December 1, 2008 Tracy, CA

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No April Fool’s joke Print E-mail
Written by Molly Karl / For the Tracy Press /   
Tuesday, 08 April 2008

A lcoal woman is dismayed by a developer's recent comments and the City Council's continued support of Tracy Hills and Ellis.


EDITOR,

I read with disbelief the comments of Tracy Hills’ representative, Mike Souza, at the April 1 City Council meeting. According to Mr. Souza, Tracy Hills is good because it is on poor farmland and near an underused highway and will bring jobs to Tracy.

My husband has commuted at least four hours a day to the Bay Area for 25 years and knows every freeway and byway. Please tell me where this underused freeway could be, so I can tell him!

Regarding the thousands of acres Tracy Hills will cover, it is clear that Mr. Souza sees our surrounding hills as simply a place to build more houses. He uses the phrase “poor farmland” that I have heard over and over again to justify expansive development. I see our mountain vistas, changing from golden to snow-capped to green with the seasons, as the one natural feature that distinguishes Tracy and a resource to be saved, not to mention their value for grazing and as habitat for wildlife. It is time we saved our hills, not destroyed them. With 5,500 houses and Mr. Souza’s opinion that there is plenty of room on the freeways for nearly 10,000 more cars, I am certain that Tracy Hills will only add to the more than 70 percent of our population that already commutes out of town for work.

It was appropriate that Mr. Souza spoke on April Fool’s Day. But Ives, Tolbert and Tucker’s approval for Tracy Hills and Ellis to move forward as fast as possible and to stop processing all other development applications means the sad joke is once again on the residents of Tracy. How many times and in how many ways do the voters and the courts need to say NO to Tracy Hills and Ellis?

— Molly Karl, Tracy

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written by Is Molly a Communist? , April 09, 2008
"It is time we saved our hills, not destroyed them."


Not to take sides in the whole Serpa v. Souza thing, but a point of order here-- last time I checked they aren't "our" hills, they are Souza's. If Molly wants to buy them to protect her views, I am sure Souza would sell them to her. That would be a lot easier than building 5500 houses th hold another hundred thousand Mexicans. But we don't "take" the hills to protect views, any more than we would "take" Celeste's ranch or Molly's house to build soccer fields for ou kids. Unless we live in Russia. This isn't Russia, is it Danny?
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written by Christy , April 09, 2008
The voters reject sprawl and rapid growth by adopting Measure A and rejecting U and V. Yet they continue to elect sprawl and rapid growth incumbents, Ives, Tucker, Tolbert....Need to connect the dots folks. Time to clean house.
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written by Mc Butter , April 09, 2008
Good grief, now you did it. Pretty soon bob stinker is going to wake up and start trolling the tracy press website again. Pasting all his comments that he has copied into that word document of his. Using the moniker "bob blinker" that he and his wife have registered user so they get an email from the Tracy Press every time you post. The ultimate troll!!!

Wow, the hills get so much opposition. I wonder why does conolyflict / garrymander want to build crappy TRAQC, infill, apartments next door to everyones existing nice homes?

That idea should generate revenue for the city??? When the TRAQC, crackheads who live in these new apartments have thier crakhead children stealing your childrens bicycles... Garrymander will scream at Ives that it is his fault again.

Give them Mountain House! Give them the Hills!

Vote no on anymore of this leftover, legacy, pombo/connoly, ranch, feud!!!

Vote no on garaminder! And when the blinker starts up again. Bote no on Sandbag, too!

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written by Lots of questions , April 09, 2008
Oh yeah, I get it. April fools. That makes the developer a crook??? Conclusive proof? No! Related to bobo blinker? Some think so!

If your husband commuted the last four hours of every day then your lucky he wasn't asleep at the wheel.

WAKE UP!

Next time, instead of driving all over Tracy at midnight trying to know the hyways and byways.

Just get a map!!!

Duh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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written by Lots of questions , April 09, 2008
Its a joke, bob! Get it? Kind of like your stupid April fools joke! Come to think of it. Kind of like all your other jokes! Oh hey. One more thing.

No on blinker! No on garrymander! No on blinker! No on sandbag! No on blinker! No on conolyflict! No on blinker!

