Fairgrounds Ground Lease Available For Review

GROUND LEASE AVAILABLE FOR ANALYSIS
Shortly after 6 p.m. Thursday the City of Costa Mesa posted on it's web site the draft Ground Lease between the Orange County Fairgrounds Authority (OFCA) and Facilities Management West (FMW). This document, all 81 pages of it, can be found HERE. The companion CEQA report can be found HERE.

NOT MY CUP OF TEA
I'm not even going to begin to try to dissect these documents. It's a wise man who knows his limitations... I suspect that, as I type this, former Mayor Sandra Genis is fully immersed in that exercise in anticipation of making a presentation before the City Council/Authority Board at it's special meeting in council chambers on Tuesday, August 24th at 5:30 p.m. Make special note of the time - it's unusual for a meeting to begin at that time.

HAVE AT IT...
For those of you with the skill set to analyze real estate documents, help yourselves. I hope you'll share your observations with us once you complete the task.

WILL WE HAVE A DEAL OR NOT?
Tuesday's meeting should be interesting, to say the least. If the Authority Board does, in fact, end up with a completed document that night I'll be surprised. However, the guillotine blade is scheduled to drop on Friday, the 27th. On that date the legislators are scheduled to bail out of Sacramento and return to their home districts, returning after the November elections. If we don't get a document signed we have no chance of the legislature completing their part of this deal. Personally, I'm not holding my breath on this one. I fear I'd look like a smurf by next weekend.

KEEPING A POSITIVE THOUGHT...
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that our team and FMW will sign the deal and the legislators in Sacramento will set aside partisan politics, ignore Mayor Allan Mansoor's rule of law resolution and do what is best for the people of the State, Orange County and Costa Mesa - pass the legislation necessary to complete this deal. They've disappointed us before...