dodge said. “We felt like we’re here as stewards of the fair, and we want to continue that, so of course it would seem natural to go out and protect the fair. … I think we’re not getting that message out there because people feel like we’re trying to hide something. That’s just not where we’re coming from.”
To that end, Dodge believes that selling the fair might not be such a bad idea – an opportunity to take local control of the fairgrounds and modernize it.
“What worries me is how many years will people be willing to stand up and fight and will the state of California be willing to allow this 150 acres to sit there when it’s not highly profitable,” she said. “We should be planning because I don’t see in the real near future that the state is going to pull themselves out of the mess we’re in.”
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DENA BUNIS, Washington bureau chief, 202-628-6381 or dbunis@ocregister.com
BRIAN JOSEPH, Sacramento correspondent, 916-449-6046 or bjoseph@ocregister.com
JENNIFER MUIR, County government reporter, 714-796-7813 or jmuir@ocregister.com
JOEL WALSH, Washington bureau intern, 202-628-6381 or jwalsh@ocregister.com
MARTIN WISCKOL, Politics reporter, 714-285-2867 or mwisckol@ocregister.com twitter.com/MartinWisckol
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No No don’t sell this site ..lets get all of orange county residents to develop a .. a Great Park !! .. that will only really benefit Costa Mesa just like the City of Irvine did.
Arnold, Sell the site the State is broke.
Last I checked public parks can be used by anyone.
and it was voted on by the people of OC.
The effen Great Park is all about a developer making a ton of money. More money than most El Toro/Lake Forest residents will see in their lifetimes.
NO SALE…not to anyone. These guys who have said they want to “Save the Fair Grounds” by buying it themselves are not to be trusted.
NO SALE, NO DEAL.
Since when is the governor the owner of this property? This should be on a ballot statewide because all of the land up for sale belongs to the people of California not the government. Sounds like they have devised a very kinky way of ripping off the people of California to pad their pockets and the pockets of the developers.
for once, I agree with this guy. the people should have to approve it via proposition!
better yet, how about a proposition to block it? all they need is a stay from a judge and then enough signatures to get it on the ballot in 2010. shouldn’t be hard.
allowing this sale to go through sends the wrong message. Arnold should know better, we have to cut spending not rely on these silly bandaids which will flush what dignity the state has left down the drain. what’s next, sell off all the state parks?
what happens when all these properties are then sold and the state is still insolvent. it’s a one-shot deal which won’t work, but will result in these sites falling into disrepair and being a blight on our community.
rent the fairgrounds.
Since when is cutting the budget defecit being a thief? Statewide ballots do nothing because everyone will obviously want to keep the fairgrounds. I would want to keep the fairgrounds as well, but you have to stop acting like children and assume money grows on trees. Increasing taxes might cause a temporary fix, but the underlying problem is our state is spending out of our means.
stop flushing the funds down the toilet and keep the Fairgrounds the way it is. the public employee unions are stealing all our money. this won’t fix a thing.
The government of California is out of control. They want to sell a huge chunk of land that will NEVER be replaced just to cover some state cost for a few months? Stop spending so much, don’t start selling public property to private developers to make a quick buck.
FU Arnie, and to think that I voted for you, my mistake.
you’ve got that right. wow that will balance the budget, then in 3 months we’ll be broke again! hooray!
this site should NEVER be turned over to a private party. and I’m generally for privatizing, so that should say a lot.
It says you only have principles when it benefits you or it is something you desire. You either believe in privatizing or you don’t. If you really have those principles than you would agree to sell this land to the highest bidder. If the private sector deems the best use is a fairgrounds, than so be it. If not, than let the Great Park become the OC Fairgrounds.
The Republican Party will keep promoting candidates like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sarah Palin as long as there are voters who are dumb enough to think that complex problems can be solved by action heroes and moose-dressers.
And you think worthless liberals and obamamessiah are better?
and the democrats have done such a wonderful job managing the state for decades? The Republicans in CA are the only one keeping them from spending CA down the toilet.
Costa Mesa, Orange County, Arnold Schwarzenegger…is there any SURPRISE over the way this is turning out?
So we lose the OC Fair- and my favorite the SWAPMEET =( Terrible idea… Really ??? The governor has done enough to ruin the State of California.
Not even close to what the legislature has done. There’s a reason their approval rating is only 13%.
SELL IT
SELL IT !!!
Only a few people benefit from the piece of property. The state needs the money.
It’s a county fair ground site. The entire county benefits from it. If the state needs money, it needs to quit overspending.
The state doesn’t need dollars. The state needs discipline. Give your dollars to the state, not mine.
