It was a bittersweet moment today for Graham Richard, our former mayor.

Graham stood at the very back of the crowd of 200 or so people, mostly heavy hitters, politicians and affiliates of one downtown organization or another, to watch current Mayor Tom Henry, Redevelopment Director Greg Leatherman and a few others give and take credit for the new hotel adjacent to the ballpark.

It was all Graham’s vision and his name was mentioned once in passing.

So, a couple of representatives of the hotel spoke about the process and about their surprise at seeing so many people turn out to support the opening. Inside there were another 100 or so folk enjoying the new sports bar, milling in the lobby or waiting for a room or wondering what the crowd was all about.

It is a nice hotel. The sports bar is filled with big screen TVs, there are plenty of booths and bar stools and tables. Big smiles abound. It is new, it is clean, it is open and fresh. You might want to come down just to see the place.

A few years back it was just an idea. Most of that area was blighted, really blighted: there were a few houses among the weeds, there were a few parking lots, Belmont Liquors, a nice suburban-look restaurant and more weeds. The houses, for the most part, had seen their best days many years ago.

Mayor Richard had a vision and pushed his staff, including Mr. Leatherman, to make it happen. Obviously, there were bumps along the way, and questionable transactions, but the vision of a ballpark, a hotel, a large parking garage and a condo complex is now 3/4 of the way to realization.

Greg Leatherman was given the greatest credit and, perhaps, the strongest round of applause, deservedly so. The hoteliers credited him with making sure that the project crossed every hurdle. He took a modest bow. The hoteliers complimented the local banks that got on board, because of button-holing by the mayor, and they spoke of the mass that had been created with the huge project nestled among the Grand Wayne, the Embassy, the Lincoln campus, the Library, the Firefighters Museum, the Botanical Conservator and the Federal Building. One fellow emphasized the density, the mass, that had been created as a reason the hotel could go forward. Much applause.

So, now it is up to Mr. Leatherman to make the last piece of the puzzle come to pass, the condo building. He assured me that Barry is making progress, but they still do not have a lead bank around which other lenders can rally. It is different, he said, finding financing for that sort of a building, compared to a hotel, because lenders expect a full portfolio of leases in hand, signed and notarized. It is different also, he lamented, because the easy money that washed all over the place when the project was envisioned is now a fond memory. Bankers are hoarding their money.

Greg added that he was also left out of the loop when Barry flew in the high-level Savannah delegation in mid-August to see the ballpark. Nobody, except Tim Pape, the mayor and another unnamed council member, were privy to the stealth tour. We are digging for that other name. And, Greg said to me before the dedication today that there was not a media campaign to discredit John Shoaff, the principle critic of the project. Things just worked out that way, he said, and I believe him. In the 30-years I have known Greg I know when he is holding back. You will remember Mr. Leatherman was on two radio talk programs and two editorials appeared, both attacking Mr. Shoaff. Seemed like a campaign, but Greg insisted it was not.

So, Barry Realty is the on the spot. The other three legs of the project are complete leaving just a big hole in the ground to mark their languishing promise to the community. It is good that John Shoaff pushes Barry hard and demands the liquidated damages be paid. If nothing more, it is a reminder that we are all paying close attention. The $400k that would result would help the city budget, no doubt.

Leatherman, for his part, fully believes that Barry will make good on their promise and his points to a few leases that are nearly ready to go. He also reminded me that Barry has already put some $6 million into the ball complex and deserves some credit for the entirety of the project.

Meanwhile, at the back of the crowd, in blue jeans and a light shirt, no tie, no suit, loafers, not oxfords, taking it all in with a tired smile was the guy who had the vision and pushed so hard to make it happen. Today, he said to me, would have been his mother’s 92nd birthday. She would have been very proud.

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I think it’s time someone demanded some answers are where we’re going with this.

Barry losing chance to develop FBI, Archives buildings

Struggling Barry Real Estate Companies Inc. may lose the chance to develop four massive federal buildings because it is unable to secure a construction loan.

It’s a major setback for Barry Real Estate, which is trying to maintain control of key parts of Allen Plaza, the landmark project it developed in downtown Atlanta.

Barry Real Estate recently sold its interest in the nearly $100 million National Archives and Records Administration Building in St. Louis, and may also sell its development interests in three planned FBI buildings in Portland, Ore., Cincinnati and Minneapolis.

“[We] might go down a similar path on those projects,” said Chris Schoen, CEO of Barry Real Estate.

Just saying..

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Hal Barry of Barry Real Estate was at a hearing before a panel overseeing the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) held today at Georgia Tech. Mr. Barry had this to say about the banks.

