Boondoggle Road Slips In Before Referendum
Posted by Scott Spaulding - 6/24/08 @ 3:39 pm - Filed Under Featured, Local Politics
$55 million Maplecrest extension approved ( News-Sentinel)
“Less than a week after a majority of members expressed serious doubts about the project, Allen County Council on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved the extension of Maplecrest Road from Lake Avenue south to Adams Center Road
The 6-1 vote in favor of a $25 million construction bond should allow work on the 1.5-mile, $55 million project to begin next year, said County Commissioner Nelson Peters, acknowledging that “we worked hard to sell the project.””
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27 Responses to “Boondoggle Road Slips In Before Referendum”
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Wow.
We need one of those thermometers - kind of like what the United Way has - to see how much more money can be wasted on boondoggles.
2008 could be the year where all records are broken!
Kristina,
2007 was an expensive year with Harrison Square…
Mike Sylvester
Kudos to Councilman Vogt for having the courage to stand alone on this one. He has my support.
[...] (Hat-tip: Scott Spaulding - Fort Wayne Politics) [...]
why not go ahead and buy the omnisource property, build new schools, and expand sewer services to all of ne Indiana? We’re already bankrupt anyway.
Brother, can you spare a dime (or 550 Million of them)?
I just spent time today going over my new mortgage payment analysis with a really accommodating employee at Star Financial to understand why my payment is going up $42 a month.
And the reason? Good ole property taxes. So my payment is increasing because my property taxes went up not down, and, I get to pay an extra 1% in sales tax.
Where does all this end?
But Mike,
We’re only half-way through the year! We can probably top Harrison Square if we put our minds to it!
Kristina, who votes for the placement of a United Way-like thermometer on this blog.
Calling this project a “boondoggle” shows a complete lack of understanding for it’s impact on the east side of Fort Wayne. How many of you reside or work in that area? How many of you actually attended today’s hearing and heard the details?
County Council arrived at the correct decision for the needs of the “other half” of the county. God forbid that we should move forward on any issue that isn’t in our respective back yards. . .
Road? Good
Price? Not so much
Thank you Councilman Vogt for the voice of reason and, apparently, a voice that cannot be “sold” on this. Wise thing. Independent thinker. Not many independent thinkers among local politicos. They must not have “sold” you as well as they did Maye Johnson, Roy Buskirk, Pat Kitte, Paul Moss, Cal Miller, Paula Hughes. Did I miss any that were “sold” on this idea? City is going to need some help financially moving the Biosolids facility. By the way…don’t drive your car over these Bridges in the Winter as there is corrosive substances from the Biosolids facility that will deteriorate the body of it—in any case we might be on horses by then, so it really doesn’t matter, just that it will kill the horses, I think….
Other than that sounds like a really great plan….
By the way… WHO EXACTLY IS GOING TO MAINTAIN THESE BRIDGES THAT WE ARE CREATING? Ooops, gravitated into “tomorrow’s argument.” But, other than that and the fact that further telephone, sewer, everything development is necessary at I-465 at the southern end of this…it really sounds like a great plan……I know that I am missing something here…oh well, I will go back to sleep and let the smart people in Indiana (and God knows there are some “smart” people in this State) take care of me…..
I met I-469. Slipped into my Indy brain for a moment.
I’m still not getting an answer to my questions from the “independent thinkers”. . .
Fortunately, elections have consequences. . .Jim. I’m glad that you’ve “met” our local interstate bypass, by the way. . .please use it at every opportunity.
I’m amazed at the postings here. For years Fort Wayne/Allen County was considered backwards for not embracing some sort of comprehensive transportation plan. This is a road that should have been finished 15 years ago. Good for the county council to have the courage to move forward with a much needed north south route. Based on the comments here none of you would have supported building 469, Ardmore extension or any other major road upgrade. Fort Wayne and Allen County for years have allowed development to build without putting in the needed road infrastructure to support it. Clearly none of you need to travel through that part of the county/city. I may not live in FW anymore but will enjoy the day I can travel on Maplecrest across the river.
daron
John,
Even if we start with the premise that this is good for the community - which I do not - is there no price limit on the common good? What if the project were $150 million? Is it still good? I’m sure the commissioners could’ve ginned up some firm to publish another bogus economic impact study to show it was worth $150 million.
Listening to local government we hear that this community, for all intent and purposes, is bankrupt. Yet we’re going to raise taxes to pay for bridge maintenance and spend $55 million on more bridges.
A trip around the world sounds grand but last time I checked with my banker he told me it just wasn’t in the cards. If only I had a hundred thousand taxpayers to bilk then I’d be in business…
Daron,
Could you elaborate on this? Where is the missing infrastructure?
John,
I live in the Georgetown area and would personally benefit from the extension. Travel to New Haven would be a breeze. I was initially for the project for purely selfish reasons.
Conversations with Councilmen Tom Smith and Darren Vogt compelled me to rethink my position. Economically the timing is wrong, particularly considering Harrison Square, Renaissance Pointe, Combined Sewer Overflow separation, renewed FWCS capital improvements we know are coming, budget shortfalls and the pending OmniSource purchase. Is there really no limit to how much our elected officials will commit taxpayer funds? Was the project pushed through simply to avoid referendum as Jeff and others suggest?
The point seems moot now, you have your project. Do you really need to rub our noses in it and insult us for having a different perspective?
Daron,
Fort Wayne and Allen County for years have allowed development to build without putting in the needed road infrastructure to support it.
Could you elaborate on this? Where is the missing infrastructure?
Certainly I’m generalizing, but look at any of the fast developing areas in FW. The Dupont/Coldwater road area as an example. They allow retail, housing and business to build this area up. The same 2 lane county roads with some improved intersections are feeding these areas.