My advice is to do the opposite of what the Fair Board wants.
They are already proven beyond a scinitilla of a doubt what they are.
Remember, these people were appointed by Arnold who just appointed that LIAR Abel Maldonado as his Lt. Governor. That should tell you everything you need to know.
Now that we know what it takes to be an Arnold Schwartzenegger appointee the fair grounds question should be obvious to you.
Oh, and Btw….. Schwartzenegger has already made it known that he will not run for any other political office after giving up the governor’s seat in January when his term expires. So he has LITTLE political skin left in the game. Don’t be surprised that NEXT YEAR he flips you the big one and hits you with BILLIONS in new taxes / fees with the upcoming $20 BILLION dollar budget deficit in 2010. All the writing is on the wall for that one. You’d have to be blind not to see it.
Is is possible for you to write a post without CAPITALIZING? Perhaps you might benefit from expanding your vocabulary, the better to express your thoughts without annoying the reader.
Isn’t that the truth! Pehaps stop handing money to illegal residents and their large family would be a start. I get so angry anymore when listening to local politics as well as what the Fed gvmnt is doing to us.
Sell this piece of land! Why on earth are my tax dollars going to the use of fairgrounds that I haven’t used in years? The OC Fair is a smelly, dirty, cheesy, cornball place full of hucksters and bad fried food and dirty unsafe carnival rides and smelly animals.
If these equestrian folks, and little old ladies who want their peach preserves judged, want some place to practice their hobby then let them buy the land and run the place. I could care less about the stupid OC Fair.
Sell the OC Fair land to the highest bidder and get the government out of the entertainment business! Turn that place into condos and a Starbucks and get it over with!
You don’t even know what you’re talking about.
By your rational… I don’t use the freeway that you use every day so the state should sell it. Too much traffic and smog anyway.
Now do you realize how dumb you sound?
Stop the sale (44 days left)
This whole Deal Stinks and “who” encouraged our legislators to Vote for this? Many suspect the Fair Board members are behind this! Who is the
Check out this awesome Power Point Presentation from City CM of the timeline and how we got here today!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RWtqXGV8wk
State needs revenue.
Raise taxes or sell property?
Or cut spending
The state has a spending problem, not a revenue problem.
The OC Fair Board started this by authorizing this sale in a special meeting July 15th. Unlike every other Fair Board in the state.Then they formed a non profit foundation to buy it themselves.The entire Costa Mesa City Council voted to Stop this Sale. The power point presentation they prepared showed exactly why this was a rigged game from the start. The Costa Mesa planning commissioner, Jim Righeimer has been pushing for this sale since June. Well before this was lobbied into the budget by Fair board hired gun richarDick Ackerman.This 115 year ,Orange County treasure, is about to be “ripped ‘ from the hands of the public, and put under the control of a few political insiders. Righeimer has not supported one effort to actually stop the sale of “our” fairgrounds.He has orchestrated an effort to plummet the value with zoning restrictions.Supported and backed this Fairboards attempted takeover, and now that the foundations murky activities aren’t holding up to public scrutiny, he starts a “Save the Fair” organization that supports the sale. That only opens the door for a “local’ private takeover. Just because they live here, doesn’t mean I want them to “own” our fairgrounds. The sharks aren’t just in Sacramento…
Sell this property and without restrictions.
Ronald Regan would have sold this prperty because the only public benefit are to the oc fair board
members(the ones dining on Lobster and steak) and the operators.
Plenty of swap meets have had to ride off in the sunset so what the difference?
The fair can move to the great park!that without the board members
Orange County is a “donor” county. We send many more tax dollars to Sacramento than we receive back!
Why should we be the only county required to sell “our” fairgrounds to help the state deficit?
This is an insider deal rigged for a few well connected insiders.
Don’t be duped!
I believe the fair ground is long due to overhaul, but I would be sorry to see the fairgrounds sold to anyone who would develop it for profit like housing or another unfilled office building. I would like to see a wonderful park for outdoor picnics with a stage gazebo for oudoor events that could be reserved. The fair has been unchanged for years, and frankly I find it quite boring now and I am unwilling to pay the price to get in. If we must sell, then every other county should sell their fairgrounds too. Our governor sees dollar signs because this region is high end.
To be honest, I’m undecided as to whether the State should or should not sell the OC Fairgrounds. I just know that the current Fair Board should not be able to purchase it while they serve as the Fair Board.
If certain Fair Board members choose to resign their positions and form a non-profit foundation to purchase the fairgrounds - I welcome it. As long as they want to straddle the fence - influencing the sale and at the same time purchase the property - then I am strongly opposed.