It has been 17 years and 140 days since the city’s pledge to build the West Branch Library.
For the first time ever at the May 26, 2015 city council meeting the council will vote to set a recall election date of November 3, 2015. Councilmember Sherwood has got to be desperate. From the number of Sahuaro district registered voters willing and eager to sign a petition calling for his recall is a pretty clear indicator that he cannot win.
Instead of realizing his ambition to become Glendale’s next mayor he faces the humiliating prospect of a recall against him. Desperate people do desperate things. I am convinced that he, and most likely his strongest supporter, the Glendale Fire Union, will attempt some last ditch, legal maneuver to delay the election. I wouldn’t put it past them. A legal effort to delay the election may cause some Sahuaro district voters to not participate if they know the regular election for that seat occurs in November of 2016. Sherwood hints of this prospect,“if there is this supposed ground swell of dissatisfaction with me, I’m up for reelection next nine months later in August ’16.”
Here is the link to the May 19, 2015 edition of the Glendale Star: http://www.glendalestar.com/news/article_b6d4fd24-fe45-11e4-86a1-6f00d1c2d6ea.html
In an article written by Darrel Jackson entitled Sherwood faces recall, Sherwood states, “I’m very proud of my record and I have extended an inordinate amount of energy hoping to cover for the lack of leadership that has existed with my fellow policy makers these nearly past two and a half past years.” If I were the mayor or his fellow councilmembers I would be quite angry with Sherwood’s trashing of their performance. This is one seemingly arrogant fellow believing that he is Superman saving Glendale from 6 Jesters.
Sherwood in the Jackson article goes on to say , “he helped negotiate an agreement with the tribe (Tohono O’odham) worth more than $26 million for Glendale over 20 years.” He shouldn’t be quite so proud of that fact. That very same land had it not become a reservation and had been privately developed as offices, would have generated an estimated $4 to $5 million a year in various taxes. Since when is a little over a million dollars a year better than 4 or 5 million dollars a year?
Sherwood’s commentary in the Jackson article demonstrates that when Sherwood is backed into a corner, it seems he can be quite vicious as he blames the current council for the resignation of former City Manager Brenda Fischer (his buddy) and Assistant City Manager Julie Frisoni (another buddy). The current rumor is that Sherwood has hired Julie Frisoni’s new consulting firm as his campaign consultant. That shouldn’t surprise anyone as it appears that Sherwood met often with Frisoni on city business that met his agenda. We can add Frisoni to the list of supporters that appear to include the Glendale Fire Union, Mark Becker of Becker Billboards and Jason Rose of the Rose Law Group.
Look for Sherwood and his supporters to file something to delay the election before the council May 26th meeting and vote. How creative can they be? I expect we’ll find out shortly.
© Joyce Clark, 2015
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You said………….”If I were the mayor or his fellow council members I would be quite angry with Sherwood’s trashing of their performance. This is one seemingly arrogant fellow believing that he is Superman saving Glendale from 6 Jesters.” No offense but are you not the pot calling the kettle black? You never did the same thing? You never called out members of the council?
I am not a Sherwood supporter, or detractor. I think with a little thought it easy to realize that Sherwoods actions led to Glendale opting out of the law suits and ALL the money they would cost. The reality is that others are fighting that battle on their own dime. By getting the “pay off” Sherwood got something for the city IF the casino is approved. He has saved the city MILLIONS in what would be wasted legal fees. If the Feds win the battle, the revenue you speak of will be back in play…………….so, what he did is really quite smart.
Why dont you report of the council persons that made some really ignorant comments to the TSN. They were to ignorant to even know what the terms were of the deal. I am betting they are still clueless today. The Glendale council continues to be the laughing stock of the state. Glendale may have voted out Alverez, but they have a couple that have taken her place.
James, Be sure to get Sherwood to thank you for defending him.
So, you dont disagree with the points I made? He saved the city millions in foolish court fees. That should be pretty clear no matter how you feel about him
He wouldn’t have saved the city anything in court fees. The city for the past few years has no legal action pending against the Tohono O’odham. The Tribes do but the city doesn’t.
It was inevitable that the city would pull out of their legal actions and let the state and other AZ tribes take that over.
What Sherwood likes to boast about is the $26M or so the city would receive from the Tohonos over the next 10 years. But to get that, the city had to give up zoning control of the land strip along the Loop 101. This was a right they had actually won in the courts during their legal actions.
Now the Tohonos are free to flood this zone with electronic billboards (wouldn’t surprise me if they come from Becker) , raking in 100% of the monies earned by them instead some of it being shared with Glendale in a separate deal.
Also note that after 10 years…. the amount the Tohonos pay to Glendale will be cut in half. Why? As noted in previous blogs, similar tribal agreements with other US cities are valued at three times what the Tohonos are going to pay out. So the Tohonos are already getting a discount rate…. why give them a second one?
Joyce,
Will the citizens of Glendale possibly end up paying for his re-election bid?
Me, Yes. Whenever there is any election that has Glendale propositions or candidates Glendale pays. The cost is less than council’s new electronic voting system used at council meetings.
It is time for Sherwood to leave. He has been an embarrassment to Sahuaro District, the Council and the City of Glendale taxpayers. I am one of thousands of Sahuaro residents Sherwood forgot he was representing. I guess if you don’t care what the people who elected you think, then you don’t need to bother providing important information on meeting dates for issues that affect Sahuaro District — the Sale of the Foothills Library – the 8 story high billboards at Bell & 101. Not one of the dates for the Commission or public meetings on either of these issues was ever sent via e-mail or Newsletter to the Sahuaro District residents. The massive opposition voiced last year on the billboard issue doesn’t matter to Sherwood because he’s going to do what he and Becker want. He arrogantly thinks he is running the show in Glendale. He has already tried twice to get Council to vote to rescind its previous NO Billboards vote — apparently Sherwood doesn’t care that both P&Z and the Council already said NO to those billboards. The money Glendale will have to spend on this recall election is a drop in the bucket compared to what Sherwood has already cost and will cost the Glendale taxpayers in ill thought out agreements and self-serving plans.