They are just now adding 2 lanes to St Joe Ctr (but only to Reed). This road should have been 4 lanes 30 years ago. Certainly there has to be a limit to how much gov’t can spend, but if they had built up Maplecrest years ago the Feds would have paid most of the bill(yes, I understand that is still our tax money).
Indy and it’s surrounding counties have the same issues as FW. Hamilton County is full of huge housing developments and retail/business areas that have the same 2 lane county roads feeding into them that they had when it was all cornfields. They always improve the intersection and put up a stop light or two but the road itself can’t handle the amount of traffic generated by the development.
I understand your point of view and appreciate your passion for the local political scene. I grew up there and moved away 9 years ago. I was one of few geeks who watched the city council and school board meetings on cable(always baffled my wife why I found that entertaining). My opinion only but I think if they are going to spend tax money this is the type of project to spend it on. Harrison Square…not so much.
I enjoy the blog.
Thanks,
Daron
Here’s a simple fix - stop the sprawl. Take care of the current issues that need addressed and then follow the Plan-It Allen Comprehensive plan instead of ignoring it.
You cannot revitalize the downtown (of any large city) and still contribute to massive subdivision sprawl backed by developers, construction companies, and real estate companies.
Charlotte,
You cannot be a large city without sprawl. Sprawl enables people from diverse backgrounds, people who want nothing to do with each other, to still live in the same city.
But if you are serious about preventing sprawl, perhaps you can suggest to Mayor Henry and the Council that they put a freeze on future annexations. People will be reluctant to build outside of city limits if they realize they will not enjoy services from the city.
Canyon Cliffs would be well outside of the City and yet would enjoy City sewer service if approved because of the way the sewer district works.
Sewer service is what enables sprawl and it is controlled by a quasi-governmental body for which developer Ric Zehr is currently president.
What’s the point of saying we won’t annex anything if developers can get the most important service for expansion (sewer) anyway?
Jeff,
Jeff I have some questions for you.
1. Did you attend the meeting on Tuesday? If so, how many people spoke against the project?
2. What monetary value would you assign to human lives?
3. How much do you think the project is worth?
4. What part of Fort Wayne do you live in?
5. What factual evidence can you provide to prove that a referdum is required?
6. How should local government pay for road projects?
Jack,
I have some answers for you.
1. I was not able to attend. Both of these questions are irrelevant to the debate.
2. How much money do you assign to a human life? I think it’s quite easy to make an argument that if saving lives is the real benefit then we can certainly find a cause that provides more bang for our $55 million bucks than a few bridges.
3. I think the way to answer this is that I don’t think it’s worth creating a TIF district, raising our local taxes or spending major bridge money on. We have $11 million already so I’ll say it’s worth $11 million.
4. Irrelevant
5. What factual evidence can you provide to prove it isn’t required? An opinion bought and paid for by the county commissioners doesn’t carry much weight with me. I suppose a ruling from the DLGF would be nice. But let me ask you this. Do you really believe that this is the type of project the state legislature and the governor wanted to exempt? Really? I followed the progression of HB1001 closely and I think this is exactly the type of project they wanted to protect taxpayers from.
6. They should be paid for through existing funding mechanisms and levies. They should not be paid for by creating TIF districts that will sap money from schools, police, fire, etc. Nor should we be committing funding for our major bridges to such projects. That is not what the MBF levy was enacted for. And we should not have a $25 million surplus. What we should be seeing is a $25 million tax refund…
Question #1 is entirely relevant. You have argued that County Council didn’t listen to the citizens of the county so one would assume that the meeting was filled with opponents and people came out in droves to be heard.
Also, you are entirely convinced that this road is wasteful so I’ll assume that you attended the meeting and have viewed all of the information and heard all of the public testimony.
It’s easy to say that we could find better ways to spend $55 million to save lives. Of course you might have a slightly different perspective if you were to find yourself pinned inside of a wrecked automobile, stuck between two blocked rail lines, moaning for help and wondering why it’s taking so long for EMS to get to your location.
Believe it it or not I actually can agree with and share some of the concerns that critics have. But when you make disrespectful statements that people are “liars” and you fail to actually review all of the information then a productive, intelligent “debate” is unattainable.
Several months ago I developed a lot of respect for you when you blogged at your other site. It was intelligent and tasteful and I enjoyed your remarks. These outrageous rants are nowhere near the same caliber.
John,
Even if we start with the premise that this is good for the community - which I do not - is there no price limit on the common good? What if the project were $150 million?
Jeff - nothing wrong with being frugal. But spending on what’s important for the good of the many is never wrong.
I live in the Georgetown area and would personally benefit from the extension. Travel to New Haven would be a breeze. I was initially for the project for purely selfish reasons.
Dave - No intention of rubbing anyone’s nose in it; merely tired , as a former long-term southsider, of being ignored by the powers that be. It’s nice to win one for a change. I think you’ll enjoy the new road very much!
Jack,
I’m not going to argue with your opinion but I will set the record straight on one specific point:
You should know that I personally met with Nelson Peters for about 2-3 hours to see all the projections and discuss data surrounding the project. Nelson deserves credit for answering all my questions and engaging in a dialog about the merits of the project. In fact I saw all the data before anyone on county council did.
Because I had the opportunity to discuss the project in a one-on-one setting with commissioner Peters I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of his argument and the rational behind the project - at least more than most people.
I left that meeting with Peters more convinced than ever that:
1. This project was a waste of money
2. It was being fast-tracked to avoid a referendum
Of course the fact that they called a special meeting of the county council just to approve this before the June 30 deadline means nothing right? I suppose you think they do that all the time.
I have no problem with your characterizations of my tone, argument, etc. But to try and label me as uninformed or removed from the public debate on this issue is just factually inaccurate. As much as Nelson and I disagree on this topic I think even he would agree with me on that…