Mayor Anaheim Ashley Aitken wrote an open letter to Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno, demanding that he demand a new relationship with the city after years of tense feelings.
Aitken, appointed in 2022, inherited a decades-long battle between the franchise and City, dating back to 2004, when the team changed its name from the Anaheim Angels to the Los Angeles Angels.
“The past (city council) and angels have endlessly quipped their vague, nearly 30 years of lease terms and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on legal costs,” writes Aitken.
The past” ”
The letter comes shortly after a recent state audit that discovered a failure in the current lease.
State auditor Grant Parks issued a review of Anaheim’s lease with Angels at Angel Stadium last month, criticising the lack of access to the inspection and its revenue sharing conditions.
“If there’s nothing else, then we need to be aware of the health and welfare of those who attend the stadium at least,” Sen. Tom Umberg said of the situation.
Aitken is currently requesting a new “open and honest” dialogue where the team moves forward, and requires several conditions.
Establish trust through candid and honest relationships. Full access to the stadium for information inspection and open exchange. They will go through a public process to ensure that they meet their obligations under the Excess Land Act. Community outreach focuses on residents’ assumptions of property through research, community meetings and stakeholder engagement. Provides regular updates to our community focused on transparency and partnerships. Through our community work agreement, we commit to include local skilled workforce in both stadium improvements and long-term staffing. Investments in Anaheim city residents and their schools, parks, workforce training programs, affordable housing and open spaces. He recognizes his contribution to Orange County by remarkable recognition of Anaheim’s history and his team’s position and partner.
The letter comes just a week after her predecessor, Harry Sidhu, was sentenced to two months in federal prison after being corrupted in a city’s efforts to sell Angel Stadium to a team.
Angels spokeswoman Marie Garvey said the team “awesome Mayor Aitken’s letter and their desire to strengthen the relationship between the city and angel baseball. We look forward to the Big A and future opening day of Angels baseball in Anaheim.”
The Angels will play home opener with the Cleveland Guardians on Friday at 6:48pm. The team is currently 4-2, 2nd in AL West.
The Angels player has won four AL MVP awards in the past decade, but has only made the playoffs once and has not been able to win the game.
Source link
