Interesting perspective from
bigpokerdog over yonder O-Live Forum way...
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In reading all of the opinions and views concerning Paul Allen and the Rose Garden I think we need to look at what's best for us and for the city. Paul Allen has asked for a public and private partnership but he remains vague on how much money wants, where the money will go and what exactly do we gain from taxpayers assistance. Now I am not in favor of handing over our tax dollars to pay for Paul Allen's past, present and future mistakes concerning the running of the Portland Trail Blazers. But I think that the current situation/mess does need to be fixed if the Trail Blazers are to survive here in Portland. Now there is one party here that has more power and money then Paul Allen. That is us, the citizens of Portland Oregon. What I purpose is this, we put on the ballot of the soonest election possible a bond measure to purchase the Rose Garden. The city of Portland buying the Rose Garden makes sense. Remember when Paul Allen purchased the Trail Blazers he didn't buy the Memorial Coliseum also. The Blazers ran just fine with us owning the Coliseum and the Blazers paying us rent to play there. By taking the insurance companies that own the Rose Garden out of the picture we can then renegotiate the current lease making it more fair for Paul Allen while getting a valuable asset for our tax dollars instead of subsidizing the loses of the Trail Blazers. Global Spectrum has turned the Rose Garden into the best run facility of it's size in the country. Holding more non basketball events there any other similar sized facility in the country. This is not a black hole of cash that some would think. I don't like being held hostage by a billionaire owner who is threatening to move or sell the team. As fans and citizens it's up to us to put us in the best position possible concerning the future of professional sports in this city. Remember we can always sell the Rose Garden down the road but this way we have more say, more control and more power in this mess. Now I'm sure this is not the Public/Private partnership that Paul Allen envisioned but I would rather put my tax dollars into real estate then into sports teams subsidies.
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