“Finding a lender to finance these buildings has been a real joke,” Barry said.

[...]

“The recession hit us hard,” Barry said.

Atlanta developers and attorneys shared similar stories with the oversight committee of a banking reluctance to finance new developments or refinance existing deals with reasonable workouts, given the realities of metro Atlanta’s distressed market.

The fact is, the banks are right to hold back. Yesterday, Forbes’ Investopedia had this item:

Bad Commercial Real Estate Loans Now Coming Home to Roost

The numbers are pretty alarming. This year, about 36% of the $270 billion in commercial real estate loans maturing this year are underwater – a situation where the mortgage balance exceeds the value of the underlying property. And things will get worse before they get better. By 2011, 49% of the maturing loans will be underwater, rising to 63% in 2012 and 61% in 2013, before cresting at 57% in 2014.

Between 2010 and 2014, a whopping $770 billion in maturing commercial real estate loans are expected to be underwater. The situation is so grim that even long-time players in the commercial real estate game are predicting that we are facing something akin to a “lost decade” for the U.S. commercial real estate market.

Things have been going so swimmingly well for Barry Real Estate that Lance Patterson, Barry Real Estate’s president and chief operating officer quit back in July. Patterson came from First Fidelity Mortgage Corp in 2005 where he held the role of chief operating officer. In his four short years at Barry Real Estate Patterson was instrumental in bringing in over $1 billion in debt for Barry’s projects.

Back in 2001 the FDIC was issuing warnings to local banks they were vulnerable to downturn in the real estate market. Lance trudged on.

“I don’t think there’s any danger that vacancies are going up or that we’re going to have some problem loans,” said Lance Patterson, chief operating officer of The First Fidelity Mortgage Corp. “We’ve had a fairly decent and consistent amount of building over the past five or so years. It’s fluctuated a little bit, but our take on it is that’s its in equilibrium right now.”

He noted that Atlanta was experiencing a near record level for leasing and net absorption of properties. In addition, over the past several years it has been difficult for builders to obtain money for new buildings.

“It doesn’t mean that people won’t in some cases find money to do their deal, but it sure puts a big lid on it,” Patterson said.”

A few years later Lance was at Barry Real Estate borrowing money like there was no tomorrow.

Poor planning on Barry’s part does not constitute an emergency for others.

Why haven’t we bailed yet?

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So, as the meeting neared an end, the last meeting of 2009 and the last with Tom Smith in the chair, I noted to one of the citizen regulars at the meeting, one of the fellows who sits three rows back and keeps notes, that it had been an unusually jocular meeting. He laughed loudly enough to draw the stare of Clerk Sandy Kennedy and reminded me in more hushed tones that Tim Pape was not there. Ah… He added that during the year many of the fire-fights at the table were between Brown, who is given to a conservative bent highlighted by rants and tough questioning, and Pape who is a supporter of the administration and somewhat left of center in his philosophy. Tim also can be hard on his fellow council members as witnessed by his attack on John Shoaff during the Calhoun Street debate. With Mr. Pape gone the meeting went quietly, if with more than a bit of humor, into the night.

Smith goes out as having done a reasonably good job leading the body, speaking forcefully at times for his positions and frequently against those of the administration. He became the public face of the Republican opposition to Mayor Tom Henry. And he always kept the discussions moving along. Smith, however, would not win the Robert’s Rules of Order Pour Le Merit, but he did overcome a number of tricky situations, including the short, but tense impasse over the budget. It was short because of his leadership and Mitch Harper’s quiet stage management. Mitch gets the Elmer McDonald Award for effective leadership without raising much dust.

Smith, however, did not preside in one sense: he did not set the agenda for the year. The administration and Sandy Kennedy, for the most part, decided what council would discuss. Council was a reactive body in 2009.

Next year should be even more reactive with Marty Bender as president. That’s the rumor. Marty is the least vocal member of council. In one way that is good for a president. He can simply play council cop and make sure legislative traffic flows smoothly. (Visualize the old time cop at the intersection with white gloves and a whistle.) But Marty, famously, is not a friend of the first amendment, freedom of speech. He shut down comments on the Calhoun Street debate and was angered when opponents of chewing up Calhoun sent him a whopping (by his standards) 95 emails opposing the expenditure. He told me he was angered by having to read all those emails. Geez Marty. So, we shall see whether he welcomes comment or tries to stifle it. Marty also is an employee of the Fort Wayne Police Department and the City of Fort Wayne. That puts him in a compromised position. Some of the mayor’s proposals have been controversial, so how will Marty vote or manage votes on controversial matters in the future? If he does the honorable thing there may be quite a few 4-to-4 votes. But much more is done behind the scenes and the president theoretically has power over what comes to the table and what does not. President Smith encouraged discussion and debate; we will see whether Mr. Bender maintains independence from his bosses and looks beyond his paycheck and pension package. I guess opposition from the table or the floor may not get very far.

