The Pellucid Perspective - November 2019 - 6

TAXES & POLITICS

One Big Loser, One Big Winner
Following up on previous articles.
By Harvey Silverman

ast month's Pellucid Perspective included an article about a
Texas tax case involving an online tee time company that
owed the state over one million dollars in unpaid sales tax,
interest, and penalties. You can find that article HERE.
Redacted from the court document was the guilty party's
name. We thought we knew who it was. In fact, we were sure
we knew and even had assurance from a former employee of our
suspected company that we were correct.
Turns out we weren't.
Our former editor, the late Jim Dunlap, was a professional
journalist. I learned a lot from Jim in my previous stint writing
for the Perspective. Primary in his advice was, "don't guess." If
you have one source, find another to corroborate.
We didn't publish what we thought we knew because we
didn't have a second source. Good thing. We thought the guilty
party was Coursetrends, now owned by EZLinks, and they denied any knowledge of the case.
We turned to Jared Williams, the Managing Director of the
USA Tee Time Coalition. Jared is an attorney with knowledge
on how to find things via a public records request. And find it
he did:
And find it he did, thanks, Jared!

Topgolf Wins in El Segundo - Maybe
In December of last year, I wrote an article about Topgolf
entering the Los Angeles market by taking over a much-beloved municipal facility, The Lakes at El Segundo. That article
is HERE.
According to the Long Beach Daily Breeze, the Long Beach
city council approved a "first reading" of Topgolf 's proposal on
Oct. 15. Topgolf agreed to the following:
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Lease payments of $1.3 million per year and 3% gross
receipts from beverage sales at a minimum of $200,000
per year;
A community benefit contribution of $200,000;
A minimum of $40 million in capital investment, including roughly $3 million spent on the golf course;
A capital-improvement reserve fund to be established
worth at least $200,000;
Paying for 1,000 hours of law-enforcement coverage -
followed by splitting the cost with the city.

Alterations to the current nine-hole course, practice area,
and clubhouse (to be managed by Billy Casper Golf ) include
the following:
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Shortening of the overall course from 1,340 yards to
1,206 yards, mainly taken out of holes 1 and 9;
Adding lights for night golf;
Surrounding the 3-hole [sic] with a water hazard;
Building a new 2,500 square-foot clubhouse with
1,000 square feet of outdoor space;
Expanding the putting green and chipping area,
roughly tripling it in size.
For golf enthusiasts and local residents concerned
about the cost at the driving range, Topgolf has agreed
to the following pricing (without the use of the company's tracer technology):
A bucket of 45 balls for the driving range will cost $10
from 6 a.m. to 12 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 6
a.m. to 9 a.m. Saturday and Sunday;
South Bay residents will receive a 10% discount on
course fees all week from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

It seems like a hell of a deal, right? And with the proposed
ordinance approved by a 4-1 vote on Nov. 5, Topgolf and its development partner CenterCal can pop some champagne corks
to celebrate the end of a six-year ordeal.
Ah, not so fast, J.B. Holmes. Government by referendum

6 The Pellucid PersPecTive

November 2019

https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pellucid/perspective_201910/index.php#/8

The Pellucid Perspective - November 2019

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