http://southflorida.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2009/06/15/daily36.html

 

Stadium deal faces injunction attemptSouth Florida Business Journal - by Oscar Pedro Musibay

 

Opponents of Miami-Dade and the city of Miami?s plan to finance a $640 million baseball stadium for the Florida Marlins have filed a motion for injunction, prompting Miami-Dade to push back the sale of its bond by two weeks.

 

Grace Solares and Elvis Cruz, who filed suit in February, filed an emergency motion Monday in an effort to stop the sale of the bonds altogether. A copy of the temporary injunction motion provided by the plaintiffs alleges the county is exceeding its constitutional tax and spending powers by issuing bonds tied to the professional sports tax/tourist development tax, according to the motion.

 

As a result of the motion and to avoid a cloud that could affect the interest rate on the bonds, the county has pushed back the bond sale dates, Miami-Dade spokeswoman Vicki Mallette said.

 

However, the closing date for all the bonds remains July 14.

 

The county had already planned to push back the bond closing date due to a request change on how some financing fees are paid to Wachovia, which has provided the county with a letter of credit for the project. Wachovia?s letter of credit is for two years at approximately $100 million.

 

The Wachovia change would require an amendment to the bond ordinance that allowed the county to issue Professional Sports Franchise Tax and Tourist Development Tax bonds. County commissioners will get a chance to consider the change at a special meeting on Friday. A public hearing and second reading is scheduled for June 30.

 

If county commissioners approve the Wachovia change, the three parties would have until mid-July to close on financing, instead of the end of June. Miami-Dade County and the parties also will be given until July 15, instead of July 1, to pull out of the deal.

 

The change would not impact the projected financing expenditures the county commission already has reviewed, according to a statement from County Manager George Burgess.

 

?Our confidence in the project and its underlying funding plan has not changed,? he said in a statement on Monday.

 

On Friday, Burgess also wants to make ?minor technical corrections? to the county deed that conveys two parcels to the city of Miami for the stadium garage.

 

Burgess also is working with Miami to modify the deed on the stadium site to reflect the change in the deal?s new termination date. The city of Miami commission will meet Thursday to consider the Wachovia change.

 

In April, county commissioners approved issuing bonds totaling a maximum of $536 million toward construction of the $640 million, 37,000-seat ballpark.

 

You know we must be getting close when these "emergency injunctions" are filed. This sounds like nothing but lame attempt to stall the inevitable and hopefully it goes away quickly. Do these people think that with all of the lawyers involved in this deal they could have missed something that would possibly make the sale of bonds illegal? And if there was really any merit to this filing, where were these people months ago when the deal was announced? Instead they file this motion 2 days before the County is set to sell the bonds. These people are just wasting the legal systems time and tax payers money. It's ridiculous.

http://southflorida.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2009/06/15/daily36.html

 

Stadium deal faces injunction attemptSouth Florida Business Journal - by Oscar Pedro Musibay

 

Opponents of Miami-Dade and the city of Miami?s plan to finance a $640 million baseball stadium for the Florida Marlins have filed a motion for injunction, prompting Miami-Dade to push back the sale of its bond by two weeks.

 

Grace Solares and Elvis Cruz, who filed suit in February, filed an emergency motion Monday in an effort to stop the sale of the bonds altogether. A copy of the temporary injunction motion provided by the plaintiffs alleges the county is exceeding its constitutional tax and spending powers by issuing bonds tied to the professional sports tax/tourist development tax, according to the motion.

 

As a result of the motion and to avoid a cloud that could affect the interest rate on the bonds, the county has pushed back the bond sale dates, Miami-Dade spokeswoman Vicki Mallette said.

 

However, the closing date for all the bonds remains July 14.

 

The county had already planned to push back the bond closing date due to a request change on how some financing fees are paid to Wachovia, which has provided the county with a letter of credit for the project. Wachovia?s letter of credit is for two years at approximately $100 million.

 

The Wachovia change would require an amendment to the bond ordinance that allowed the county to issue Professional Sports Franchise Tax and Tourist Development Tax bonds. County commissioners will get a chance to consider the change at a special meeting on Friday. A public hearing and second reading is scheduled for June 30.