Last night, in short, council continued their support of the Grand Wayne and the Convention and Visitors Bureau without rancor or very probing questions. They committed to support the local GM plant (with tax dollars) in exchange for a weak promise from GM to keep a certain level of jobs at the plant. Council also passed an agreement with lenders concerning the ongoing purchase, now tied up in court, of Aqua Indiana on the north side of the city. There was also a short, terse discussion of the deteriorating condition of downtown sewers which one city manager all but described as a ticking timebomb.

In short, it was a bit of a Christmas party with all members showing good cheer to their colleagues and putting off, for an evening, the problems of the coming new year with its tight budgets, dwindling revenues, Renaissance committees, contracts, gambling, and subterranean ticking time bombs…

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Down in Tennessee, Barry Real Estate doesn’t seem to have any problem developing property and spending money.

From the Tennessean.com.

Tower Investments and Barry Real Estate Companies have reached a deal to develop property adjacent to the proposed downtown convention center site, Tower announced today.

[...]

Atlanta-based Barry recently finished developing the Pinnacle at Symphony Place, a 29-story office building a few blocks south of the convention center site. The company’s senior director of development, Jimmy Barry, said the site they now plan to develop is ideal for a mixed-use commercial development, which could include office and retail space.

Meanwhile, Harrison Square continues to be left with a gapping hole.

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I decided to take time from cleaning the gutters today to give a small retrospective of Mayor Henry’s term in office. I’ve listed below some of Henry’s major non-accomplishments. It’s not all-encompassing, so feel free to add your thoughts in the comments section.

Backpedaling on the creation of a fire merit board. During his campaign, he stated he supported it.

Last year, Henry wrote: “I support a true merit system within the fire department. I will work with the union, the chief and the city council to pass into law a merit ordinance that works for all firefighters.”

And when it came around, Henry said this.

“The mayor does support a merit system that mirrors that of the police department,” Mitson said. “He’s not against the merit system but thinks the current legislation passed by the city council is flawed.”

The takeover of the Northeast Indiana Public-Safety Academy. More here.

Refusing to take part in the bridge summit last year between Allen County and Fort Wayne government executives.

Signing the ridiculous lighting ordinance that enables citizens to call the “light police” if they think a neighbor’s light is too bright.

From Fort Wayne Observed.

Council members Shoaff, Goldner, Tim Pape, D-5, Glynn Hines, D-6 and Marty Bender, R-at large voted for the law. Council members Brown, Didier, Tom Smith, R-1st, and Mitch Harper, R-4th, voted against it during both readings.

Henry presented a flat budget in 2009, in spite of HB1001 and a projected $2.1 million shortfall in property tax receipts. He then suggested an increase in local income taxes. Thankfully city council managed $2.5 million in budget cuts in spite of Henry.

Henry also suggested the City Council will likely have to take a look at increasing local income taxes. He initially suggested the council examine income taxes this year before saying it wasn’t needed for 2009.

Complete inaction on the High Performance Government Network contract. Graham Richard furtively crammed a $95,000 per year three-year contract down the city’s throat in the last days of his administration. If it had been $100,000 or more, it would have needed city council approval. More at FWP.

Not enforcing the contractual agreements his mentor Graham Richard saddled the city with regarding the Harrison Square development and Barry Real Estate. Where’s the leadership? Is he waiting for a brother in the real estate business to get a company formed?

Hiding the fact the city hired a firm to lobby for a casino in Fort Wayne. It took the city three months to come clean.

He also neglected to announce that three months earlier, the city hired a Cincinnati law firm, also to lobby for legislative passage of a bill to allow a casino referendum in the city.

The Indianapolis firm is to be paid $3,000 a month for a year. The Cincinnati firm, $3,000 a month for 14 months, plus an upfront payment of $15,000. This $93,000 is in addition to the $45,000 the city pays for a separate legislative lobbyist to handle other issues and to the $32,000 the city paid another lobbying firm to study the economic effects of gambling.

The city doesn’t have much to show for its money. No formal proposal to allow a Fort Wayne referendum was ever made, let alone voted upon, in this year’s legislative session.

Bowing down to pressure from Glynn Hines’ bitching that we needed more “people of color” on the 9th floor, and hiring Vince Robinson as PIO, in part, because he’s black. Don’t get me wrong, Vince is capable and more than qualified, afterall he worked for Graham. But in recent weeks, Vince has displayed he’s really “into” the non-transparency thing.

