City Staff Misleads Public and Council

If you watched Tuesday night's Council meeting, you witnessed a disgusting spectacle.  The Council approved a contract to do a "feasibility" study of the CenterCal development.  That study was mostly done by the time the Council approved and will have been done in less than a week.  So we will get a trumped up report that pretends to be an independent analysis.  That is bad enough, but it gets worse.

The Council asked how staff picked the consultant.  Staff said there are only a few companies that do this type of analysis. FALSE! Google retail feasibility analysis or mall feasibility analysis and you will instantly see dozens of consultants.


   
The Council asked why the hotel feasibility was left out.  Staff responded companies that do retail feasibility don't do hotel feasibility.  FALSE!  If you go to the City's chosen consultant's website, you will find a page devoted to their expertise in hotel feasibility:  http://www.jeffgreenpartners.com/services/hotel-feasibility/

City Council asked whether the contractor was truly independent, had they worked for CenterCal before.  Staff answered "possible".  MISLEADING.  Yes, the City's consultant has worked for CenterCal.  How independent is that analysis?

Mayor Aspel tried to convince the audience that 460,000 sq ft of retail, restaurant and movie theater development is not a mall.  He was greeted by laughs.  If it quacks like a duck, looks like a duck, smells like a duck and flies like a duck, call it what you want, but it is a duck.  And this development is a mall that will separate us from our beloved harbor.

Aspel said this is just getting ready for the EIR and nothing is in concrete.  A year from now, he will say we invested so much time and money that we cannot change anything.  This script played before.  And it led to a referendum.

The handwriting on the wall is clear.  The City is so enamored with the CenterCal Mall that they apparently are willing to do anything to mislead us and ramrod the Mall down our throats whether we want it or not.  Sadly, it looks like our only recourse will be lawsuit, referendum or initiative.