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February 5th, 2006 at 10:59 pm
Off the top of my head (and following the Super Bowl, fwiw):
Good idea, but I would keep it simple: Score each council member A to F on each campaign promise made.
To be fair, I think you have to give each council member his/her own scorecard. I think it would also be wise to provide a Factcheck.org-like analysis (tho maybe not so in depth) to provide some context for each promise made (e.g., if some ninny Governor decides to roll back the state income tax rate to 5%, obviously this is going to have ramifications for property taxes)
Ah, nothing like holding our elected officials accountable. Come to think of it, how about doing the same for Senator P. and the local reps? A lot of work, but it could yield interesting reults….
February 8th, 2006 at 9:09 am
Item 7 (Hamilton Canal Development) was acted on at the council meeting last night. There were 6 councilors proactive in moving the issue, and 3 reluctant due to concerns on the cost risk of eminent domain land acquisition.
In comments last Fall, I noted that the value of 300 spaces in the parking garage (1/3rd the cost of the garage plus maintenance and operation) and the risk of environmental clean-up were too high a price to pay for the land. With back-taxes owed, it may make sense to explore taking the land by tax title, rather than eminent domain.
Whereas the investment in that area by the city should make the future value of the property increase, it would be ironic if that investment caused the city (us) to pay a much higher amount in any eminent domain court settlement.
As time goes on the property valuation should increase, and therefore the taxes assessed on the property. Either the city receives those taxes, or obtains the land by tax title.
In this process, either the city obtains the land in lieu of taxes, or the owner recognizes he must sell or develop the land in order to make economic sense with the tazes he is paying.
The city would avoid additional cost and cost risk, but could forfeit control on the type of development that the owner may find most economically viable. Does the city have a stated policy on what they would choose to go there? If not, they forfeit nothing.