“It just so happens that Vince Robinson is also a minority so he fulfills two of my goals and that was to have a professional working for us as well as someone of color,” Mayor Henry says.

Hines: They’ve let down the African-American community in not having a single African-American at a department head..

Attempting (successfully) to sneak in an additional $4 million in the financing arrangement for Renaissance Square, a 28 percent increase.

The use of CEDIT funds for the unnecessary destruction of Calhoun street , which has nothing to do with economic development.

The use of CEDIT funds for Renaissance Square, which has nothing to do with economic development.

The building will be purchased for $7.3 million from Renaissance Square, LLC. Renovations and furnishings will add approximately $7.2 million to the budget for a total cost of $14.5 million. The purchase funds will come from County Economic Development Income Tax dollars .

Presenting a 2010 budget that does nothing to prevent a future shortfall as property tax revenues continue to decline. He’ll most likely call for a tax increase next year instead of being prudent.

It gets the city through 2010 and gives the city time to seek other sources of revenue and lobby the state for changes that would help, Henry said.

“What we’re doing is buying time,” Henry said.

While he buys buildings and gets his friends into the trash business.

Giving city employees a 1.5% raise, when almost 10% of the Fort Wayne’s workforce is unemployed.

Refusing to release the video of the José Baudilio Lemus-Rodriguez shooting.

Attempting to give I&M the boot, in spite of the fact that I&M employs 352 employees with an annual payroll of $27 million. They pay $2.5 million in annual property taxes and donate $500,000 a year to local nonprofit groups. Last year they spent $12 million in the aftermath of the ice storm, bringing in over 1500 workers to restore power.

Henry has also continued to refuse to disclose how much the city has spent on attorney fees in the ongoing senseless feud.

Makes you wonder if he has a brother in the power business.

And the crown jewel of Henry’s accomplishments, the Earth First contract. If you’re unaware of what’s going on with that, you can read about it here.

Okay, what did I miss?

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The controversial toll bridge to the Embassy has a couple new wrinkles. First, it seems the city may well bow to public pressure to open the sky bridge so we rabble may enjoy what we have paid for. Secondly, the city has held on to this little secret for a year or more. Wonder why?

To set the scene, part of the even more controversial Harrison Square plan involved a sky bridge from the Embassy to the new hotel. Said sky bridge would thus link the parking garage on Calhoun and Washington to the Hilton to the Embassy to the Marriott to the stadium. Nice. In bad weather a conventioneer or hotel guest could travel from building to building without bundling against the cold or rain. As a regular old citizen I also had dreams of traveling around the downtown enjoying the second floor views of our lovely little city, spared from the weather like a squirrel in the tree tops.

Then, last week, an angry city council president Tom Smith let the cat out of the bag. To his credit he blew the whistle on a part of the deal that he felt was unfair, namely, that we mere citizens would not be allowed to use the sky bridge (which we are paying for) from the Embassy (our Embassy) to the new Marriott (which we are subsidizing). Only hotel guests would be allowed on the million dollar passage you paid for. Smith figured, rightly, that the community would not accept that.

The City administration responded. Greg Leatherman, city official, rationalized that hotel security would be compromised if just anyone (read: we rabble) could enter the building. He said the Marriott needed to limit access to their building. Leatherman, it seems, wears two hats, one when drawing a city paycheck and the other when he speaks on behalf of Marriott or Hard Ball Capital.

Later, it became clearer that the real reason was money: Marriott had designed the entry point into the hotel with only guests in mind: a small, compact, hole in the wall through which one or two persons at a time could pass. To make the entryway into a more public space to handle more foot traffic (we rabble) additional space would be needed. Sellable rooms would have to be sacrificed for a lobby and wider gateway. The Marriott would lose some four or five rooms in the re-engineering. It was simply a question of money. To cover their greed they played the “security” card. To the Marriott people using your money to pay for a bridge was quite acceptable while letting you use what you had paid for was not.

Sources tell me that Greg Leatherman informed other city employees of the little problem long ago, but chose not to make it public knowledge. Apparently, Greg and his fellow leaders in this administration felt it was better not mentioned, that it would go away or not be noticed, or no one would complain. Per his thinking, now one would raise much of a fuss. Thanks to Smith the fuss has been raised and you will have access to what you paid for.

