2008 Agenda

So I took all of 5 minutes to brainstorm the local stories and politics that are of utmost interest to me and here are a few items where I'll be focusing my energy. Feel free to join the cause on any of these issues. As usual we'll likely be opponents on some issues but that shouldn't preclude us from working together on like minded ones. Also, feel free to comment and let us know what issues will be important to you:

1. Oust Carol Coen and Steve Carona from the Fort Wayne Community School Board while re-electing Jon Olinger

I was a Blue petition supporter and I firmly believe that Coen and Carona no longer represent the voters of the district. I hope to see the defeat of these two start a domino process that will lead to a complete overhaul of the board. Meanwhile, Olinger was the sole vote against the facilities project and he deserves the support of all voters who want to further the district's educational goals while maintaining fiscal responsibility.


2. Uphold the Smoking Ban

I was a vocal supporter of the comprehensive ban and I don't want to see it rolled back by the new council. I also think supporters of the ban should lobby the county commissioners into making the ban county-wide.


3. North River Development

Citizens should demand that ZERO tax dollars be used to clean up a polluted site owned by the richest family in the county. We also need to make sure that we get all the relevant data related to the problems before any plans to purchase the land are publicly discussed.


4. Tax and Capital Projects Review Board

This one has gone under the radar but starting in 2009 the all-appointed County Tax Adjustment Board will be replaced by a new body that will have 2 elected members. It is crucial that we elect members to this board that will protect our tax dollars and who are not tainted by the group-think policy of Allen County politics - the Good ol' Boy network if you will.


5. Harrison Square Accountability

City taxpayers need to keep a keen eye on the development of Harrison Square and make sure we're getting what we were promised. We also need to monitor the cost and schedule of the project and insure the citizenry has all the available information.

Harrison Square Groundbreaking

I just returned from the groundbreaking ceremony but I decided to bypass the post-shovel celebration at the Grand Wayne Center. There's nothing quite like politicians and their aristocratic brethren backslapping each other and cheering the subversion of the people's wishes. But don't worry their day is coming - once the referendum is passed into law these major projects that line the pockets of a few while sucking money out of the masses will be a thing of the past.

On a lighter note, I expected to see John B Kalb picketing the grounds and shouting "Taxation without representation is tyranny!" James Otis would've been disappointed but I suppose this event officially marks Kalb's (and the rest of our) capitulation...

Harrison Square Walkway - $1.85 Million

The Redevelopment Commission unanimously approved the walkway plans that will connect the Courtyard by Marriott with the Grand Wayne Center. This walkway will be an indirect connection that will span from the new hotel to the Indiana hotel and then attach to the existing Embassy walkway.

The cost of this project will be $1.85 Million. The Goldstein Foundation will generously supply $550k of that amount, $1 million was already budgeted and the other $350k will come from either the interest on the HS bond or the proceeds from the land sold to Barry Real Estate for the condominium development - both these options were unallocated in the HS budget. The Redevelopment Commission will be responsible for the maintenance and utility cost for this walkway which Steve Brody estimated between $6-7k/year.

The commission has broken the project into two parts - the first benefits the hotel developer and the 2nd benefits the Embassy and the Indiana Hotel. The first part includes the walkway, pedestrian corridor, stairway connecting the corridor and existing walkway and a lift for accessibility (~$1 Million). The second part includes a storage area, new elevator shaft (on the west side of the embassy), constructing a stairwell and installation of an elevator (~$850k).

Greg Leatherman saw this as a "win-win" that would satisfy the hotel developer's needs and bring the Indiana Hotel that much closer to redevelopment. Leatherman said he wasn't sure if this would interest the hotel developers enough in the Indiana Hotel for them to redevelop the site but others were interested.

The agreement still needs the approval of the Historical Preservation Board which meets in the Omni Room tonight at 5:30pm but Brody expected the board to approve the plans and that they would be executed tomorrow.

As usual, readers should check out DFWB for the actual drawings and documentation which should be posted shortly...

Time to do What is Right

From day one, every single city councilmember has known Harrison Square to be an unpopular project. The citizenry has watched month after month as city councilmembers have systematically disregarded and even ridiculed the public's input and discontent. We've watched an arrogant administration thumb their nose at the thought of citizen oversight and open government.

