A hotel subsidy in Anaheim that split the community and fractured the city council has returned after a Superior Court Judge ruled that its approval had come in violation of the Brown Act. Now, the hotel developer is asking the city council revisit the issue at an upcoming meeting.
The once-approved deal was a tax exchange between the City of Anaheim and a development firm associated with Bill O’Connell, whereby O’Connell’s group would retain 80 percent of the occupancy taxes over the next 15 years. The total deal would amount to an estimated $158-million. Proponents say that the two, four-star hotels can’t be built without it.
However, the tax subsidy became a lightning rod issue for the community, where residents have seen services cut and don’t see a community-level return for the investment. Opponents of the original deal argued that the City should have asked for more from the developers, including assurances that the new hotels and related construction jobs benefitted the community and provided for living-wage jobs.
Read the full article at the Voice of the OC.