I understand that a “come to Jesus” meeting has been held with city officials and representatives of various foundations and other groups in the city and the Marriott will work out a solution that will allow we mere rabble to use the sky bridge during the better part of the day and evening. You will be able to use it to walk from the Hilton parking garage all the way to Tin Cap stadium to watch a game, and then come back to the Hilton for a night of merriment.

There is a greater question: is this administration trying hard to be a one-term administration. Given their self-inflicted embarrassments on gambling, on Calhoun Street and on the Harrison Square condos, one has to question to whom this administration listens and for whom it works.

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Mayor King Henry is keeping the emails a secret.

Go figure.

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Harrison Square Doubts Were Well-Founded

By Ron Reinking, CPA

In the ongoing discussion in the press and the chatter on local talk radio regarding Fort Wayne’s Harrison Square there’s a line of reasoning that goes like this:

“Nobody could have foreseen these economic times . . . city officials did their very best with our money . . . they should not be blamed for having the courage to bring a vision to reality, a plan that could have worked, something good for the entire community.”

That is a defense, however, against accusations never made.

No one believed that those involved in the planning of Harrison Square were careless or insincere. It did become obvious, however, that while promoters initially may have wished good for the community, human nature inevitably took over and self-interest began to drive public policy.

As a result, Fort Wayne now must be counted another victim of well-intentioned visionaries with the power to tax.

The Nobel laureate Milton Freidman in his award-winning book and television series, “Free to Choose,” describes such a situation in the context of one of four different ways people spend money, i.e., “spending other people’s money on other people.”

Thus the well-meaning fellow with a fuzzy civic vision places himself in the position of spending others money for community “good.” Classically, it means serving on a not-for-profit board or assuming the position of “public servant.” In many of these positions, Friedman wants us to know, there is virtually no restraints on spending and, if your intentions are deemed worthy by the media, honor and esteem to boot.

And when, as is the case of Harrison Square, the wheels do fall off, there is no personal punishment or accountability. Indeed, failure itself is often used to justify even more money to “clean up the mess.”

Dr. Friedman continues: “If I want to do good with other people’s money, I first have to take it away from them. That means, at its very bottom, a philosophy of violence and coercion. It’s against freedom, because I have to use force to get the money. In the second place, few people spend other people’s money as carefully as they spend their own.”

Citizens of Fort Wayne, if they hope to prevent future debacles, must hold the boosters of Harrison Square accountable to the Freidman dictum, and for a number of reasons.

First, we must question how much civic courage it takes to pursue a vision of “good” with money taken from other people. Was it ethical, appropriate and even legal to expropriate the taxpayers’ resources for condominiums and baseball stadiums? If the answer is “yes”, then we are little more than indentured servants of a government granted unrestrained power to tax and spend.

Second, we must ask if it is true that nobody could have foreseen this outcome. Eighty percent of the public saw it coming, according to opinion polling. And 100 percent of private investors refused to risk their own capital on the government’s vision. The politicians, with no skin in the game, proceeding anyway, calculating they could make excuses if the bag (which we now hold) ultimately turned up empty.

It is a good guess that the Atlanta “investors” in Harrison Square still retain benefits in the form of tax abatements, forgiven leases of the old stadium and probably cash.* Fort Wayne citizens wish they could say the same.

On this last point it is interesting to note that practically all construction contracts contain performance bond requirements and set dates for completion of a project, thus placing risks on the developers. In the case of Harrison Square, these risks have now apparently become the taxpayers’ problem. (Some will recall that Councilmen Tom Smith and former Councilman Don Schmidt asked unsuccessfully to review our Harrison Square partners’ financial statements in order to evaluate their credit capacities.)

And finally, as hard as it is to say, nobody can ever know for sure that the project is honest. That, unfortunately, is the nature of other people spending your money — you’re never quite certain where it went.

This was the primary concern of Fort Wayne citizens like me with Harrison Square — specifically, that without the tests of a free market we would never really know whether it was a good idea or bad.

That concern, recent events now demonstrate, was spot on.

Ron Reinking, CPA, owns an accounting firm in downtown Fort Wayne. He is an adjunct scholar of the Indiana Policy Review writing frequently on economic development and urban public policy. Contact him at ipr@iquest.net.

* A good part of the investment of the lone “private investor” in Harrison Square, a company of unknown assets and financial accountability, was apparently guaranteed by various agreements and legal devices.

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Good afternoon and welcome. This is the first time a state of the city speech has been delivered here in the regional public safety academy of northeast Indiana.

Which is slated to lose a projected $1.8 million through the end of next year. Henry’s power grab at the facility resulted in most of the board resigning due Henry trying to exert too much control over what was to be an autonomous entity.

Today is the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln…many say, our greatest president (pause) so far.

