I don't see any way you're going to get a better deal than what Hackerman is offering. Although the article said something about him having trouble raising the funds....I wonder if that refers to what he wants in public contributions, or if he is having trouble securing financing for his own portion of the cost?
Either way, as Sean and Chris said, there is no way the city can do this even if the political will was there, which of course it isn't. It is going to have to be the state that comes up with the money. But they can kill 2 birds with 1 stone here, a new arena and an expanded convention center. I don't want to get too much into taxes, but I read in a previous article about this project that restaurant taxes in Baltimore are well below the national average for comparable cities. Seems like one way to raise revenues to pay the bonds the state would have to sell. I certainly wouldn't curtail eating out over a couple bucks each time....I might even make a point to do it more often given the cause it's going to.