You know this project doesn't have a single measurable benchmark attached to it

You know this project won't directly create a single quality job

You know this project's financial projections are a sham

You know this project provides outrageous and unparalleled public subsidies

You know this project has been oversold and under-planned

So my question for the councilmembers is - when will you stand up and represent the interests you were elected to protect? If not you, then who? If not now, then when? Must we go down this path and watch the city council abdicate their responsibility and ignore blatant violations in state law?

No matter how you've voted in the past, it's time to do what is right...

City Controller Channels Baghdad Bob

If you don't remember Baghdad Bob he was the Iraq Information Minister during the 2003 Iraq war. He would give statements of propaganda during press conferences that were so ridiculous people started tuning in just to see what outrageously bogus information he would come up with next. My all-time favorite was a quote describing the mass suicide of US soldiers as they entered Baghdad and saw the unstoppable Iraqi army:

I can say, and I am responsible for what I am saying, that they have started to commit suicide under the walls of Baghdad. We will encourage them to commit more suicides quickly.

Before we get to City Controller Pat Baghdad Roller's response, let's take a look at what the State Board of Accounts audit said about the Redevelopment Commission's purchase of land to be used for Harrison Square. This blogger pointed out back in April that the Redevelopment Commission violated state law by not getting appraisals for the Harrison Square properties before purchasing them. I've stated this numerous times and to date have not seen anyone contradict this. So I was not surprised to see the State Board of Accounts agree with my position:

The Redevelopment Commission purchased the above properties prior to obtaining two independent appraisals to determine the fair market value. The Redevelopment Commission has subsequently obtained two appraisals for the properties. For the residential properties, the purchase price exceeded the average of the two appraisals by a combined total of $1,025,030.

Indiana Code 36-7-14-19(b) states in part: “(b) The redevelopment commission shall first approve and adopt a list of the real property and interests in real property to be acquired and the price to be offered to the owner of each parcel of interest. The prices to be offered may not exceed the average of two (2) independent appraisals of fair market value procured by the commission except that appraisals are not required in transactions with other governmental agencies...”

Clearly the SBA is pointing out that Redevelopment Commission did not follow the proper procedure. Of course that's not how Baghdad Roller sees it. Unbelievably, she concludes that the auditor's statement listed above somehow concurs with her idea that they did nothing wrong: (p12)

"We agree with your audit position that the procedure used by the Redevelopment Commission to purchase land for the Harrison Square Project was appropriate and in conformity with state law."

How in the world did she draw that conclusion? Never mind, I forgot city attorney Tim Manges is still around for another week so she probably consulted with him on that statement. Maybe Roller should use the following Baghdad Bob quote for her official defense:

"The American press is all about lies! All they tell is lies, lies and more lies!"

Let the Cost Overruns Begin for Harrison Square

Downtown Fort Wayne Baseball links to the story in today's News-Sentinel discussing the "crucial" walkway to be built as part of the Harrison Square project:

When the past and future collide, the present can get messy — especially when an expensive and politically charged downtown improvement project hangs in the balance.

Hoping to avoid such unpleasantness, the city may spend hundreds of thousands of dollars more than expected on a $1 million elevated walkway linking the proposed Courtyard by Marriott Hotel with the Embassy Theatre and old Indiana Hotel – a walkway officials say is crucial to the success of the $125 million-to-$160 million Harrison Square development.

The city put themselves in a poor negotiating position and hotel developers took advantage by calling this walkway a "dealbreaker". Give me a break. Of course they'll spend "hundreds of thousands of dollars more". Most of us knew this original estimate was completely bogus. AWB pointed this out in a previous post:

I’m no architect, (but I know one). I doubt it will only be $1 million. Who gave that estimate?

At this point the city has no credibility. Why should we believe ANY of the numbers they've been using after this report? I've been telling people from day 1 that the city's numbers in almost every single aspect of this project were overly optimistic. The walkway is a prime example. Can the city even tell us how much this is going to cost now? Of course not, just "hundreds of thousands" more. So $2 Million, $3 Million? When the cost overruns come pouring in time and again will we still be getting a "good deal"? Obviously the News Sentinel thinks so...