So far my ass. Henry forgot to mention that since Obama was elected, the Dow Jones has lost 2,000 points, the porkulus package is filled with bullshit, including $30 million to protect some stupid tiny mouse in Nancy Pelosi’s district that won’t stimulate anything.

I try to keep Lincoln’s second inaugural address in mind as we face those challenges: “with malice toward none but charity for all,” he said, “…let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds…”

How original. Obama’s been running around quoting Lincoln all week, now Tom Henry is parroting the same Lincoln speeches. How about something in the way of original thinking?

Politics did put us on the map in 2008….and we enjoyed our moment in the spotlight. Former president Bill Clinton, presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton, Ted Danson in support of Hillary…

Danson is the dumbass that claimed back in 1988 that all of the oceans would be dead within 10 years and so would all of us. Henry is still star-struck over meeting one of the biggest asshat liberals to walk the planet, amazing.

We accepted matching dollar applications through the middle of December, and set aside 200-thousand dollars in CEDIT money to fund the projects, but the response was so strong and the projects are of such high quality, that I agreed with the staff to double the infusion to 400-thousand dollars..

Then he snatched it away from the city council members so *he* can better decide how to use the funds.

When the program started in 1990, each council district received $450,000 with an additional $450,000 split among the three at-large members. Henry slashed that amount to $250,000, and now it’s going to ZERO.

On to the casino issue.

We know the issue of gaming has broad implications. That is why, as a community, we are studying it in depth. We need to fully understand what those implications are—both the positives and the negatives.

As your mayor, I am committed to creating opportunity for all our citizens and making sure that Fort Wayne and northeast Indiana have every chance to thrive and compete.

So let’s seize this moment to do several things that are essential:

First, let’s continue the community conversation about the benefits and costs of this opportunity; Second, let’s allow the emerging prospect of gaming to move forward in the legislature; and third, let’s have the courage to pursue a full consideration of the gaming issue…. remembering that it must bring us new jobs, high-quality investment, and significant new revenue enabling us to enrich our community in meaningful ways. Nothing less is acceptable.

Sorry mayor, it won’t work. From Fort Wayne Observed:

One of the big items that has gone unnoticed in talks of casino gambling in Fort Wayne is that there will soon be a very large casino opening this summer just a short drive from northern Indiana.

It is the new FireKeepers Casino being constructed on Interstate 94 near Battle Creek, Michigan. It is only 4 miles west of I-69. The casino is being developed by the Nottawaseppi Band of the Potawatomi Indian Tribe.

From Disenfranchised American:

The Sturgis City Council voted last night 9 to 0 to approve a new Casino to be built, right near the Indiana line, just north of Howe, IN.

How many casinos can one region have and still be successful?

Also from Fort Wayne Observed:

Dan Carmody, Fort Wayne’s former head of the Downtown Improvement District, responded to a recent Fort Wayne Observed post on the possibility of casino gaming in Fort Wayne:

From my experience at the origins of heartland gambling casinos are poor levers of economic development and even worse as new forms of revenue generation for units of local government. We are faced with a situation which demands a return to basics, casino gambling is a nice niche for affluent societies but not a cornerstone for local economies in crises.

Why’s he wasting the time and money on this?

Business is also alive at Fort Wayne city utilities, the last of our sewer separation project, in southeast Fort Wayne was finished in 2008… Creating additional holding space for sewer overflows and solving basement back-up problems.

Our city-owned utilities continues to invest in its infrastructure as well. Most recently completing a 32 million dollar clarifier project at our sewage treatment facility. These improvements will significantly increase the plant’s capacity to treat raw sewage..

Ahem. I’m still on a septic, (after being in the city for over 3 years), and several other neighborhoods in Aboite are shit-up-the-creek as well. I also live in an area without a city maintained storm water system. The ground doesn’t perk and a large portion of the affluent (shitty-water) runs into the Hadley ditch.

Another example of collaboration is the city and county working closely together for the joint information technology needs of local government.

Yet the mayor’s office still cannot provide city council with monthly operating statements?

Back in 1974, mayor Ivan Lebamoff had the vision to implement a very creative plan. He agreed that the city would get out of the business of bringing electricity to customers and instead would lease the electric utility to I&M. The agreement stated that I&M would continue to operate the system and the city could, if desired, take back the utility at the end of the lease.

The completion of the lease is approaching, and discussions are underway on an agreement that will best serve local citizens and customers. The city is currently holding thirty five years’ worth of lease payments, held in a community trust. I had hoped today to tell you how I thought we, as a community, could be discussing the use of the trust fund. But two things prevent me from opening that conversation: one— the market has taken investors on a wild ride, and our trust fund, which was at about 35 million dollars a year ago , thanks to our economy, is worth significantly less. That’s troubling.

