Mayor Todd Gloria on Monday abruptly postponed a planned City Council vote on a controversial settlement with the city’s 101 Ash St. landlord and lenders who backed the deal.
Just 20 minutes before an 11 a.m. special City Council meeting, Gloria announced that he had requested that a vote on the proposed settlement agreement calling for the city to buy out its 101 Ash and Civic Center Plaza leases be “delayed for further review by the City Council and the public.”
“While there is still no ideal outcome to this civic debacle, we have heard clearly that the public should be given more time to review the proposed settlement agreement in its entirety – including all accompanying documents and analyses – and so we are granting that request,” Gloria wrote in a statement. “We intend to move forward in approximately one month’s time.”
City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera said in a separate statement issued jointly that he appreciated the mayor’s request to allow the public more time to review the proposal which calls for the city to spend about $132 million to buy the buildings.
In exchange, landlord Cisterra pledged to return $7.45 million in net profits it received in the 2017 Ash transaction, while lenders who provided upfront cash for the two leases promised to waive an estimated $11.7 million in penalties associated with paying off lenders’ debts before the planned 20-year leases conclude.
Gloria’s office declined to elaborate on the reasons for the last-minute decision Monday.
The Union-Tribune reported that a number of speakers had come to City Hall to address the City Council and departed immediately after they learned the item had been pulled.
BAD DEAL-ya think? Mayor Gloria is known for them.
The City Council should realize that endorsement of a settlement which costs multiples of the initial value and leaves the Taxpayers on the hook for additional unknown funds with zero recourse to the sellers is a bad career move and opens the door for additional lawsuits.
Faulconer’s deal–he was the mayor when the deal was made. Working under the “strong mayor” system enacted by Jerry Sanders. Give the man credit for this mess as he was running it.
The mayor rushed to put his proposed settlement on the council agenda when he thought he had five votes locked up. He took it off the agenda when it turned out he didn’t have the votes. Leapt before he looked.