Letter To DLGF Commissioner About Harrison Square

I've sent the following letter to Cheryl Musgrave (PropertyTaxInfo@dlgf.in.gov), Commissioner of the Department of Local Government Finance. Musgrave has approximately 90 days to approve the Harrison Square bond financing. I wanted to voice my discontent towards the project and I would encourage everyone else to do the same. Property taxes are certainly a hot potato right now so there's a slight chance Musgrave will listen to the people.

Ms Musgrave,

I'm writing to voice my opposition to the Harrison Square project here in Fort Wayne. I was very dismayed to read that one of the DLGF commission members said the claim that 70% of the residents were against Harrison Square is "unsubstantiated and unfounded". While 70% might be a slight exaggeration, recent Zogby polling data found that 65% of the public was against the project. Of course councilmen Talarico and Pape would have you believe this is because the public just doesn't understand and if they could educate them then they would support the project.

However, they have had 6+ months to explain this project to people and the people still do not want it. Mayor Richard has time and again said the project will not be payed for with an increase in property taxes. However, expanding the TIF district eliminates a large section of prime downtown real estate from the tax rolls. To argue that this land would never be improved over the next 30 years without Harrison Square is ridiculous. Remonstrators recently beat back a $500 Million bond the local school district was trying to get for their long term facilities project. Taking land like this off the tax rolls will only further exacerbate the problem the school district faces.

Beyond that, there has been no credible analysis that the new TIF district will generate the necessary revenues to pay for the bond. Numerous citizens have requested the relevant financial information from the city only to be stonewalled time and again by the administration. The city's argument has been that they are only planning on using 50% of the Jefferson Pointe TIF to support the Harrison Square project and that, if necessary, they can dip into the other 50%. What they don't tell people is that other 50% has already been accounted for in other places in the budget. THIS is why they needed the backing of a general property tax increase to get the bond financing - it's because their TIF numbers simply don't add up.

The city is building a turn-key baseball stadium to replace one that is only 13 years old. They're also providing, as far as I've been able to ascertain, the largest subsidy ever for a Courtyard by Marriott hotel. All of this is being done under the guise of "economic development". The taxpayers know what the project entails and we don't want it. We know that it will inevitably lead to an increase in property taxes at a time when increases have come in at 47% for certain parts of the city.

Since our local government will not listen to the people, and can no longer claim to represent the people, we can only urge you to do what's right and reject this bond lease.

Thank You

Jeff Pruitt

Comment of the Day

Mike Sylvester has a post about the incredulous fate of Memorial Stadium. In the comments, councilman Sam Talarico amusingly responded to John B Kalb's assertion that Mayor Richard would attempt to name the Harrison Square city park after himself:

John B. Kalb, I have heard you say some ridiculous things about H. Square, but this may be the best yet. Yes, John, its going to be Graham Richard park. That is what is behind this. Mayor Richard has an insatiable thirst to have a park named after him. I also think they should name the left field wall the "Kalb Monster" in honor of your wall like opposition to change downtown.

Is there still time to work the Kalb Monster into the design?

Still At Least One Unanswered Question About Harrison Square

Today's News Sentinel has a nice feature piece about Harrison Square critic John Kalb. John has been tireless in his efforts to derail the project and he's certainly honest about that fact:

“(Kalb's) taken the role of a watchdog, not to protect Harrison Square, but to kill it,” Leatherman said.

That's true. Kalb said his goal is to slow the process to the point it gets killed, to the point Hardball Capital, the Atlanta-based company that owns the Wizards and is contributing $20 million to the project, isn't interested anymore.

I think many of us fought the good fight on Harrison Square and now it's time to move on. However, there is still one remaining issue (I'm sure Mike Sylvester has 58 more) that gnaws at me almost daily. Readers may remember my posts (here and here) detailing how I thought the Redevelopment Commission violated state law by not getting appraisals before buying the property. I was particularly skeptical about the argument from Leatherman and Wernet (Redevelopment Commission attorney) that they didn't need the appraisals because they didn't acquire the property through eminent domain.

