Chapter 339: Deception Hidden in Plain Sight
[Chapter 339: Deception Hidden in Plain Sight]
Los Angeles, City Hall.
In the conference room, Hawke and Brian sat on opposite sides of a long conference table, signing contracts in front of them before exchanging and signing again. There was no public ceremony, no media attention, just like many political deals, the formal signing slipped under the radar and landed in the pockets of big companies.
This was a contract covering two projects. One involved the City Hall selling the Coast Building to Twitter for $150 million at cost price, under the pretense of supporting the development of Silicon Beach tech enterprises. The other was the City of Los Angeles's financial support plan for key businesses, which provided Twitter with a subsidy of $360 million for technology research and development, personnel employment, and skills training.
Once the contracts were signed, the projects moved forward. The paperwork for the ownership transfer of the building would be handled by subordinates.
...
Hawke and Brian left the conference room and entered Brian's office as mayor. Similar to an Oval Office, the mayor's office was not large, adorned with portraits of distinguished former mayors of Los Angeles, but lacking an image of the last mayor, Antonio.
Brian settled on the couch in the waiting area and told Hawke, "$150 million to be paid in three years. Twitter shouldn't have too much pressure."
"I was hoping for a ten-year installment plan, then wipe the debt clean at the end," Hawke joked.