October 22nd / 24th
"DASH Committee Commits an Error"
A few weeks ago, Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines appeared on my Triad
Today television program. During the interview, I admitted to having once been
skeptical about the city's investment in the new DASH baseball stadium,
and praised the Mayor for his vision. Turns out, I ate crow too soon.
Last week the so-called Citizens Baseball Stadium Review Committee met to
review DASH owner Billy Prim's financial reports. But they met behind
closed doors, then refused to make public any of the data, stating that it was
proprietary. More on that weak excuse in a moment.
You will recall that once upon a time, the DASH stadium was pitched as a
private project, owned by Billy Prim and his partner Flip Filipowski.
Private or not, the pair asked the City to kick in about $13 million dollars, and
Council complied. But Flip soon found himself in the middle of a nasty
divorce, and pulled out of the project. Meanwhile, stadium costs doubled from
the original estimate, and Prim asked the City to kick in another $15
million dollars, bringing total taxpayer investment to a whopping $28 million.
Winston-Salem then took ownership of the stadium, and Prim's Brookstown
Development Partners company agreed to lease the park from the City.
Given the level of taxpayer involvement, Joines knew that some kind of
oversight was needed, thus the creation of the Citizens Review committee. But
the purpose of the Committee was to monitor expenditures and protect
taxpayer investment, not cover up financial data and advocate for Prim. And that
brings us back to the justification for withholding financial information
from the public.
According to City Manager Lee Garrity, Prim's financials are protected
under North Carolina's Public Records Law. Garrity told the Winston-Salem
Journal,"If the city were to choose to violate the law and release this
information, the city and all of its citizens would be liable for any financial
damages caused. City attorney Angela Carmon added, "releasing information
about the stadium's operations and generation of revenue could result in
irreparable financial and competitive harm". But exactly what competitive harm
is Brookstown afraid of? The Greensboro Grasshoppers stealing signs from the
DASH catcher?
When pressed for more information by the Journal's Scott Sexton, Carmon
issued what my friend Scott considered to be a veiled threat. She warned that
if the Journal "dares to litigate (for disclosure of documents) the full
force of Brookstown Development would be behind the city". That's great.
First the city manager warned us lowly taxpayers to butt out, or else pick up
the tab for legal fees, then the city attorney upped the ante by trying to
frighten a journalist into dropping his request for public information.
It makes you wonder just how well our investment is paying off, and how safe
it is going forward.
Committee chairman Eric Pryor tried to smooth things over by assuring
citizens that "the numbers were a little better than I expected". But if that's
the case, then why not just release them to the public who financed the
deal?
Mayor Joines is now in a tough spot. Either he demands that the financial
data be made public, or he caves in to Prim and lets the committee keep the
information under wraps. Doing the former may result in a law suit by
Brookstown. Doing the latter raises concerns that someone is hiding something.
Joines is a fair and competent leader, Prim is a fine gentleman who loves
baseball, and the committee is comprised of unselfish people who volunteered
for a thankless job. Surely they can all come up with a solution to
disclose financial information without threatening journalists and taxpayers with
costly lawsuits. In the meantime, Carmon, Garrity, Prim, and the Committee
need to remember that public/private partnerships are a two-way street.
Unfortunately for now, the public side of that road is closed.
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