I still believe that argument was completely incorrect. I know that the Gang of 3 on the city council recently inquired about this and I was told that the city was no longer putting forth that explanation. What I want to know is - what exactly is their explanation for not getting the appraisals as required by state law? And why were they using the eminent domain argument with the public in the first place? It should also be noted that the local media took the eminent domain argument from the city without ever questioning them about it.

The city may want to sweep this under the rug but they will not succeed in doing so if I have anything to say about it. I'm firing off a series of requests to Leatherman, Wernet and the Gang of 3 to have my final, lingering question answered...

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...

Kalb Strikes Again - Harrison Square to be Competitively Bid?

Mike Sylvester has a copy of the letter that John B Kalb has sent to the Redevelopment Commission requesting that they not approve the recent Harrison Square agreements due to the fact that they may be in violation of state law if they do so:

Commissioners:
I am writing to ask that you NOT approve the subject resolutions, which pertain to the baseball stadium license and management agreements, because I think that Indiana state law mandates that you may not enter into an agreement for the management of a public facility without first making a public request for proposals. In particular, I direct your attention to IC 5-23-2-2(which defines “board” and which definition I think encompasses your Commission), IC 5-23-2-7(which defines “operating agreement” and which definition I think encompasses the proposed Hardball/ stadium agreements), IC 5-23-4-1(which grants the Commission the authority to enter into an operating agreement for the management, maintenance, etc. of the stadium) and IC 5-23-5-1(which requires that the proposed agreements be preceded by and pursuant to a public request for proposals).

What's interesting here is that the management of the stadium will likely be up for competitive bid. However, the operations are all under Hardball Capital's domain and were certainly not going to be competitively bid. In the unlikely event that the Redevelopment Commission decides to follow state law and bid this competitively, I would encourage all Harrison Square opponents to work together to put forth an independent bid. I've worked on a significant proposal or two in my day and I would be willing to help.

And I suppose a few more subsidies might be in order too - why not...

Subsidy Square

Today's JG story covering the downtown hotel agreement points out a couple of items that should irritate even the most adamant Harrison Square supporters. First, the idea of revenue sharing between the hotel and the city:

The city also agreed to share in revenues and losses with the hotel.

I know this got slipped into the story as almost an afterthought but THIS IS A BIG DEAL. To my knowledge this has never been publicly discussed and certainly wasn't part of the memorandum of understanding. Early on, Mark Becker discussed the idea of the hotel sharing profit above certain benchmarks and this was put into the MOA:

11. The Commission and Development Team agree to negotiate, in a final Development Agreement, a provision to give the Commission and/or GWC an economic interest in the Hotel in the event, after the first full five calendar years of the Hotel's operation, the Hotel is then achieving and expected to continue achieving certain minimum threshold investor returns.

I remember discussing this with Mike Sylvester and we both agreed that this was cleverly worded to provide a way for the hotel to mitigate any possible future losses. It was simply not plausible that the hotel would give away profit without the possibility of the city taking on losses. If Lanka's reporting is accurate then the city needs to explain why this was left out of the MOA. I would not be surprised to find out that they deliberately left it out as it certainly would've been a contentious issue.

The next disturbing part of the story covers the idea of a city-subsidized walkway:

The hotel agreement is contingent upon the city constructing an enclosed walkway from the hotel to Grand Wayne Center at the city’s cost. Becker said such a bridge would cost less than $1 million. The skywalk had not been discussed publicly before, and Becker confirmed it will be an additional public subsidy for the project.

This was not in the memorandum of understanding. We're already building them a parking garage, giving them all the land for the project, and giving them $2.5 Million in cash - with another possible cash subsidy 10 years down the road. Why should we kick in an extra $1 Million for the walkway? It certainly can't be argued that the walkway is critical to the business operations of the hotel. Hell, why not subsidize the whole damn thing for them? Is there anything the city and the redevelopment commission would say no to at this point?

Let's not forget that the projected hotel occupancy rates border on President Bush-like delusion. Who in their right mind would use the most optimistic numbers possible when deciding to invest in a project? These occupancy numbers are a perfect example of the city's wanton disregard for our tax dollars...

