Sunday, October 16, 2016

A Saudi prince investing in Napa Valley development?

And that's not the half of it. More from a citizen investigator (see previous post): 
                         
                                    The Private I                                                            
  

    Once again, Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts appears to be involved in a project for St. Helena, undercover as in Calistoga, with Bald Mountain Development of Aspen, Colorado.   Another proposal involves Craig and Kathryn Hall's Hall Financial Group. Four Seasons is a foreign corporation, 50% owned by a Saudi prince. The city council should (1) terminate the Request for Proposals to make all of them go away because the Adams street land was provided by John Daly, son in law of late Chief Justice Earl Warren of the United States Supreme Court, specifically for expansion of the library, a community center, or other community needs, and not for sale to real estate developers, or even lease to resort hotels (2) as to water and sewer rate increases, a request to terminate this attempt should be made, as St. Helena has no audited financial statements upon which to base their request for increases, while the budget is seriously understated for water revenues and hotel/transient taxes.  The new Las Alcobas project will generate $1.4 million/year in additional taxes that haven't been budgeted, while the City's budget shortfall was estimated at about $50,000, making us look broke.

     All project proponents need to be background checked, as the new Las Alcobas resort project on Main Street is owned by two Mexican nationals and Starwood Resorts & Hotels, which thankfully has been taken over by Marriott for some national security reason as evidenced in filings with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission.  Yet Starwood as a brand and resort manager violates St. Helena's General Plan, as no majors are permitted.  They created unreasonable competition for our existing, small, privately owned hotel and resort hotel operators.  Members of the Planning Commission had no idea they were approving something that would be owned by foreign nationals and operated by a major brand, and had been altered to remove 20 onsite accommodations for employees.

    Foreign ownership has to be reported to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS), and can easily be reported online.  It is overseen by U.S. Treasury and includes reviews by FBI, Attorney General, Secretary of Homeland Security, and others doing everything possible to protect us.  All of us can help government by shining a light on a possible problem when foreign investment capital is involved.
        (Comments, suggestions to cjonwine@gmail.com )
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