At this juncture of the debacle known as the City of Glendale’s role in the Phoenix Coyotes ownership situation, you don’t know whether to laugh, cry, simply be angry with Mayor Elaine Scruggs, or start the website fireedbeasley.com.
Scruggs has given the media two peeks into her thought process regarding the soap opera in recent weeks, and neither peek has given local fans hope that an ownership deal could be reached anytime soon.
In the first interview, Scruggs told a local TV station that she “didn’t have a lot of confidence” that an owner would be found in this post-Matthew Hulsizer chapter. She also added:
"I have never supported having the team leave; however now I believe that the only realistic thing to do is to take a look- for all of us as elected officials- at what would life be like with no team in the arena."
(Didn’t the city already do this when they conducted a study last spring and came to the conclusion that Glendale would lose hundreds of millions of dollars by not having the Coyotes as a tenant?)
Track two of Scruggs’ greatest hits came last week when she was asked by The Arizona Republic about Hulsizer’s efforts to purchase the St. Louis Blues:
"He would like to own a hockey team and he has come to accept the fact that the Phoenix Coyotes will not be the team that he will own."
Boys and girls, those quotes are from a mayor that has completely lost faith in her city council and the members within the city that are responsible for brokering a deal.
And with the clocking ticking ever so closer to the time where the NHL will finally be forced to pull the plug on the Desert Dogs, now is not the time for distrust and elected officials to be looking for publicity amongst the rubble.
Here we are, entering late-July, and there’s been absolutely zero indication of what the city’s plan is. Does Scruggs have the authority to fire City Manager Ed Beasley? A man who Ice Edge Holdings’ Daryl Jones said on Twitter has a “losing hand” (and he would know; he’s had to deal with the guy).
Scruggs has shown displeasure at the current state of the situation, but has not shown us what she’ll do to stop the incompetence.
The day after Winnipeg celebrated the return of the NHL to their city, a loud wake-up call should’ve echoed through the halls down at Glendale City Hall. What happened in Atlanta could easily happen in Phoenix and a renewed commitment to finishing a deal with Hulsizer should’ve been paramount.
But instead, there was just more of the same. More complacency, more indecision, more hands being sat on.
If this team does move, there will be enough blame to go around, but undoubtedly the City of Glendale should get the most. When a strong, unified voice was needed from the elected leaders of the city, they’ve been nothing more then a bumbling group of bureaucrats.
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