TIF Debate Reaches the Front Page

Ben Lanka has an excellent front page story discussing the use of TIF districts here in Fort Wayne. It's about time the local media started making people aware of these districts and how they affect the local community and the taxes we pay. I've been trying to publicize the negative impact these districts can have for quite some time:

Now here's the problem, the city is facing a tremendous amount of debt. The local school board is trying to raise our property taxes by a half-BILLION dollars. As these government expenditures continue to rise SOMEBODY has to pay for them. Unfortunately the properties inside these special tax districts won't contribute to the rising costs of city/county/school government. That means that everyone else has to continue to pay a larger share because the city is essentially removing more and more property from the tax paying population.

I also spoke against the continual expansion of the TIF at the city council's public hearing on Harrison Square - video of that speech can be found here.

I think the more people come to understand what the TIF district actually is, the more hesitant they will be to support it. I'd like to address one particular point in today's article. Karen Goldner, 2nd District Council candidate and reader of this blog, was interviewed for the story:

People can’t just look at the TIF numbers in a vacuum, said Karen Goldner of the Fort Wayne Redevelopment Commission. It may be easy to say without TIFs, people would see a 3 percent reduction in property taxes, but the issue is far more complicated

I certainly agree with Karen that it's a complicated issue. One of the complications is that you cannot just take the amount of property found in TIF districts (3% in Fort Wayne not including Harrison Square) and claim that property taxes are only affected by that amount. The reason is that these TIF districts are using a disproportional amount of services.

Just as an example, at places like Jefferson Pointe and Harrison Square there will need to be more police than your typical neighborhood due to the large crowds of people. These are resources that are being pulled away from the general taxpaying population. So one of two things must happen, either the taxpayers get less resources or they pay more for the same amount of resources. Note that this extra cost is above and beyond what is lost in property taxes alone.

I'm glad the community is now going to have this debate. Just because you CAN use the TIF district to pay for a pet project doesn't make it a wise choice. To be fair, I think that using the TIF for Harrison Square is more reasonable than using it for Jefferson Pointe. But either way I think we should stop the practice and let these current projects be the catalysts we were promised they would be...

Redevelopment Commission's Argument Doesn't Square with State Law

Previously, I wrote about members of the city council bringing up the idea that the redevelopment commission might have violated state law in the way they acquired Harrison Square property. Well it looks like Councilmen Schmidt, Smith and Shoaff are still questioning the purchases. One recent quote from the redevelopment commission's attorney is quite disturbing:

Wernet argued that the commission wasn’t even required to get appraisals for the land because it didn’t use eminent domain. He said appraisals were done after the fact to gauge the value, and those appraisals should be completed by Monday’s commission meeting.

Greg Leatherman, deputy director of development, has repeated this claim and frankly it's just not supported by anything in state law. My previous post covered this and listed the statute -IC 36-7-14-19 - Acquisition of real property; procedure:

The redevelopment commission shall first approve and adopt a list of the real property and interests in real property to be acquired and the price to be offered to the owner of each parcel of interest. The prices to be offered may not exceed the average of two (2) independent appraisals of fair market value procured by the commission except that appraisals are not required in transactions with other governmental agencies. The prices indicated on the list may not be exceeded unless specifically authorized by the commission or ordered by a court in condemnation proceedings.

There is absolutely nothing in that part of the code that deals with eminent domain. In fact just look at the title - "Acquisition of Real Property; procedure". This statute deals with ALL Real Estate Acquisition. Compare that with the title of the next section of the code (36-7-14-20) "Eminent Domain; procedure". This covers eminent domain but it is completely independent from the statute I've listed above. To argue that 36-7-14-19 somehow only deals with eminent domain when it doesn't even use those words AND there is another statute specifically entitled "eminent domain" just seems outrageous.

They should not be allowed to get away with this argument without vigorous debate. Namely, they should cite the exact statute they are referring to when they make statements like those above. I think it's clear that the Redevelopment Commission violated state law...

Harrison Square Welfare

The JG reports that the city will ask the Redevelopment Commission to add a new subsidy for the new Harrison Square hotel that is already heavily subsidized:

City officials plan to ask Grand Wayne Center to contribute $2.5 million over 10 years to help subsidize the almost $50 million hotel that is a part of the larger Harrison Square project.

