Saturday, March 1, 2008

Friday's Meeting With City officials

Kelley Bouchard from the Portland Press Herald reports on the meeting Friday morning with Portland City officials to discuss the possibility of leasing the Portland Exposition Building.

The Portland City Council's finance committee started talking about the terms of a tentative lease for the city-owned Expo during an executive session Friday morning at City Hall.

Before the closed-door meeting started, city officials said use of the Expo by a D-League team will happen only if current users aren't displaced and it doesn't cost the city anything.


This would include Portland High School teams that use the facility and potential benefits could include increased visibility for high school basketball in the city.

"They're actually pretty excited about the prospect of double-headers," said Anita LaChance, an assistant city manager.

The financial considerations being taken into account by City officials also do not seem to be a problem and another possible advantage to having the team in Portland would be the renovation of the Expo without asking tax payers to foot the bill.
Troubh assured Portland officials that the investors don't want to displace any current users and they plan to pay for building renovations and maintenance.
Check back tomorrow as we'll be taking a look at the D-League and getting to know the brief history of the league and some interesting rules regarding the use of the league by the NBA affiliate team.

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