A little bit of drama broke out this week over the new name of Mayor Kevin Johnson's arena task force.
Turns out, according to the mayor's office, the team that set up a "Here We Build" website earlier this year wanted $350,000 if the task force was going to use that name. The mayor's office balked and changed the name of the group this week to "Think Big Sacramento."
"We changed the name to Think Big Sacramento to keep the focus on the incredible excitement and potential of this community-minded, not-for-profit initiative," the mayor's spokesman, Joaquin McPeek, said Thursday.
Tony Peric, who set up herewebuild.com and registered the domain name, declined to talk about it Thursday but said he would today. Peric set up the website in March to help with a fan-based fundraising effort for a new arena; on Thursday the site redirected viewers to the Kings page.
The reaction was harsh as news of the requested payment trickled out on sports radio and Twitter.
"Here We Stay and Here We Build have NEVER, EVER been about making money for ourselves," tweeted Akis Yerocostas, associate editor for Sactown Royalty.
The new website for the task force is: www.thinkbigsacramento.com.
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