 

If county commissioners approve the Wachovia change, the three parties would have until mid-July to close on financing, instead of the end of June. Miami-Dade County and the parties also will be given until July 15, instead of July 1, to pull out of the deal.

 

The change would not impact the projected financing expenditures the county commission already has reviewed, according to a statement from County Manager George Burgess.

 

?Our confidence in the project and its underlying funding plan has not changed,? he said in a statement on Monday.

 

On Friday, Burgess also wants to make ?minor technical corrections? to the county deed that conveys two parcels to the city of Miami for the stadium garage.

 

Burgess also is working with Miami to modify the deed on the stadium site to reflect the change in the deal?s new termination date. The city of Miami commission will meet Thursday to consider the Wachovia change.

 

In April, county commissioners approved issuing bonds totaling a maximum of $536 million toward construction of the $640 million, 37,000-seat ballpark.

 

You know we must be getting close when these "emergency injunctions" are filed. This sounds like nothing but lame attempt to stall the inevitable and hopefully it goes away quickly. Do these people think that with all of the lawyers involved in this deal they could have missed something that would possibly make the sale of bonds illegal? And if there was really any merit to this filing, where were these people months ago when the deal was announced? Instead they file this motion 2 days before the County is set to sell the bonds. These people are just wasting the legal systems time and tax payers money. It's ridiculous.

 

I totally agree with you.

http://southflorida.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2009/06/15/daily36.html

 

Stadium deal faces injunction attemptSouth Florida Business Journal - by Oscar Pedro Musibay

 

Opponents of Miami-Dade and the city of Miami?s plan to finance a $640 million baseball stadium for the Florida Marlins have filed a motion for injunction, prompting Miami-Dade to push back the sale of its bond by two weeks.

 

Grace Solares and Elvis Cruz, who filed suit in February, filed an emergency motion Monday in an effort to stop the sale of the bonds altogether. A copy of the temporary injunction motion provided by the plaintiffs alleges the county is exceeding its constitutional tax and spending powers by issuing bonds tied to the professional sports tax/tourist development tax, according to the motion.

 

As a result of the motion and to avoid a cloud that could affect the interest rate on the bonds, the county has pushed back the bond sale dates, Miami-Dade spokeswoman Vicki Mallette said.

 

However, the closing date for all the bonds remains July 14.

 

The county had already planned to push back the bond closing date due to a request change on how some financing fees are paid to Wachovia, which has provided the county with a letter of credit for the project. Wachovia?s letter of credit is for two years at approximately $100 million.

 

The Wachovia change would require an amendment to the bond ordinance that allowed the county to issue Professional Sports Franchise Tax and Tourist Development Tax bonds. County commissioners will get a chance to consider the change at a special meeting on Friday. A public hearing and second reading is scheduled for June 30.

 

If county commissioners approve the Wachovia change, the three parties would have until mid-July to close on financing, instead of the end of June. Miami-Dade County and the parties also will be given until July 15, instead of July 1, to pull out of the deal.

 

The change would not impact the projected financing expenditures the county commission already has reviewed, according to a statement from County Manager George Burgess.

 

?Our confidence in the project and its underlying funding plan has not changed,? he said in a statement on Monday.

 

On Friday, Burgess also wants to make ?minor technical corrections? to the county deed that conveys two parcels to the city of Miami for the stadium garage.

 

Burgess also is working with Miami to modify the deed on the stadium site to reflect the change in the deal?s new termination date. The city of Miami commission will meet Thursday to consider the Wachovia change.

 

In April, county commissioners approved issuing bonds totaling a maximum of $536 million toward construction of the $640 million, 37,000-seat ballpark.

 

You know we must be getting close when these "emergency injunctions" are filed. This sounds like nothing but lame attempt to stall the inevitable and hopefully it goes away quickly. Do these people think that with all of the lawyers involved in this deal they could have missed something that would possibly make the sale of bonds illegal? And if there was really any merit to this filing, where were these people months ago when the deal was announced? Instead they file this motion 2 days before the County is set to sell the bonds. These people are just wasting the legal systems time and tax payers money. It's ridiculous.

 

I totally agree with you.

 

I hate these people.