Fresno council’s deal to buy Tower Theatre the latest property mistake put on taxpayers

Remember the movie “Groundhog Day”? Well, the city of Fresno seems to be stuck in the middle of a “taxpayers’ nightmare” version. In the movie, Bill Murray’s character was doomed to repeat the same day over and over again until he got it right. The Fresno City Council is playing the part of Bill Murray’s character and repeatedly exhibits its lack of business acumen while making bad decisions.

In order to understand just how gruesome these decisions are for taxpayers, we need a quick rundown of the purpose of city or municipal government. Always topping the list of city needs that cannot be managed adequately through the private sector is public safety. It is similar for services like water, sewer and trash. We also need our streets, sidewalks, and streetlights maintained, and it makes sense to have a public works department oversee such tasks.

The list of jobs we need our city government doing for us runs out quickly, though. It is the list of wants and pet projects — even wonderful amenities — that is never-ending and will bleed the taxpayers dry if not tightly watched.

Think in terms of our personal budgets. Public safety, utilities and public works are like our paying our rent. It is the money you and I use to take a vacation, subscribe to Netflix, and the like — our “fun money” — that can really get out of control and break a budget. Think about a gambler whose addiction leads him or her to blow the rent money and wind up homeless … or the person who finds that dream car and takes out a loan that is way too big for his or her income. Make no mistake, a city council is capable of the same foolish spending.

The most recent case study is the Tower Theatre property. The Tower Theatre is an iconic building that has been owned and run by the Abbate family for more than 80 years. As so many businesses experienced over the last few years, revenues could not cover expenses. But while the Tower District went quiet, the usually colorful environment dampened by COVID, the Tower Theatre had a rent-paying occupant in Adventure Church. When Laurence Abbate realized the pandemic had robbed his business of its solvency, he looked to sell. It was a natural fit that the current, stable tenant become the buyer. A deal was struck, and a private business arranged to conduct a private sale to a private buyer.

But when, after a long-standing presence as an active church within the Tower District community, Adventure Church might become the owner of the Tower Theatre, protesters emerged with all sorts of accusations and pleaded with the City Council to “save the Tower Theatre” (never mind it has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since Sept. 24, 1992).

Councilmembers Miguel Arias and Esmeralda Soria realized that the city’s real estate portfolio had a hole. Previous deals made the city a property owner of a stadium, sports complex, and former museum building, and the revenues have been pouring in (like molasses … in an arctic winter). These councilmembers have not learned from past mistakes and insist on repeating them and even upping the ante.

Interfering with a private business deal to buy a theater is not all they did. There are lawsuits that will be filed because of this, and the Tower Theatre and Sequoia Brewery cannot foot the legal bills they are guaranteed to incur. Fortunately, these councilmembers are incredibly generous and happy to put Fresno’s taxpayers on the hook for all the legal costs involved with the City taking over this purchase. And to facilitate Sequoia Brewery purchasing the part of the Tower Theatre property they currently lease, the city is expanding its services to include banker with rock-bottom interest rates on long-term, commercial loans.

The deal passed by Councilmembers Arias and Soria, Council President Nelson Esparza, and Council Vice President Tyler Maxwell has a price tag of $6.5 million. Considering the litigation that is to come, the taxpayers’ total bill for purchasing the Tower Theatre property, bankrolling Sequoia Brewery’s purchase, and guaranteeing all the legal bills may well rest north of $10 million.

In a city plagued with crime and homelessness and yet to fully recover from the economic disaster wreaked by the pandemic, take heart Fresnans, your City Council just bought you a theater.