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written by Meanwhile.... , April 09, 2008
... back to the ranch!!!!
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written by Annoyed , April 09, 2008
Wise guy "Is Molly a communist"

You're right this is not a communism. That's why the Polit Bureau members; Souza, Eliis, Tolbert, Ives and Tucker alone will not be allowed to decide the future of this city. capis?

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written by scarrylarry , April 09, 2008
The voters reject sprawl and rapid growth by adopting Measure A and rejecting U and V. Yet they were lied to by the connelys. Tell the truth her miss christy. That law was written to miss lead the voters. ALSO TELL ME WHY CONNELY ASKED BRENT NOT TO VOTE ON THIS BECAUSE BRENT WAS GETTING PAID FROM ???? BUT SUNDBURG IS ON THE BOARD OF C.A.R.E AND STANDS TO GET MONIES AND SHE VOTED ON THE SPORTS PARK DEAL.
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written by Annoyed , April 09, 2008

Scarylarry,

You're not only scary you're also full of it because you think only you have the ability to comprehend the ballot measure language. People knew what they were voting for when they voted for measure A and definitely knew what they were voting against when they overwhelmingly rejected the U&V.

No amount of spin is going to change that fact.

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written by Silly Me , April 09, 2008
I'm sure all the Tracy natives felt the same way when we all moved here, and rapid growth followed us to meet our needs!
I think we are borderline hyproctyes.
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written by Annoyed , April 09, 2008

Silly Me,

That sounds like a great argument. Then, you should also agree to leave the US border open for Mexicans and others who want to come to this country, right? After all who are we to stop Mexicans to come to this country when our ancestors didn't have anyone to stop them from coming?
Not leaving the door open for Mexicans will only make us
hypocrites?

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written by Annoyed Rocks , April 09, 2008
"Not leaving the door open for Mexicans will only make us
hypocrites."

What don't the developers get? We have enough Mexicans in this town, and enugh blacks and all the other races. Tracy used to be a pretty decent town, but when you mix it up like the developers have done, all you do is bring in big city problems, the music, the gangs, the lowriders, the clothing styles that those people have, and suddenly this town isn't so hot anymore. That is why we passed measure A, to slow down that process (although I understand we can't totally stop it). We need to get real here. I am totally supportive of TRAQC, but even Sundberg and Garamendi doesn't have all the answers either. They want "infill," but if you look around downtown south of 11th, that part of town already looks like some of the bad parts of east oakland, and I don't know how we "improve" our town if we build another 2,000 blighted homes around Mt. Oso street?

I think that would just lure in the wrong type of people, and there are already lots of those people hanging out downtown just south of the Bowtie. There is some reality behind the phrase "the other side of the tracks." I think what we really need to do is stop building 100%, and start tearing down some of the areas that don't look so hot. For example, people wonder where to build sports parks, I think we have plenty of room around Alden Park, if we were to clear out some land in the area west of Tracy Blvd over to Hickory, from Tennis Lane on the south to the Railroad Tracks on the North, there would be room for about fifty soccer fields and ball diamonds, and every kid in town could ride their bikes to the area.

Most of the decent residents could relocate to foreclosed homes around town, but I really think that we should put, say, maybe a thousand of those folks into foreclosed homes over in Stockton where they and their kids might fit in a little better and have fewer problems. It would be a win-win for everyone.
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written by scarrylarry , April 09, 2008
Annoyed,

you can not really beleve voters read that stuff. maybe one in 10. the one tells the others. so the one that is full of it is you. I read the thing thank you very much and it was mostly bs.
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written by Annoyed , April 09, 2008
That's what matters in democracy, voting. Once (actually three times) people have voted it's done until the next voting time. It makes no different whether they read it or not. However, if the voters did read, I am pretty confident the they knew what was the measures (A,U and V) all about. So "Full of it", right back at you.
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written by scarrylarry , April 09, 2008
Well I talked to alot of people about Measure a. The age group between 35 and 50. I think around 3000 or so and 85 % think we got the short end with T.R.A.C. Q AND THE MEASURE A PEOPLE. SO IF YOU TAKE THAT AS THE RULE OF ONE TELLING 3 THEN YOU AND MEASURE A AND CONNALEY ARE IN DEEP S---. With more kids in grade school then high school and with the baby boomers moving out. We may see a new turn and it will not be old connely bs.
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written by Christy , April 09, 2008
You've actually talked to 3,000 people about Measure A?
And at the same time you recorded the data and did a statistical analysis? Jeeezzz, don't forget to charge AKT for your polling services!

