Golf analogy

On Wednesday night, the City Council voted to give Mif Albright a reprieve and keep it open until the responses to the RFP are reviewed and the private operator selected makes a decision on how they would run the Chuck Corica complex as a whole.

But that wasn’t the most interesting part of the discussion which was this mini rant that the Interim City Manager Ann Marie Gallant went on after clearly being frustrated by the direction the vote was heading.

…Because it’s very difficult in the market for anybody to borrow anything anymore to get money.   They could not invest the capital based on the condition of the course today and the requirements in the RFP.  It’s going to get harder to invest the capital because the quality of the course is going to continue to get worse because we’re not putting a dime into it on the capital, so in four to five months, is it going to go down that much if we go to May?  Maybe, maybe not, but to keep it going like this it’s going to be difficult to get any private guy to come in and try to get it up to course.   There’s just, it’s just not going to pencil.

…

We’ve got to realize there’s a point in government services, whether we like it or not, no matter what program we run, whether it’s golf, building inspection or whatever, whatever you choose to privatize there is a point in the game where it’s too late to privatize because the private guys can’t come in and borrow that capital to make the transition.  So, at some point in time, you’re getting very close to having to make a business decision here and — in this year — we’re just going to have to do it however we choose.

…

To continue to do this and to think that we’re not going to be able to make a decision and that we can continue to operate so many things here in the city the same way we’ve been operating them before is just not today’s government reality.  And I know that’s a message that is hard for everybody to hear, not just the golf guys, the public safety guys because everything we are doing in government, every department has been affected by these cuts, is having a hard time adjusting to the fact that government is not the same.  We’ve got to accept it and understand it and the general fund cannot subsidize non-general fund services.

Here’s the amazing thing about the rant, swap out “golf course” for Alameda Point and you have the same argument being made by some proponents of Measure B.   That the longer we wait, the less attractive Alameda Point is going to be for anyone to develop.