Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken’s letter this month to Angels’ owner Arte Moreno to jump start an “open and honest conversation” about the future of Angels baseball and the city-owned Angel Stadium was a commendable act of leadership. Given the fraught relationships and scandals—including the recent sentencing of former Mayor Harry Sidhu on federal charges related to the aborted stadium sale—it’s about time.
But before we look at the ongoing mess surrounding the baseball franchise, we want to focus on a key paragraph in her missive: “Other major Anaheim corporate stakeholders have already shown a way forward, worked with the city on terms that benefit everyone.” That is largely a reference to the city’s other professional-sports franchise: the National Hockey League team, the Anaheim Ducks.
Around the Honda Center where the Ducks play, the team’s owners are financing a $4-billion entertainment district called OCVibe. As the Register explains, the final project “will have four performance venues…, 28 restaurants and six bars, two hotels, green space and around 2,000 apartment homes.” As Anaheim and the Angels debate whether the city can even have full access to the stadium to review maintenance issues, the Ducks are building a new “downtown.”
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