Ok, lets use your logic. You dont like that he keeps bringing the Billboard issue up because its been turned down in the past. I get that. So, under YOUR logic, this council, specially Hugh, Aldama and Weiers should stop trying to undo the Coyotes deal? The council has voted twice to approve the current deal and past one that wasnt as good.
Your logic is lacking.
Jim…the billboard issue was voted on and died…trying to change a vote you didn’t like losing is far different from agreeing to a deal and then challenging it because one party may have violated it..(albeit the grounds are shaky from what I can see unless we learn more). You are comparing apples and oranges for your own purposes.
Joyce, did you see that after the first 3/4’s finacial report, the Yotes have returned $940,000 more than after last years report for the same time? Also last year there were no events in the last quarter. This year has had 4 concerts. I think its safe to say when all is said and done, the city will recieve at least $7.5M of their 15M back. Something that wouldnt have happened in the Jammison deal.
I believe that it has been widely reported that the COG would have to pay 6M to run the arena without the Yoyes being there…………so the simple math is the COG is paying only $1.5M more than they would have to w/o the Yotes. Wait, there is more. I would guess the tax revenue at Westgate on game and event nights is close to $1.5M.
So, it seems by the end of year 2, the COG might actually benefit finacially from the deal. Maybe someone should infom the cast of clowns that makes up the COG council.
In today’s AzRep there is an article that the city’s losses are greater than last years.Here is the link:http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/glendale/2015/05/26/glendale-arizona-coyotes-attendance-revenue-dips-arena/27792029/
And the figures were for the first 3/4’s of the fiscal year, last year in the 4th quarter there were no events in the arena. This year there were 4 sold out concerts. That just might change those nimbers a bit.
Well, its still pretty clear that the deal will return enough (Once again, unlike the Jameson deal) that the difference between the 6M the COG would have to pay to run the arena w/o the Yotes and the actuall amount spent will almost be covered by the indirect tax revenue at Westgate on game and event nights.
You can spin it anyway you want, but the COG is close to getting back most of what they spend above what they would have to spend w/o the Yotes. lets add, how many places would leave Westgate w/o the Yotes and event nights?
Jim, Let me make clear that I love the Coyotes. They are a team with more heart than any other. I don’t want them to leave. There’s an old adage…”if wishes were horses…” However reality intervenes. If the managment fee was equal to city revenue earned at least it would be a wash…sort of. As long as IceArizona remains rigid on its demand for $15 million a year it remains unsustainable for the city.
Joyce…. the headlines read the revenues from the Coyotes home games were down and that’s true…. it was 2%. Given the team’s performance on the ice this season would it not stand to reason that people are not going to spend money watching a sub-par performing team.
However…. the same article points out that non-hockey revenues were way up.
You know as well as anyone that Gila River Arena was not going to be viable solely on the Coyotes. That they are only one part of the equation.
Now it would be interesting to see how IA’s performance compares to when the NHL operated the arena and franchise. Glendale’s council was willing to put up $25 million each year the NHL ran things, and I didn’t see the uproar coming from City Hall over it as we see now.
Legend, The council was willing to pay the NHL to manage the arena as a place holder to buy time to acquire a permanent team owner. We understood that concept and never expected much from the NHL in terms of active management, especially for non hockey events. The mission and the microscope were different then. Expectations changed with a new team owner.
Legend…you are smart enough to know that regardless of the teams’ performance the buzz from the new and dedicated ownership should in a viable hockey market have resulted in at least a modest increase in attendance. Fans have been wanting strong ownership and just getting that should have made more of a difference.The fact it didn’t is very telling. The increase in revenue from concerts is something that could have been achieved by a management company at a much lower cost so to attribute it to the Coyotes managing of the arena I would submit is a stretch.
Geoff..
We’re in the second year of IA’s ownership. There was a bump in attendance for the first season. By the time Andrew Barroway came on board during season two, the team’s performance was already showing itself to be subpar. So you really can’t count him as a factor for this season.
Add to that…. Between year one and year two, the team lost it’s top scoring forward, and bought out the contract of a player who was supposed to be the answer to their offensive woes because he fell victim to his self-induced off-ice issues. Not really conducive into spreading confidence in the fanbase is it??
I’m not going to bother responding to what you would consider a “viable” market because there is no real definition of one. Each market is unique unto itself.
Your contention that another management company could have achieved the same performance that Global is currently doing at a lower cost is simply a strawman. AEG did the management work at the arena for the NHL during their tenure as owner. AEG is a much larger company with more reach in the industry than Global, AND SMG who Ian Hugh seems to fancy. So why should they get a pass?
As Joyce put it…. they didn’t expect them to at the time. That IMO…. was a huge mistake on their part.
Legend..not sure how a decrease in average attendance of 125 per game from 2012-13 to 2013-14 when IceAZ took over can be considerd a bump. New owners, strike over, good feelings, a new season just 2 months away adding to the excitement, It should have gone up. If the region had responded to those positive changes, it would have shown there was possibly viability. A fan base that had something to hang their hat on. It didn’t. So the Jury is still out.
As for the first year regarding concerts, when the NHL controlled the team they didn’t push marketing, add any significant money to help the team, and I am sure didn’t push AEG as hard for non-hockey events as any private firm would work for those events whether earning 6M or 15M would. I don’t think the NHL cared what happened in the then Jobbing.com arena on non-hockey nights, 25M or no 25M.. A firm hired by the City would have to.