Keep in mind that the city is already building them a parking garage as well as giving them the property they disgracefully took from Belmont Beverage through the use of eminent domain. But that's not enough.

The thing I don't get is that THEY WERE THE SOLE BIDDER; if they didn't have the money to build the hotel then why didn't they just subtract $2.5 million from the bid? I know, I know, they thought certain money from the state would become available and it didn't - but guess what? That's called RISK and the city shouldn't be on the hook for the hotel developer's poor decisions.

There was another part of the article that caught my eye:

In the initial non-binding contract with the hotel developers, the city agreed to work with Grand Wayne’s board of directors to allow the new hotel to recoup some of the room tax charged to hotel guests. Leatherman said the hotel developers will no longer get a direct rebate of the room tax, but the city hopes to use the $2.5 million as additional incentives for the hotel.

I think the reason they can't get a direct rebate of the room tax is because IT'S AGAINST THE LAW. The following piece of legislation states the tax must be paid to the state.

IC 6-9-9-2 (c) The county fiscal body may adopt an ordinance to require that the tax be reported on forms approved by the county treasurer and that the tax shall be paid monthly to the county treasurer. If such an ordinance is adopted, the tax shall be paid to the county treasurer not more than twenty (20) days after the end of the month the tax is collected. If such an ordinance is not adopted, the tax shall be imposed, paid, and collected in exactly the same manner as the state gross retail tax is imposed, paid, and collected under IC 6-2.5.

IC 6-9-9-3 indicates that this money comes back from the state to the county's capital improvement board and can be used to promote tourism. Hopefully our resident member of the redevelopment commission, Karen Goldner, can help us understand how exactly the Redevelopment Commission fits into this. And, if Karen is so inclined, I think readers would be very interested to hear her opinion on the subsidy in general...

My Comments During the Public Hearing on Harrison Square

I know this is a little late but I thought I'd post it anyway. The gist of my comments were that we need to keep our local money local, and we need to stop expanding the TIF district. At the very end of the video you can hear Councilman Schmidt call me a "sharp guy". I've definitely been called worse...

Fort Wayne City Council - A Beacon of Democracy

Although I was disappointed in the final vote for Harrison Square I still felt a tremendous amount of pride in the city of Fort Wayne last night. In a nation full of partisan bickering and backstabbing the Harrison Square vote is a shining example of what is inherently good and right in our democratic system of government.

I would venture to say that anyone that didn't already know the political affiliation of the council members could not have guessed them after watching last night's meeting, but let's not forget what this could have been. We had a Democratic mayor proposing a major project in his last year with the vote coming two weeks before the city primary. In this situation one would almost expect this to turn into a partisan battle with Republicans running for cover while undercutting the project at every opportunity.

The reality is - nothing could be further from the truth. Council members from both parties took this vote seriously and kept the politics out and they should be commended for doing so. This council will be losing at least two members in Dr Hayhurst and Sam Talarico Jr - both are tremendous councilmen and they will not be easily replaced. There certainly may be more changes as well, and I hope that whomever the voters decide to send to council, they can equal the passion and integrity of those they are replacing.

Even on the smallest scale when democracy wins we all win, and I was proud to be a part of the Harrison Square discussion. This city, even if only for a day, was an example of what this nation can become...

Harrison Square Passes

As expected the Fort Wayne city council voted to release the funding for Harrison Square on a 6-3 vote with councilmen Schmidt, Smith and Schoaff being the only dissenters. The public hearing before the vote was almost 4 hours long and had 75 speakers for, 28 against and 11 either half-crazy or undecided.

Some random thoughts/observations from the meeting

Don Schmidt is still not convinced that the redevelopment commission followed the law when purchasing the property to be used by Harrison Square. The city attorney vehemently disagreed - I would not be surprised to see a lawsuit stem from this issue.

During councilman Schoaff's (D-at large) comments Matt Kelty (R-mayoral candidate) was overheard saying "I like this guy". I'm not sure that's an official endorsement but interesting nonetheless.

