Yeah, everyone here saw this coming. Oh Georgie!

BC-BKN–Hornets-Politics,540

Hornets owner Shinn runs afoul of New Orleans politicians

NEW ORLEANS (AP) – George Shinn, owner of the NBA’s New Orleans Hornets, has run afoul of city politicians in his quest to get $6.5 million of public money for a downtown practice facility.

Shinn says the downtown spot, near the Louisiana Superdome and the arena where the team plays its games, would help lure an NBA All-Star game to New Orleans. Along with the game would come tens of millions of dollars, a weekend full of events and national TV exposure for the city.

The problem: Shinn promised members of the City Council two years ago that he would build the practice facility in a different area, miles away in eastern New Orleans. At the time, Shinn’s promise raised hopes that the facility would help the neighborhood emerge from years of economic troubles.

Cynthia Willard-Lewis, the City Council member who represents eastern New Orleans, has allies on the Council who have vowed to pay the $6.5 million only if the facility is built in her district, which desperately needs economic development.

“We will not break the trust,” Willard-Lewis said. “We will not violate the commitment.”

Willard-Lewis wants to use the $6.5 million on other projects if Shinn decides to build downtown. Council members say Shinn is welcome to build the facility anywhere in the city – but city money will only go toward a facility in eastern New Orleans.

“If they renege and go downtown and we give them the money, then we will have been guilty of reneging on the people of New Orleans East,” Council President Eddie Sapir said.

Shinn’s deal with the city allows him to build the facility in New Orleans – it does not specify a location. The team, state and city signed an agreement that says the city and/or state will pay up to $6.5 million for a practice facility that meets NBA standards.

Shinn said he now regrets making the promise. He said league executives have advised him that failure to build the training center next to the arena would doom New Orleans’ chances of landing an All-Star Game.

He said the dispute is not playing well with NBA Commissioner David Stern, who was not a supporter of the decision to move the Hornets from Charlotte, N.C., to the smaller New Orleans in 2002.

“The league still has concerns about the viability of this market and whether it can sustain an NBA team,” Shinn said. “And if the city isn’t able to live up to its commitment to build a practice facility, it will just fuel this concern that much further.”

Shinn’s change of heart doesn’t play well with eastern New Orleans residents, politicians and business leaders.

“I am furious about the way the Hornets have played the people of New Orleans East,” state Rep. Austin Badon said.

“But, by the same token, it doesn’t surprise me. After looking and listening to what happened in Charlotte, I distinctly remember watching a news clip when the Hornets were on the way out where someone said the NBA should leave the team and take the owners. I guess we’re experiencing the same thing right now.”

 

It's really fun to read, and makes me like the bobcats more.

 

not to say we told ya so.......

 

It just shows a leopard cannot change it's spots. I wonder why none of those ignorant bastards from New Orleans come on these sites saying "they got the best of us" anymore?