Turns out that the rich Anaheim hotel developer who got millions of hotel tax dollars in a massive giveaway by the Anaheim City Council, Bill O’Connell has a brother, named Jerry O’Connell, who invested in the Crowne Plaza in Garden Grove and is now its co-owner.
What did the city of Garden Grove give Jerry O’Connell and his fellow investors? Free land that the City of Garden Grove purchased utilizing $17.7 million in federal housing funds and a TOT subsidy.
So both the O’Connell brothers got millions of tax dollars that they used to grow their empires, at the expense of the people of Anaheim and Garden Grove.
Click here to read more about this, at the Save Anaheim blog.
In related news, there are no Anaheim City Council candidates’ debates taking place in Anaheim, according to the Voice of OC and the Orange Juice Blog. The Anaheim Chamber of Commerce has endorsed two lame candidates, Steve Chavez Lodge and Jordan Brandman, but they can’t host a candidates’ forum? Really? Fail!