Councilman Talarico had very strong words against Kelty for suggesting the vote should be postponed until after a new mayor is elected - "Who is HE to tell this mayor, who got 60% of the vote, that he can't lead in his 4th year."

Councilman Hayhurst predicted that incomes in Fort Wayne would climb back to 100% of the national average - they are currently at 80%. I'm sorry but this is falls into "dreamer" category. I suppose he didn't put a timeline on it so it could happen eventually but we are a long, long way away.

Councilman Pape gave a rambling speech about the history of failures for Abraham Lincoln - much the chagrin of the audience. The noticeable discontent in the crowd had nothing to do with the content of what Pape was saying but more like it was taking him too long to say it. I suppose he was paying everyone back for having to sit through their comments.

Crawford, ever the wiseguy, passed on casting the first vote and left everyone in suspense until the very end when he voted to support the project.

Yours truly spoke to the council about stopping the outsourcing of public funds in order to keep the money local in support of economic development. I also spoke about the problems with expanding the TIF districts into new areas and how that will impact our property taxes. It will be interesting to see how the city approaches the OmniSource property that they are considering for development. Hopefully, they will decide to let Harrison Square be the "catalyst" they claim it is and not expand the TIF.

Fort Wayne Mayor STILL Hasn't Provided Harrison Square Documents

For over a week the citizens of this city have demanded that the inputs to the city's Harrison Square economic impact study be released. As of now, the city has not provided these documents. Let me remind the readers that Deputy Mayor Mark Becker assured several city council members that all requested documents would be made available to the public - that was on Tuesday.

Another blogger has reported that the city has a draft copy of this report and is trying to obtain a final and electronic version from the author. Let me offer up a couple of thoughts on his report:

1. Why the hell doesn't the city have a final version of the document they paid for?

2. If they don't have a final version then how do they know the inputs into their own economic impact study are legitimate?

3. If they do have a copy then why can't they figure out how to scan it and post it on the web - just give me a hard copy and I'll scan it and post it here.

4. The Harrison Square vote is likely going to take place Tuesday and we do not have that document as of COB Friday

This administration has already shown their contempt for the public's right to oversight when they suggested a preliminary vote on the project less than 24 hours after the memoranda of understanding were released. Once again, despite assuring the council otherwise, they are not forthcoming with the necessary documents.

The city council MUST stand up for the people of this city and postpone any vote until the mayor provides us with that information. The truth is the mayor's office doesn't give a damn what we want - they see us as obstructionists that will oppose the project whether they give us the documents or not. But that is not the point - they are REQUIRED BY LAW to provide us with those documents. And beyond that, they should remember that they only work in their current positions because the public allowed them to. They work to serve our interests.

Mayor Richard, it is with that final thought that I respectfully demand for you to give us all the documents we request - and expeditiously at that...

More Harrison Square Thoughts from City Council Meeting

A couple of thoughts:

1. During the Fort Wayne city council meeting, Sam Talarico Jr asked a very legitimate question - How is the leap to 360,000 in projected attendance for the new baseball stadium justified? This was a very good question and I'll provide a short answer - it isn't.

However, the answer from the city was that the average attendance for new downtown stadiums is 200% the previous attendance. Since they are only projecting about 150% attendance they consider this "conservative". Let me explain in concrete terms what this attendance increase really is. The new stadium will have 5000 seats and 72 games - 5000 x 72 = 360,000.

They are projecting that they will essentially sell out every single game - I would hardly call that a conservative estimate. Now I do understand that there will be additional seating in areas outside the hard seating area but I think it's still quite a leap of faith to assume this type of increase - especially in the long term.

2. Councilman Tom Didier brought up another good point. He said that if Harrsison Square gets approved there should be something in the final contract that requires Hardball Capital to use local businesses to supply the concessions. In my opinion this is VERY important because if the city is going to talk about economic development then they need to back it up by supporting local small business.

There is no doubt, and the city's own economic impact study confirms this, that investment into local businesses cascade into other industries. We need to do everything we can to support our local businesses by giving them an advantage in the city's procurement process. The city has repeatedly awarded contracts to firms outside the city when there are people within the city that could do just as good a job.

The city and the council need to put their money where their mouth is (literally) when it comes to economic development...