IS IT TRUE? December 3, 2011
IS IT TRUE that on Tuesday December 6th, 2011 at 8:30 am on the 3rd floor of the Civic Center that the Evansville Redevelopment Commission has finally put it on their schedule to take up the issues of the downtown Convention Hotel and the McCurdy debacle in a public meeting?…that the downtown Hotel Project is being accorded a vote in the meeting under the heading of, “11-ERC-99 – Resolution Concerning the Downtown Hotel Projectâ€?…that this really sound official and that it could even hint that some decision is about to be announced?…that this resolution should be available for public discussion and for discussion by the Evansville City Council if there is any decision regarding TAXPAYER DOLLARS being pondered?…that any decision that comes without the full and unqualified recommendation of Hunden Strategic Partners with public disclosure of the Hunden report will be irresponsible and should be reversed by the Winnecke Administration?…that if a choice is made and a contract is let that the only acceptable way for this to happen is for a full VETTING study including the finances, the pro-forma, and the construction cost analysis accompanies the contract?
IS IT TRUE that the McCurdy debacle only merits and update and that no resolution is on the table at this time?…that the McCurdy Hotel continues to sit there with its tattered awnings flapping in the breeze, its established pigeon and bat colonies intact, and its real estate taxes unpaid?…that those who would argue that another extension should be granted to City Centre Properties LLC because they are still one signature away after 4 failed extensions fail to realize that any other interested parties are frozen out by the contract that keeps being extended?…that if the contract is terminated and if City Centre Properties LLC goes on with securing the financing that they can always come back to the table if and we do mean if they ever secure the money?…that washing them out does not mean throwing them out?…that it is time for this decrepit and tarnished contract to be terminated and for the McCurdy saga to start anew?
IS IT TRUE that the other notable things on the ERC agenda are all spend, spend, and more spend resolutions?…that there are six resolutions being voted on all of which are to authorize spending for one thing or another?…that all of the spending is in either the downtown or the Art’s District?…that it sometimes seems like the only parts of Evansville that are acknowledged as part of Evansville are the downtown and the Art’s District?…that if these things were so darn pressing that the Weinzapfel Administration and this ERC have had 7 years and 11 months to have done them so shoving all of this through in the last minute looks like either last minute gluttony or deeds ignored for 7 years?…that these kind of actions for whatever reason do not reflect well on the outgoing administration?
IS IT TRUE that the City County Observer is planning on having at least one representative at the ERC meeting next week but that it shall not be Mr. Joe Wallace who will be back in California again on Tuesday?…that he wishes Evansville good weather for the week, good judgment with respect to these issues, and will be recording the Thursday segment of Les Shively Show on WGBF 1280 am prior to departing?
The McCurdy and Executive Inn fiascos will be the legacy of the departing City administration and their lackeys on the ERC. A very sad chapter in the history of our fine City.
Weinzapfel and his gang of cronies are out to get thier hands in the cash drawer one more time!!!!!
You betcha they are. They wouldn’t have it any other way.
From: volokh.com
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Jerry Brown’s Proposal to Abolish California’s Redevelopment Agencies Would Help End Eminent Domain Abuse
Ilya Somin • March 26, 2011 10:24 pm
As part of his plan to address California’s fiscal crisis, liberal Democratic Governor Jerry Brown has proposed abolishing California’s 400 local “redevelopment agencies,†which would save the state some $1.7 billion per year, an important step towards closing the state’s $25 billion annual deficit. Unfortunately, his plan has so far been stymied by opposition from California Republicans, all but one of whom voted against it in the California Assembly. Under the California state constitution, passage of the bill requires a two thirds majority in the state Assembly, and Brown fell one vote short.
The GOP’s stance on this issue is extremely unfortunate, and at odds with the Party’s supposed devotion to free markets and property rights. As Steven Greenhut, an expert on California property rights issues points out in a recent Wall Street Journal op ed, the redevelopment agencies are notorious for their abuses of the power of eminent domain for the benefit of powerful private interest groups:
[I]n the last 60-some years, redevelopment agencies have become fiefdoms that run up enormous debt and abuse eminent domain by transferring private property to large developers promising to build tax-generating bonanzas. Today, there are 749 such projects. In the late 1950s, there were only nine. According to the state controller, redevelopment agencies consume about 12% of all state-wide property taxes—money that would otherwise go to critical public services….
Palm Desert’s redevelopment agency proposed to eliminate so-called blight by spending nearly $17 million on revamping a municipal golf club that remains one of the nation’s premier golfing locales.
In the 12 years I’ve spent reporting on this issue, I’ve seen an agency attempt to bulldoze an entire residential neighborhood and transfer the land to a theme-park developer. I’ve witnessed agencies declare eminent domain against churches—which pay few taxes—in order to sell the property at a deep discount to big-box stores that promise to keep city coffers flush. Working-class people and ethnic minorities often are the victims of this process since they often live in the vulnerable neighborhoods, and they have less muscle than big business developers.
The trouble is that blight is an amorphous concept, easily abused by government officials and redevelopment agencies. Once “blight†is found, the agency creates a project area and can then begins selling bonds (incurring debt) without a public vote. In 1995, one area of the city of Diamond Bar, where I lived, was declared blighted because there was chipped paint on some buildings….
While economic development and local control are crucial issues, it’s hard to understand why any Republican would believe that a regime of government planning and subsidy is the best way to achieve those goals. They should be standing up against the abuses of property rights and the fiscal irresponsibility inherent in the redevelopment process and championing market-based alternatives to urban improvement—even if it means defending a proposal from a Democratic governor they often disagree with. (more). . . . . . . . .
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