So the word around town is that California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will be proposing today that the state sell multiple properties around the State of California, including the Orange County Fairgrounds, to raise capital. The government is calling this move an “extraordinary” response to extraordinarily tough times. In documents obtained by the Orange County Register, seven locations are listed as examples of high value sites:
- OC Fairgrounds
- San Quentin Prison
- Los Angeles Coliseum
- Del Mar Fairgrounds
- The Cow Palace
- Ventura Fair, and
- Cal Expo (site of the State Fair) in Sacramento
The OC Fairgrounds have an estimated worth of $96 million to $180 million and could be sold, like the other properties, in 24 to 60 months, according to the documents.
Cow Palace is estimated to be worth between $40 million and $75 million. Del Mar Fairgrounds, $350 million to $650 million. Cal Expo, $80 million to $150 million. Ventura County Fair, $37 million to $70 million. San Quentin up to $1 billion.
The plan contains brief sales pitches for each of the properties.
The Orange County Fairgrounds, for instance, is "very well located in the coastal community of Costa Mesa," near the 55 Freeway, making it "a very high value, centrally located . . . development opportunity for Orange County."
Would they build office buildings? Or more multi-family housing?
“Extraordinary times require extraordinary measures,” the document begins. “(But) taking action now can help shore up California’s financial future.”
None of this is really significant to me, other than the potential closing of the Orange County Fairgrounds, since I'm about five minutes away from the giant lot. I'd miss going to the fair every year, riding the rides, EATING THE FOOD.....
However, correct me if I'm wrong.... I don't think they're going to sell any of these properties.... I think this is a huge "red herring". We're getting the wool pulled over our eyes. This is an opportunity for our government to tell us that they're going to sell some of our most prized landmarks. Then we'll spend the next month or so groveling at their feet to keep the landmarks, so they'll stay open, and our children can enjoy them, and their children's children, and so on....
After the month of groveling, they'll seem to cave, and they'll tell us that they won't be selling our beloved treasures. We will all be relieved. Very soon after this, we'll see an initiative to raise our taxes. And they will claim this is because they tried other ways to raise capital quickly, and we liked none of them. So the only thing they can do now is raise taxes. And we'll approve of the tax hikes because they saved our cherished fairgrounds....
What's next? Are they going to come out with a plan to tell us that they're planning to cut the police force in California in half, and that doing this will make our state less safe, but it's a necessary evil.
Oooooh, maybe they'll hit us where it hurts, our children. Maybe they'll tell us that they're going to need to fire teachers and close down schools. This will decrease the quality of our children's education due to larger class sizes, and it will add to the average commute parents who have to drive their children to school.
Dear Government of the State of California:
Please make an attempt to decrease all the "BS" spending, or raise my taxes already! Stop this feeble attempt of tugging at the heartstrings of the citizens, only to fiscally prey upon the citizens who provide a majority of the support that you receive now through our taxpayer dollars. We don't appreciate it.
Sincerely
Your Citizen
A couple of weeks ago I posted a blog about the State of California attempting to sell the Orange County Fairgrounds and other large state owned landmarks for a large sum of money to close the budget gap. Maybe, they should do an internal investigation to find out where they're spending money. 