The only BS that's old around here is IVES, TUCKER & TOLBERT.

I agree with Molly "Save Our Hills". Its been done before in Livermore (those smart people that work at the Lab) lets do the same for Tracy!
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written by Old School stinks but KTRAK more , April 10, 2008
Without a doubt, old school sukcs! But it is not just the old school, Tracy to blame. Even though voters shot themselves in the foot when they bought into Connolyflict / Garrymander / Christy / blinker's measure A. And now christy is here to try to put it to us again.

Didn't work, but nice spin! Demonizing Ives, Tucker, and Tolbert again to try to win a debate? Now you look like bob blinker. He doesn't know how to win a debate either. Because you both have nothing to say.

How old are you now "smarty"?

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written by change your name , April 10, 2008
Annoyed, shouldn't you change you name to annoying. First you pretend like you understand communist regime in Putin's Russia then you say Tracy borders are the Mexico borders. I missed the fence when I drove to Stockton today.

Sorry, apples and oranges. When the people moved here from Pleasanton they were not illegal immigrants. But with your uneducated rant - please inform us. Did you go to school in another country - like Russia or Mexico? Do you have your green card? I think you don't understand the issues too well!
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written by Christy Garamendi , April 10, 2008
People talk and talk and don't say anything on here. Thanks ms popy! The people are moving into a town that is being hijacked by TRAQC-Heads. Now they want to ruin it with "sunny", slow-growth. Anything to stop business coming into Tracy! Thanks, for the infill! Thanks for the TRAQC-houses! Thanks for nothing!

No on Garimandering!!!

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written by Business Park supporter , April 10, 2008
Old school Christy don't care about a business park. She sits around with bob blinker ranting and trolling all day. Retirement must be fun!?!?!

Except for the part where you don't have any money.

So what do you do with all that free time? Answer, you go-online and try to ruin it for everyone else.

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written by Jim Lamb , April 10, 2008
"What don't the developers get? We have enough Mexicans in this town, and enugh blacks and all the other races. Tracy used to be a pretty decent town"

It's startling to me that somebody can post something so completely bigoted and nobody seems to mind. Face it, your not living in some "whites only" utopia you seem to crave. I'd be curious what you ethnicity is, and what portion of the Tracy population your "race" represents. If you in the minority, maybe you should move.

I'll get off my soap box now.
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written by Annoyed , April 10, 2008
Change Your Name or Scarrylarry,

You have to have 6th grade level comprehension ability to understand what I wrote. My bad for not realizing that you're a fifth grade drop out.

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written by change your name , April 10, 2008
Wrong Annnoyed. So you are essentially saying that you have no point except to falsely accuse me of not completing high school (or grade school, in this case). I don't feel that I would have to defend my education. I will let your lack of a point speak for itself.

The people who moved here from the Bay Area vote. The illegal immigrants don't vote. In other words we vote our government leaders into office. Illegal immigrants are part of the "system". We, the voters have to decide what is best for our society.

To use an analogy comparing migration of illegal immigrants to people who migrated from the Bay Area to Tracy is like comparing apples and oranges.

Essentially your argument dictates that we should make decisions based on the model of illegal migration.

Again, not all people who move to tracy are illegal immigrants. Your one size all solution to illegal immigration wouldn't apply to people like yourself and others who moved to Tracy from the Bay Area and are not Illegal immigrants.

Annoyed? Probably because you don't understand the concept of demographics. That's my guess.
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written by Scott7858 , April 10, 2008
Just for the record.

The correct spelling is - Gerrymandering

Ger`ry*man"der, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Gerrymandered; p. pr. & vb. n. Gerrymandering.] To divide (a State) into districts for the choice of representatives, in an unnatural and unfair way, with a view to give a political party an advantage over its opponent. [Political Cant, U. S.]

Note: This was done in Massachusetts at a time when Elbridge Gerry was governor, and was attributed to his influence, hence the name; though it is now known that he was opposed to the measure. --Bartlett. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.

