Defining Success for Harrison Square

I don't think it's a big secret that I'm against this project. But I would honestly like to know what the benchmarks are for success? Of course nobody wants to talk about that, but why is that exactly? I think the reason is because they simply don't know. Just like our current President talks about "Victory in Iraq", the HS supporters talk about "The Future of Our City". Both are ambiguous terms at best.

And just like the Bush administration in Iraq, our city leaders have no long term plan - how could they when there is no definition of victory success? Where's the plan that shows how we're going to leverage high quality jobs from HS? Where's the benchmarks detailing how much new investment we hope to gain from HS? Give me something, anything by which I can judge this project 5-10 years down the road.

When that isn't readily available it's a red flag that this project hasn't been fully thought through. What happens if the occupancy numbers don't match the city's ridiculous projections? Sure, they'll just take from the other half of the Jefferson Pointe TIF but that money is being counted on somewhere else - so what happens?

I'll tell you what happens. The city does exactly what they're telling the bond issuers they will do - raise your property taxes.

THAT is not a plan anyone should support...