Former County Commissioner Cheryl Musgrave Challenges the Art’s District TIF

Cheryl Musgrave has launched an effort opposing the City of Evansville’s proposal to establish an Art’s District TIF district that encompasses a full 50 square blocks of South Evansville. In a town hall style meeting called by Musgrave at the Oaklyn Library on Thursday November 18, 2010, she questioned not only the vastness of the proposed TIF District but the intent of the City of Evansville for this area through its Department of Metropolitan Development headed by Tom Barnett.

The Musgrave family has lived in this area for many years and has every reason as expressed by former Commissioner Musgrave to want the area that they call home to be a favorable place to live. Musgrave also has extensive experience with TIF districts. In her role as President of the Vanderburgh County Commissioners she lead the establishment of the Burkhardt Road TIF and spearheaded the widening of Green River Road project that was recently lauded for being on time and under budget.

As a Vanderburgh County Commissioner and in her time as the Vanderburgh County Assessor, Musgrave was never one to shy away from a challenge or to shirk a task. Her leadership in the Assessor’s office led Vanderburgh County to have one of the first GIS based systems operational in the State of Indiana.

In a map of the proposed Art’s District TIF that was shown in Musgrave’s presentation the reach of this proposed district is clear to see encompassing an area that contains both blighted areas and some Historic District homes with values of over $1 Million near the Evansville Museum that is also in the proposed TIF District.

As part of her opposition to the proposal, Ms. Musgrave cites the financial failure of the Front Door Pride program that has to date built 14 houses at an average cost to build of over $200,000 that have only commanded market prices of around $100,000. Six of these Front Door Pride homes remain unsold constituting roughly a 2 year inventory at the current rates of sale. Musgrave was specific about opposing the issue of $2 Million in bonds part of which would be used to construct three more Front Door Pride houses bringing the inventory to three years. She also stated that two of the first Front Door Pride homes were sold to relatives of members of the Evansville City Council.

Musgrave also opposes the Art’s District TIF on the basis that four new layers of government are to be established with the proposed TIF. The specific new layers of government stated are the Redevelopment Area Project and Allocation Area, the Art’s District TIF, the Design Review Commission, and Zoning Overlay. As one of the goals that has been stated for the TIF by City of Evansville officials is to bring commercial enterprise into what is mostly a residential area, Musgrave expressed concern that some of the home based retailers may be the kinds of businesses that are not typically associated with “good neighborhoods” such as tattoo parlors or hookah dens. Several members of her audience were vocal in sharing their concerns over this issue.

The Art’s District without a TIF has been talked about and promoted for many years with minimal success. During the last few years nearly all of the Art Galleries that set up in the Haynies Corner District have ceased operations and many of the artists have left town. Musgrave stated that others are planning to do the same. A concern among the citizens that attended the meeting was that the term Art’s was basically in name only and that the entire proposal is more about extending the power of local government through calling a large residential area an Art’s District.

Musgrave went on to state that the proposed Art’s District TIF would also grant the City of Evansville more power to acquire property through condemnation and remove tax dollars from the general revenue creating sort of a buoyancy effect on property taxes where they would be held high as opposed to being able to fall at times when lowering taxes is possible.
Perhaps the most disturbing thing to Ms. Musgrave has been the secretive way that this proposal has made its way to tonight’s meeting of the Evansville City Council. She spoke openly of her diligent attempts to get information about the proposed Art’s District TIF including filing a Freedom of Information Act form only to be ignored. She told the crowd that the State of Indiana had cited DMDfor not responding to the FOIA request in a timely manner. A timely response for such requests is typically 48 hours.

Uncertainty and stonewalling on the part of the City of Evansville was what many of the attendees are most upset about. There are no details on the website about how much money is anticipated to be raised or when, what projects are being considered, what commercial enterprises are targeted, or even what the first priority is. In searching for answers the City County Observer has had the same experience as Musgrave stated. The answers are basically trust us, let us write ourselves a blank check, and things will be great.

The people of Evansville have seen this pattern of behavior before with recent projects like the Executive Inn, the Evansville Arena, the infamous Front Door Pride homes, and the proposed Roberts Stadium Ballfields. When things are planned and disclosed in detail they seem to go smoothly yet when projects are allowed to go forward in an unplanned and unmanaged manner they seem to get chaotic and uncertain as both the Ballfields and the Downtown Convention Hotel projects have.

The City County Observer supports and commends former County Commissioner Cheryl Musgrave for taking a leadership role in trying to force the City of Evansville to disclose the details of the plan for this massive proposed Art’s District TIF. She lives in the targeted area, knows how TIF districts work, and has a fully vested interest in promoting any program that will make her own neighborhood a better place. She and the other residents of the 500+ homes in that area have both a need and a right to know what the City of Evansville has in store for them.
We hope Ms. Musgrave and her neighbors achieve success in forcing fair disclosure from the Department of Metropolitan Development and in having the opportunity to influence whatever plan actually materializes. We also encourage the City of Evansville and DMD to produce these plans in a comprehensive form for public scrutiny. There is nothing wrong with government being truthful and that is what we expect to see even if the truth turns out to be that there is no plan at all.