Even more pertinent, however, is the fact the money was originally set aside to assure citizens they would have a responsive, reliable source of electricity. Because first and foremost, that money is dedicated to assuring continued electrical service for our citizens-that’s our top priority…and we do remain hopeful that an agreement will be reached soon.

The first reason he doesn’t want to discuss is troubling. Who’s he having the discussions with? How about a little transparency. The second reason is bullshit. I&M can continue to service customers with or without the lease. The majority of what they leased from the city they have since replaced with new equipment.

And he barely touched on Harrison Square.

As we look ahead into 2009, we still have many unanswered questions. We certainly don’t know how the economy will continue to impact the entire Harrison Square development, especially the retail and residential portions.

But I do invite each of you to join me April 16th for the first pitch at Parkview Field!

Sans a hotel, condominiums and retail.

Yawn..

AWB

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He [Mayor Henry] hopes to improve that mark this year by working more aggressively to improve the economy and to jump-start Harrison Square and other lagging big-money projects started by his predecessor, Graham Richard.

“For those naysayers out there who are criticizing Harrison Square as a bad idea … I’m going to have to take them to task on that. (But) we need to get the hotel finished. We need to complete Harrison Square,” Henry said Tuesday during an interview with The News-Sentinel and NewsChannel 15. “I’m hoping it will be built sooner rather than later.”

Get the hotel finished? It hasn’t even started. Why does the city of Fort Wayne need to complete Harrison Square? Beyond the stadium, it’s a private enterprise project. Hmmm.. makes you wonder if the stench of more subsidized HS welfare is wafting through the 9th floor.

Henry said the city may try to coordinate the effort to obtain financing for the projects by bringing a pool of potential lenders to the table.

Developers say they remain committed to the behind-schedule projects, but some have criticized the city for not doing more to contractually assure their timely performance by the developers. But Henry said penalizing the city’s private partners now might do more harm than good.

“We have fall-back positions, certainly,” he said “But what does that get us, really?”

Fall-back? I can hear it now, let’s rob the city’s light-lease fund, then loan some money to White Lodging so they can complete the project. They can call it Fort Wayne’s economic stimulus plan. After all, we can collect interest on it and then we can also start paying White Lodging the guaranteed profits we promised.

If White Lodging and Barry Real Estate cannot deliver, maybe it’s time to put the call out to other developers and see what ideas they can bring to the table. Maybe that will light a fire under someone’s posterior.

AWB

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Who Killed Downtown?

What does a living downtown look like?

All day there are pedestrians along the streets, and even more in the evening.

Commerce thrives, from department stores to quirky little one-of-a-kind shops, from thrift stores to boutiques, and plenty of restaurants open from morning to night.

There are places to rest, lovely things to look at, public art and music, and occasional events that bring even larger numbers of people downtown.

When a downtown is alive, the people of the city think of it as their own, the place to be, the heart of their community.

What does a dead downtown look like?

The sidewalks are virtually empty. There are few shops, and the restaurants are only open for lunch. There is no pleasure in walking around because there’s nothing to see, nothing to do, nothing to buy.

Sound familiar?

[...]

So much time and money wasted on driving, when thoughtful urban planning could allow more and more of us to live in the kind of walking neighborhood, the living communities that used to be the rule instead of the exception in America.

Will it change? In many places in America, yes, it is changing, and more and more communities are realizing that the vibrancy and vigor of Manhattan and Paris and Florence and London are easily replicated without having to put up with the negatives of the big city.

But will it change here? Not a chance.

Because Greensboro is led by people who think the way to “revive downtown” is to build a big new stadium there.

A stadium! Oh, that’ll bring people downtown, won’t it — why, you could walk for ten or fifteen city blocks around that new stadium and never find a single thing to look at or a single thing to do.

A new stadium will be just another dead space, a monument to folly, like our ugly coliseum and convention center. Another proof that you don’t actually have to know what a city is in order to be elected to govern one, or hired to plan it. [more here]

Does that ring a bell with anyone? Here they are seven years later, with some limited success still trying to develop downtown Greensboro.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Winston-Salem and Greensboro — two cities that have spent several years rejuvenating their urban centers — say finding financing is difficult. As a result, they’re putting the brakes on plans for the foreseeable future.

And this.

FRIDAY, JUNE 13, 2008

Financing delays downtown projects

GREENSBORO — Developers who want to rehab the old Southeastern building downtown can’t get the financing they need for the $8 million [condo] project.

