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to promote civic engagement in the Philadelphia region.Mayor Nutter Won’t Honor Street/Eagles Deal
Wednesday, April 1st, 2009 at 12:28 pm - by Matt Campbell. Filed under: Budget, Community.
When Philadelphia’s Veterans Stadium was imploded in 2004, there was one issue that didn’t go down in the rubble, a claim by the city that the Eagles owed $8 million. But today we’ve learned about a verbal settlement that was reached between former Mayor John Street and the team.
But this morning the city’s current mayor Michael Nutter speaking on KYW 1060am this morning said he will not honor that verbal agreement. The Eagles say that Mayor Street had agreed to settle the $8 million dispute over Veterans Stadium for $1 million. Nutter said the short answer to whether the city will honor the deal is “No.” Nutter also told KYW the following:
“The matter is in court. We’ve made it very clear that until this issue was raised last year, I didn’t know anything about this. I’m not familiar with that kind of concept, in terms of a secret deal.
Veterans Stadium was home to the Eagles until 2003 when Lincoln Financial Field was built. Mayor Nutter says he won’t honor that deal and still believes the Eagles owe more than $8 million to the city.
The story became public this morning in today’s Philadelphia Daily News. Reporter Chris Brennan says the Eagles are asking a Common Pleas Court judge to enforce the previously undisclosed deal with Street.
While $8 million wouldn’t have a major impact on solving the city’s budget crisis, the issue has become a rallying cry for citizens who directed their anger at the Eagles during February’s budget workshops. It was the only issue that every working group agreed on, that the Eagles should pay up. During the workshops, people were allowed to write their concerns on Post-It Notes on what was called The Wailing Wall. This one summed up everyone’s feelings. “MAKE THE EAGLES PAY!!!
Now, we want to know what you think.
Should the City of Philadelphia honor a verbal agreement given by the past mayor?
Given the bad publicity this dispute has created for the Eagles, Should they just pay up and end this PR nightmare?
If the Eagles did pay up, would they be setting a bad precedent, where other businesses could be publicly bullied into paying high settlement costs?
Should former Mayor John Street, come out of exile, and publicly state what agreement he reached with the team and explain why he himself didn’t follow through on this?
April 1st, 2009 at 12:40 pm
driving away the few businesses this city has left doesnt sound like a good idea to me. If a deal was made, it should be honored by nutter.
April 1st, 2009 at 2:22 pm
@Steven W
I doubt that the Eagles, Phillies, Flyers or Sixers will be going anywhere any time soon with their state of the art, taxpayer funded (ok, Flyers and Sixers was way less taxpayer funded) facilities. If anything, these are the very businesses that the city should be getting everything out of them that they possibly can. I’m not sure where I read it but one city stipulated that a team getting a new stadium had to take an active role in developing the area immediately surrounding it with mixed use housing and retail - essentially create a neighborhood like the one that exists around Wrigley Field. How great would it be if instead of being surrounded by parking lots, the stadiums were surrounded by rows of homes, mid-rise apartments, street level retail and restaurants with walk up residential and maybe a couple of green spaces thrown in. Forget about parking, people will use public transportation or park in Center City garages and use the subway.
We missed a big opportunity. Hopefully the hotel, retail complex envisioned for the Spectrum site starts to make up for it but there’s so much more that could be done.
(And $8 million is a drop in the bucket…)
April 1st, 2009 at 3:14 pm
This isnt just about the eagles. If the city isnt willing to honor its deals with the eagles, how can other businesses expect the city to keep its word? Creating a more hostile business environment in this city is counter-productive.
April 1st, 2009 at 3:30 pm
While “verbal agreements” in dealings with public officials are suspect at best, please consider the source. John Street was one of the most corrupt public officials in the sorry history of Philadelphia. With Street’s tacit approval, Ron White sold the City of Philadelphia to the highest campaign donor in a manner only a former governor of Illinois could admire. Nutter should sue for every cent owed the city, and appeal any verdict short of the total to the highest level. That the Eagles would dare to ask a court of law to enforce this so called agreement shows that their lack of shame is not limited to the pathetic product they put on the football field.
April 1st, 2009 at 5:50 pm
Does the mayor have the power to actually make a secret deal like that when it comes to city revenue? It all seems suspicious: John Street, one of the most inept mayors we have had ‘lead’ our city, makes a closed-door deal with the Eagles–a deal which apparently nobody else knew about.
We need to start seeing some facts:
–when did the meeting between Street and the Eagles take place?
–where did it take place?
–who was present?
–why did both parties (Eagles/Philly) forgo the typical use of written agreements?
–where did the money go? If deposited into city funds, do we have a record?
-W
http://bill84121.blogspot.com
April 2nd, 2009 at 6:15 am
You guys all raise interesting points. Leaving aside, whether Mayor John Street was good or bad, I would think the legal action that the Phila Eagles are taking would force former Mayor Street to have to provide some accounting of this agreement in maybe a deposition. Any lawyers out there that want to pipe in to help us here? It seems to me that since there is no written agreement and we have a new mayor that Nutter would not have to abide by a “promise” made by the past administration.
April 2nd, 2009 at 6:27 am
I just read in this morning’s Philadelphia Inquirer that former Mayor John Street says he did NOT make any such deal with the Eagles. Here’s his quote. “I didn’t cut a secret deal. There was no deal. We didn’t make a deal. . . . And if I had agreed to a deal, I would have put it in writing,” Street said last night during a rare City Hall appearance. So, we’re back to where we were last week. City says you owe us $8 million, the Eagles believe they don’t.
April 3rd, 2009 at 11:44 am
lets be real here. Why should the city be bound by an under the table attempt by the eagles to cut a sweetheart deal with ex (crooked) mayor John Street who didnt have authority to accept such a deal to begin with? Hey Stevie wake the f up
April 23rd, 2009 at 3:44 pm
This is a pathetic situation. Two thumbs up for Mayor Nutter for doing the right thing and not backing down. The Eagles should pay up and do it now. Whether a secret deal was done or not, they [the Eagles] know that it was most likely made under shady terms and most importantly NOT IN WRITING. I can’t see any way possible they could win this in court. It’s time for the Eagles to practice some of that integrity talk into action and do the right thing. PAY!