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City officials should have dug deeper

DANETTE GOULET

I have two words for you, city officials -- Internet search.

That is all it would have taken for the city to find out that Joe

O’Connor and the Community Parks Foundation were not a good choice to

build phase two of the Sports Complex.

It took our new City Hall reporter, Dave Brooks, one phone call

and less than an hour of tapping at the keys to find out that

O’Connor didn’t take the necessary steps to make his nonprofit

company legitimate.

Gee, you think the city might want to go at least that far before

handing over close to $1 million to someone?

The city hired O’Connor and the Community Parks Foundation to

build an indoor soccer arena, batting cages and roller hockey rinks

because a clause in the bond financing required a nonprofit do some

of the work.

According to Internal Revenue Services records, O’Connor’s

foundation never fit that bill.

Sure, if the city looked at the Oregon Business Registry O’Connor

listed his business that way, but the IRS is a little more picky than

that. It demands that someone wishing to start a nonprofit file with

the government -- you know -- fill out some paperwork, those sorts of

mundane details.

In a lawsuit the city has now filed against O’Connor, City Atty.

Jennifer McGrath referred to his companies as “mere shells and shams”

serving as “alter egos of Defendant O’Connor.”

Shouldn’t someone have figured that out earlier?

Maybe the city just looked at his stellar website before it handed

over the million bucks. Everyone should check out the joke that is

https://www.playparks.org.

If you can get through the absurd all-capitalized type, skip the

carefully worded nonsense that says very little and go straight to

the “images & pics” where you’d think you’ll see O’Connor’s work.

Hmm, a picture of the Denver Airport.

Upon closer inspection he doesn’t claim anywhere to have built the

arenas and such in the photos he is merely touting the fabric used to

build them.

Everything about O’Connor, his business history -- or lack thereof

-- his three not-quite nonprofit companies and his say-nothing

website, should have alerted our city officials.

I would certainly like to think more research, any research, is

done before $950,000 in taxpayer dollars are handed over to someone.

This is just one more thing that makes the Youth Sports Complex a

boondoggle.

* DANETTE GOULET is the city editor. She can be reached at (714)

965-7170 or by e-mail at [email protected].

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