Fill out this form to email this article to a friend
No sweetheart deal afoot for stadium, team says
The Rays deny allegations of bid rigging.
By Aaron Sharockman, Times Staff Writer
Published March 9, 2008
ST. PETERSBURG - Responding to an allegation that the Tampa Bay Rays illegally lobbied the City Council, team executives on Saturday said that a group opposed to a new waterfront stadium will say or do anything to derail the plan. The latest example, according to Rays senior vice president Michael Kalt, is the suggestion that the team is attempting to rig the city's bidding process for developers interested in purchasing Tropicana Field and its parking lots. Former City Council member Kathleen Ford, an opponent of the stadium plan, said last week that Rays executives are trying to ensure the developer they're working with, Hines Interests, gets the job. That could not be further from the truth, Kalt said Saturday. "There is no benefit to us having only one bidder," Kalt said. "Every time we hear somebody else may bid ... we literally do a dance." Kalt said Ford and her group, St. Pete Preserve Our Wallets and Waterfront, are trying to scare off potential bidders. Developers have until March 18 to make an offer to the city. "They're out there spreading things that are flat-out lies," Kalt said.
[Last modified March 8, 2008, 23:28:57]
Share your thoughts on this story
Comments on this article
|
by Justin E
|
03/10/08 10:19 AM
|
|
This guys is a real piece of work. How can you tell he's lying? Um...because his lips are moving. Fact is, no developer in their right mind is going to bid on this project now that Hines is the preferred developer. And that taints the whole deal.
|
|
by David
|
03/09/08 10:48 PM
|
|
I've been impressed with everything the POWW group has said. They back up everything with quotes, urls and research. The same cannot be said of the Rays. I suggest they document the "lies" and let POWW respond.
|
|
by Get-Smart
|
03/09/08 12:56 PM
|
|
To find the trail of money you need to identify the non-profit PAC's of the local politicians and see if lobby groups i.e. FlChamberComm contributed to the politicians PAC for the Rays via a local chamber.
|
|
by Frank
|
03/09/08 12:10 PM
|
|
Since when does a project of this size get done without sweetheart deals,bribes and corruption
|
|
by Virginia
|
03/09/08 10:57 AM
|
|
The Rays said on Kathy Fountain Show (Fox13), "We have a preferred bidder" That's enough to run off potential other bidders who have to pay out hundreds of thousands of dollars to prepare a bid. Who would pay that if the deal's already done?
|
|
by Kathleen Ford
|
03/09/08 05:52 AM
|
|
The Rays/ Hines could share all of their press releases that resulted in the articles in Building Design Construction and let the public decide. The Rays could disclose how much they paid for the t-shirts and the ValPac direct mail ads.
|
|
News
Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
Print
Email story
Comment
Letter to the editor
