Kudos, not criticism, to city officials who “found a better way” to get the job (purchase of the Chili Cook Off site) done. It is easy, for those who never had any intention to donate anyway, to criticize by saying that the City’s change in strategy from grants to Certificates of Participation (COPS) was caused by “this-or-that.” Anyone who has ever been involved in city governments (big or small) knows that it is important to have alternative strategies when dealing with large-scale State or Federal government potential grants.
Malibuites who want this wonderful project to succeed should understand that the new plan (COPS program) is used by municipalities all over as an efficient and reliable way to finance. The other grants will be much easier to obtain for the capital improvements to the land (for the water systems), than for purchasing the land and the time pressure will be eliminated. The revised plan is more realistic and gives much more local control. Kudos to the mayor, the city manager and the City Council.
Now let’s finish the local fundraising part with a few more large donations before year-end, and let those potential major donors who would have found some other reason not to donate anyway, go off and criticize within their own small circle of pessimists.
Steve Soboroff