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Michael Fitzgerald
Mike Fitzgerald is The Record’s award-winning metro columnist. His column runs in the paper three times a week. Born in San Francisco, he was raised in Stockton. His column covers diverse beats including, sometimes, the offbeat. Read FullCategories
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Latest Tweets
- Just passed a low-rider pickup on the Crosstown Freeway, custom painted and pinstriped. A rear-window decal read, "Praise the Lowered." 2009-11-11
- Moving to a new address on the blogosphere: http://bit.ly/1Sft50. See you there. 2009-10-22
- Recession Chronicles: Maxim's restaurant, which beat City Hall in court over dancing, closed today. More on my blog at recordnet.com/blogs. 2009-10-12
- Prison hospital scoop, inside info on the Stocktoberfest cross-up and giant tunnel-boring machines on my blog, recordnet.com/blogs. 2009-10-12
- A state assemblyman says the Peripheral Canal will be big enough for cruise ships. My light bulb moment in Friday's column at recordnet.com. 2009-10-01
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Reader: City Hall will ruin the Thunder
Reader Jack Smith writes:
“I feel that if the City of Stockton were to purchase the remaining teams left at the arena, the teams would suffer.
“I have season tickets for the Thunder. Many families have adopted this team, purely because it is good fun, and most importantly, it is affordable for a family. I could easily see the blundering city bureaucrats trying to immediately recoup their past losses by hiking anything and everything up, especially the ticket prices.
“In doing so, in a typical bureaucrat’s manner, they would be driving income down, as people would stop going. It would no longer be affordable. … Most likely the entire family will then stay home, reducing income from ticket sales and resulting vendor income. The same would possibly happen to any one that purchased the teams, as the city would hike the arena fees, making the ticket prices rise also. ”
I reprinted this letter because it is typical. People don’t trust City Hall to steer the Thunder and the Arena to a better financial footing. But what’s the alernative? To allow the IFG’s mismanagement to cost the city $3 million a year? Getting rid of IFG does involve risk. But surely that’s preferable to municipal bankruptcy.