During last night's City Council meeting, even staunch supporters of the arena were unsettled by the Maloofs' refusal to pay $3 million for environmental review, arena design, and traffic studies for the downtown arena. It wasn't until late in the discussion that Councilman Rob Fong asked Assistant City Manager John Dangberg who actually negotiated the pre-development part of the agreement.
DANGBERG: "The discussions at my level has been directly with the NBA both through the Cal Expo Convergence project and this project. We've been working with the NBA who has represented the Kings."
R FONG: "And was that at the request of both the NBA and the Kings that the arrangement be handled that way, as far as you know?"
DANGBERG: "As far as I know, yes. "
Dangberg says the city hasn't negotiated with the Maloofs directly since 2006 and that the pre-development agreement was in place before Mayor Johnson and the Maloofs negotiated the respective contributions to the total construction cost.
