We need the courage to walk away from a bad deal.

Most of us would like to see the USOC (United States Olympic Committee) remain in Colorado Springs. But we cannot afford to do this at any cost. Thanks to Jill Gaebler for permission to share this letter she sent to The Gazette:

The City of Colorado Springs – staff and Council – have invested substantial time, money, reputation into the incentive deal to retain USOC headquarters in Colorado Springs. It will take immense courage and selflessness for them to walk away from what looks like a very risky deal. But walk away they must, for it would be unconscionable for Council to put our City at so much risk.

Council is poised to approve the agreement this Tuesday. Within 45 days of executing the agreement, the City must borrow over $30 million to meet its obligations. The City plans to put up our Police Operations Center and a fire station as collateral. Once these funds are borrowed and the City purchases the proposed USOC headquarters building from Landco (at well above market price), the USOC can still walk away.

Here are the things that can go wrong, potentially resulting in no USOC in town, no tenant for the new City-owned building, and the City left with nothing:

1. If the City cannot successfully raise an additional $1.5 million for Olympic Training Center improvements by year-end, USOC can walk.

2. If for any reason renovation of the old Utilities building for the individual Olympic sports organizations isn’t complete by year-end, USOC can walk.

3. If for any reason interior construction of the headquarters building is not completed by March 31, 2010, USOC can walk.

4. If the City cannot raise another $3 million for OTC improvements within 25 months, we must deed the City-owned land under the OTC to the USOC and USOC could walk, with liquidated damages from USOC reduced by the amount of shortfall in that $3 million.

As we all know, building construction and renovation projects are rarely completed on schedule. Yet we are risking the deal on 1) meeting the above construction deadlines and 2) being able to raise $4.5 million in a sour economy.

I suggest the only responsible course of action is for the City to have the full missing $4.5 million in the bank before executing an agreement with the USOC. And failure to meet construction deadlines should not be deal-breakers. Penalties for missing these deadlines would be more fair and prudent.

Personally, I’d rather see this deal completely aborted.  The USOC is a valuable neighbor, but this shady payoff is not the appropriate way to keep them in town, and it opens the door to future shakedowns from every other sports organization and virtually every business and non-profit entity in town. Bribing the USOC to stay pushes us further down a slippery slope we will regret.

If you share our concerns about this deal, write or call every City Councilor TODAY! You can find email addresses and phone numbers here.