Brace yourself Effie.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2000

Editorial: Downtown downturn?

The first phase of the Center Pointe tower now will open in January, says its developer, Greensboro builder Roy Carroll. He says the economy has slowed recent sales of condominiums in the new high-rise but no previous sales have fallen through.

“Most of our buyers are empty-nesters,” he says. “They don’t need to sell their current residences to buy ours.”

I thought here in Fort Wayne they were building the condos for the X&Y generations to help stop the brain drain. It’s almost February, and Barry Real Estate is pretty quiet on what’s going on with The Harrison development.

Even with the failure of some condo developments, Greensboro has been somewhat successful with apartments, even their stadium seems to be drawing crowds, according to this article.

One of the saving graces of today’s downtown may be its ability to help sustain itself. More than 1,200 people live there now versus 500 four years ago.

City View Apartments are a rousing success. New Bridge Bank Park defies conventional wisdom by attracting big crowds one baseball season after another. The opening of a popular new chain restaurant, the Mellow Mushroom, near the southern tip of downtown could draw more traffic beyond the center city’s hottest few blocks along South Elm.

Keep one thing in mind, downtown Greensboro has more than 1,000 retail shops, restaurants and service businesses to help draw people downtown. How many does Fort Wayne have?

According to The Downtown Improvement District’s web site, if you take out the fast food restaurants, i.e. McDonalds, Wendy’s Taco Bell, etc we have less than 30 restaurants and only about 12 within walking distance of downtown. We have less than 10 retail shops unless you include The Lincoln Museum, (now closed), Science Central, the Salvation Army Thrift Store, Ream-Steckbeck Paint Company, A Party Apart and several other ridiculous listings in their “Shopper’s Guide to Downtown Fort Wayne“, and what could be considered actual attractions amount to less than 20.

We’re stuck the the stadium, so maybe John McGauley’s idea for an indoor water park merits some discussion, as do other ideas. Given the current economic and financial environment, it’s about time Fort Wayne re-think its moving forward plans for downtown revitalization.

For starters, ditch the condos.

AWB

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When the program started in 1990, each council district received $450,000 with an additional $450,000 split among the three at-large members. Henry slashed that amount to $250,000, and now it’s going to ZERO.

From a local news source:

Just because Henry is eliminating the council’s CEDIT funding doesn’t mean he doesn’t want their help, Purcell said.

Last November, the mayor and then-council president Didier sent a letter to neighborhood association presidents asking for suggestions of infrastructure projects.

Hey, how about some sewers for the 3 additions in Aboite that have septic fields that no longer perk? A large portion of the affluent drains into the Hadley ditch, and e-coli levels there are among the state’s highest. All three additions have been part of Fort Wayne since the January 2006 annexation, yet the city hasn’t lifted a finger to resolve the situation. All the while, the city exerts an enormous effort on “green initiatives” and “carbon footprint reduction” yet continues to allow the ongoing pollution of Hadley ditch.

I must note that Councilman Mitch Harper has had conversations with Aqua Indiana, but they won’t even hold conversations with our addition any longer. Talking to Aqua Indiana is like talking to a rock.

The city of Fort Wayne has something called the Green Business Outreach Program, which according to the city’s web site is a pilot program aimed at training citizens on how to reduce the carbon footprint in their home. How about a program designed to keep shit out of the waterways?

They also have the Green Ribbon Commission that according to the city web site is to provide advice and recommendations to the city on goals and strategies to conserve energy and improve air quality, raise awareness of air quality and energy issues within the community and encourage citizens and businesses to engage in energy savings and improved air quality practices. What about the water?

Also from the local news rag:

He [Councilman Smith] said he hopes the administration works with the council on deciding how to spend any federal stimulus money the city might receive as well as the city’s trust fund, when it becomes available next year.

The trust comes from revenues from the city’s light lease with Indiana Michigan Power and could be spent on anything next spring, or not spent at all.

Smith said if the money was to be used, it would be best spent on infrastructure.

Ah, the Light Lease Fund. I wonder how King Henry will take control of that? No, he *will* take control of it. How he spends it will be another issue. I digress.

Taking away the CEDIT funds from city council is in my opinion a bad move. The program has worked well for close to 20 years, and who better to help their constituents than the elected officials that live in the neighborhoods and talk to the citizens every day?

Where I live in the city we still have chip and seal streets, no city water, no street lights, no sewer and no sidewalks. Oh, but we are paying a maintenance fee for sewers and by-golly, they pick the fucking garbage up once a week.

Oh, and we also have Harrison Square. I guess we should all be thankful.

End rant – AWB

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