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written by Scott7858 , April 10, 2008
Also, in regards to Jim Lamb's comment:

[It's startling to me that somebody can post something so completely bigoted and nobody seems to mind. Face it, your not living in some "whites only" utopia you seem to crave. I'd be curious what you ethnicity is, and what portion of the Tracy population your "race" represents. If you in the minority, maybe you should move.]

The bigotry and stupidity demonstrated on this board never ceases to amaze or infuriate me. However, I try not to encourage them further by ignoring their remarks. Please, please, please do not get off your soap box. We need more intelligent discussion on this board.
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written by Annoyed , April 10, 2008

Change your name,

My immigration analogy was in response to the comment made by “silly me”.

“I'm sure all the Tracy natives felt the same way when we all moved here, and rapid growth followed us to meet our needs! I think we are borderline hypocrites”

In response to that, I made a point that - if we must allow unlimited homebuilding and ruin quality of our lives because we came from somewhere to Tracy, then we should also let our border open for those who want to come to this country.

After all, our ancestors too came to this country from somewhere. How is that apple and oranges?
The point being, just because you are new to the area you don’t give up your right to pursuit of happiness or quality of living. American ideals has been always driven by self interest; why should mine be labeled as hypocrite

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written by What Really Happened That Night , April 10, 2008
The City gave the lions share of water to Surland with a vote, 3-2.

The City gave the priority building to AKT and ELLIS without a vote calling it CONSENSUS


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written by Scott must be new here , April 10, 2008
Hey Scott, I think that the spellings "Garamending" or "Garrymandering" are correct if you are trying to make fun of Celeste Garamendi, who lives on a ranch down by Mt Hamilton but bought some crack-house in downtown Tracy where she pretends to live every once in a while so she can run for office.
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written by Vote Tolbert , April 10, 2008
Developers on this blog masquerade as citizens and they continue to try to scare people into thinking that affordable housing and infill are apartments for crackheads and illegal imigrants. Affordable housing is needed so teachears , police firefighters and our children can afford to live in Tracy. Developers on this blog also try to state the 600 homes and 150 inifll units that our growth ordinance allows constitutes slow growth. Again this is a developer generated misconception. 750 units a year amounts to a 3% growth rate and the state average is less than 2%. Tracy will at the appropriate time continue its growth. If we were building 1500 homes a year in Tracy like we did in 1990-2001 who would buy them now. Developers and your brainwashed associates need to stop distoring the facts.
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written by amy , April 10, 2008
I am wondering at the developer's definition of "poor farmland". By what category?
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written by Gary Blanch , April 10, 2008
Looking forward to a "smarter", "transparency" in our local government?

Then you should also look up the term: Connolyflict-Of-Interest???

You may find that the two are related ???


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written by We don't need April fools in November , April 10, 2008
Vote Tolbert,

I hope Tolbert has a more "transparent" plan than garaminder!!!

TRAQC really only pretends to have a "sunnier", "smarter" picture of what is good for Tracy???

You're corect in that some affordable housing would be good for Tracy.

Now about this TRAQC-HEAD idea - is that one of Tolbert's creatoins?

I sure hope not!!!

Tolbert's idea makes a lot of sense!!!

Anyone but Garimander-Connnnnnolyflict!!!


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written by Dave Hardesty , April 10, 2008
amy

Having walked the Tracy Hills property myself I would think it would be pretty poor farmland. Unless they grow grapes or nut trees that area would be very difficult to farm efficiently. Not that it couldn't be done mind you but I do believe most farmers would tell you that flat land is much easier to farm than hills.

What Sousa was thinking when he said his comment about "poor farmland" I can't really say because I can't read his mind. But that is how I would look at it if I was thinking of agricultural land for crop production.

Dave Hardesty
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written by Scott7858 , April 10, 2008
[Hey Scott, I think that the spellings "Garamending" or "Garrymandering" are correct if you are trying to make fun of Celeste Garamendi, who lives on a ranch down by Mt Hamilton but bought some crack-house in downtown Tracy where she pretends to live every once in a while so she can run for office.]

Thanks for the information. Now that I read it I get it (sorry, I was having a duh moment). Of course I could say I was only referring to those who really mispelled it, but that would be a lie.

