Laserfiche WebLink
South Bend Redevelopment Commission <br />Regular Meeting -July 21, 2000 <br />6. NEW BUSINESS (CONT.) <br />b. continued... <br />When it was apparent by 1994 that sponsorships <br />were falling far short of expectations, the Hall of <br />Fame team switched to the second silver bullet to <br />beguile an uncritical local media which would in <br />turn sell the Hall project to the public. At a <br />triumphal news conference on the eve of a key <br />vote by the Common Council in March 1994, <br />Mayor Kernan announced that he had $7 million <br />in "bond guarantees "from the National <br />Football Foundation and the Friends of the Hall <br />of Fame, a local group of boosters headed by <br />Phil Faccenda. Those "guarantees " caused the <br />South Bend Tribune's editorial board to declare <br />"He Did It" as the title of yet another lap -dog <br />editorial praising Kernan for supposedly raising <br />half the cost of the Hall. <br />To add luster to the bond guarantee scheme, a <br />very "risky scheme " as Al Gore might say, <br />Kernan further announced that two Notre Dame <br />stalwarts, Phil Faccenda and William Sexton <br />would embark on a major fund - raising campaign <br />to put the Hall over the top. Commissioner <br />Faccenda will no doubt remember that news <br />conference as Kernan playfully referred to him <br />as "Dr. " Faccenda. Oh that Joe Kernan! What <br />a sense of humor! <br />Within a month or two, it was apparent that the <br />bond guarantees were meaningless, and, in fact, <br />were off cially forgiven by the Kernan <br />administration. They were simply a ruse to gain <br />a unanimous 9 -0 vote by the Common Council to <br />approve the eventual $17.95 million bond to <br />build the Hall. And what about that fund - raising <br />venture of the Notre Dame Doctors, Faccenda <br />21:11 <br />