The hotel is not going to happen in the near future. The city should demand to see the letter of loan for the long term financing but then that blow the story out of the water.

To get construction permits a company needs to file final prints that where used to approve the const. permits. Hence, they should be public record and anyone wanting to see them has a right to view them. They are not classified documents once the permits are issued.

The Board of Health permits is strange to me. I have never heard they issued permits for building. I know they will work with companies in the design plans but they do not issue permits until everything is done.

What I see happening at City Council meeting will be a game of SHADOW BOXING! A bunch will be said but noghting backed up with facts. Council will act like dormats and say THANKS and will move on. The rest of us will be left going WHAT THE HECK!

Just like tonight at City Council meeting. One of Mayor Henry’s biggest fights and him or his number two man not there. I guess he figured they had the votes already in place to take care of what they wanted. Which they did!

So do not count on seeing or hearing anything outside of hot air. If someone is getting close to boxed in you will hear that they do not have the information with them but will get back with City Council…. What is stupid? We the people who keep thinking someone we elected gives a damn about the taxpayers over covering for someone taking our money.

Bobett Kelley on May 2nd, 2008 10:21 pm Very well said.
Future headlines:

Billionaire Dean White and his White Lodging Services won approval for $(x) million public subsidy for his (x)amount of hotel-rooms, J.W. Marriott Hotel located next to the Harrison Square Center was approved at last night’s
Fort Wayne city council meeting.

In a perfect world, cities would not subsidize sports franchises, hotels or places to eat.

However, Fort Wayne does not live in this world and we must reflect on the consequences of that fact.

I think this was always about the ballpark downtown which is, not surprizingly, the only thing moving forward. All the rest was an inducement to make the project look to be more than what it was, but all parts that could be easily shed if need be, as apparently they are.

Sadly, I can’t count on council for any tough questions, nor anyone from the city or the project team for truthful answers.

Since JK brought it up…have you heard anymore into the fact that both UPS and Kalitta Air were looking into moving into the old Kitty Hawk Space.

Richard, IMHO thought this was going to be his “grand legacy”. Instead, in the end it will be a legacy of failure that history remembrs about Graham Richard. Cloak and danger backroom deals were crammed down the unwitting publics throats without *any* opportunity for reasonable public comment or discussion. Short-sighted city councilmen like Pape (and others) insinuated we were all idiots if we didn’t agree with them. Funny, you don’t hear them saying much now, do you?

Indianapolis’ redevelopment was not a sole result of the city’s efforts. Private investment led the way with Circle Centre Mall being the most significant investment. Had we taken a look at the history of Indianapolis’ redevelopment and taken a more conservative approach we would not be in the position we’re in today.

It took Indianapolis 30+ years to fix their problem in toto. Graham Richard thought it could be done in a few years, and now the entire thing is on the verge of imploding.

We can get out of the hotel deal and I say let’s do it. Ditto for the condo project. How about bringing the public in and let public sentiment help drive the fix for the nightmare Richard and his cronies has gotten us into?

Alternitives may be something to look into.

Here is a great Idea for a Hotel…take the money that would have been spent on the Marriot and spend it on renovating the Indiana Hotel. I am not sure how many rooms it has, but there seems to be trend in the US of upscale hotel joints going into old buildings and renovating them. Still not restuarant…but we were not going to get one anyways…and personally, I would be much more in favor of losing tax payer dollars to a renovation project with a purpose as opposed to selling out to another non-local investor. (heck will save at least 1.5 million by not having to build that UGLY eyesore of a crosswalk over Harrison)

Are you listening CITY COUNCIL.

Sounds good! Win Win!

I did get a reply, a phone call actually and it’s pretty revealing. I will post tomorrow sometime.

Let’s be honest here…Are you really upset that the second rate hotel wouldn’t be built?

The whole thing was boondoggled from the beginning. I think it is time for the City Council and City Administration to step up to the plate and admit they screwed up, cut our losses and move on.

And at the end of the day, all we have downtown for a while is a new stadium and a parking garage. I can live with that for now, consideing I believe empty retail space, an empty hotel and empty condo’s will look worse than an empty green space around the stadium…

And on that note…if White Lodging doesn’t build, than the city should just re-acquire the land that they sold for $17.50 through either purchase for the same price…or “ghast” eminent domain.