Scott
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written by change your name , April 10, 2008
Annoyed,

Simply, you're really just confusing Tracy developers with Mexican workers.




"pursuit of happiness" ???
==============================
Yes, some of us moved to Tracy because the homes were nicer than the ones we had in Fremont, Newark, or Hayward. How does that ruin the quality of our lives? How does that make us Mexican immigrants?





who are "my ancestors" ???
============================
What difference does it make? And why do you ask???




your "self interests"???
===========================
TRAQC has enough of their own "self interests". Let them take out their own garbage!!!





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written by scarrylarry , April 10, 2008
Annoyed. Please do not get upset because other people agree with me Just so you know I did make it through high school and for years at a thing called a UNIVERSITY. Sorry to let you down. Also did a trip to a small little country in ASIA. 18 MONTHS WORTH. i JUST CAN NOT SPELL AND GRAMMER IS BAD
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written by Christy , April 10, 2008
McDonalds Hamburger University doesn't count Larry.
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written by scarrylarry , April 10, 2008
MAN YOU HURT MY FEELINGS.
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written by amy , April 10, 2008
Dave Hardesty, what you said made sense. The phrasing just looked odd.. unusable agricultural land would be more clear... rather than "poor" farmland.... just my picky opinion. smilies/wink.gif
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written by scarrylarry , April 10, 2008
Christy THE BOYS AT U.O.P WILL BE CLAD TO HEAR YOU CALL IT THAT. OH BY THE WAY LOOK WHAT I FOUND ON A DIFFRENT BLOGThis is a beautiful park as you can see from the pictures in the last link. It also happens to be near the lab. But it doesn't bother anyone else. Except...

Ask yourselves... Why on earth would someone want to be a Park Killer??? And shut down this park???

And why on earth would Celeste Garamendi and the Sierra club want a hiking park next to a nuclear lab?

Ask yourself if hikers from the Sierra club REALLY want to hike next to nukes and dirt-bikes? I thought not!

http://www.southbayriders.com/forums/showthread.php?p=733897

Enjoy the links and information!!!

Hope you do the research come election time. I did!

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written by old timer , April 10, 2008
Amy, the fed’s USDA performs soil surveys and classifies soil suitability for agriculture. The feds describe farmland for irrigated ag on a spectrum from “prime” to “poor.” Prime farmland is the farmland with the best combination of physical and chemical features able to sustain long-term agricultural production. Poor farmland is land that may not drain (because it is made of clay) or that cannot be irrigated (because of slope or elevation). You will also hear farmers talking about farmland being “prime” farmland if it is being irrigated, which may be sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I don’t know much about Souza (except people say he’s rich from growing houses), but I think he is probably right in saying the hills are poor for growing stuff. You don’t need to be some pointy-headed federal agent to know that the hills south of town are “poor.” All you need to do is look at them; there isn’t anything growing on them. In this state, if stuff isn’t growing somewhere, that is usually a sign that stuff won’t grow there.

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written by amy , April 10, 2008
Actually, I had thought it would be pretty good place for growing vineyard, just didn't have the right ownership for that purpose. But from what Dave and old timer says, I can see it is not possible to grow anything in productive way.

Thanks for the information!
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written by d , April 11, 2008
I want to Buy a house and live next to a Weapons Facility!




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written by Christy , April 11, 2008
http://www.saveourhills.org/


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written by Christy , April 11, 2008
http://www.sos-hills.org/
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written by Christy , April 11, 2008
http://www.savepleasantonhills.com/
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written by scarrylarry , April 11, 2008
Christy www.saveyourbutt.com
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written by notnice , April 21, 2008
The bantering going on here reminds me of a bunch of kids at the playground. LOL In another "letter to the editor" the city says that communication between them and developers has taken a back seat to other issues. Are you kidding me? Face it, sooner or later you'll see that the city and ATK/Sousa are once again going to begin negotiating. It seems the city does not want to involve any other developers other than ATK/Sousa. Why? Because the city was promised an all expense paid sports park or aquatic park in exchange for a monopoly of the building permits. Bottom line, end of story. Now that seems like a good deal but who wants to feel "owned" for the next 20 yrs? Give all developers a chance to bid on permits and build your sports park the old fashioned way....pay for it yourself.
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