Renaissance Farce & Government Looters
Posted by Jeff Pruitt - 1/30/09 @ 10:17 am - Filed Under Featured, Local Politics
Recently former mayor Graham Richard sat down with WANE TV to discuss his role as part of the Obama campaign and as member of the urban development policy team. And what, of all things, is he pushing for the Obama administration to pick up on?
One of Richard’s proposals that may become policy under President Obama: making it easy for mayors to share examples of innovative urban housing projects -like Fort Wayne’s Renaissance Pointe- on the internet site You Tube.
I’m certainly all for sharing innovative ideas via YouTube or using information technology in general to make government more efficient. But promoting the failed Renaissance Pointe project as solid public policy strikes me as ridiculous.
The gentrification project that was originally going to create 400 new homes has only built 14 homes to date. Now the developers are considering building 50 homes and renting those out. Oh how far the project has fallen.
Of course who benefited from the original plan and who would benefit from this latest scheme? Builders of course. But they aren’t willing to build where the demand is - no, no - see they are going to create the demand and they are going to do it with government handouts:
With the help of state tax credits, local builders Granite Ridge, Lancia and Ideal would erect homes costing about $120,000. Some would be available on the open market, others to residents of certain income levels.
When are we going to call this what it is? Looting. That’s what all public-private partnerships are. It’s a way to use government, and the personal connections within government, to pad your own pockets. It’s a disgrace. That’s what Harrison Square was, Renaissance Pointe, Public Safety Academy, Maplecrest Extension, etc.
It’s a con game perpetuated by a gang of looters and enabled by an apathetic citizenry. Of course when you’re a bunch of poor folk taking some fishing poles after your own government has abandoned you in the wake of the worst Hurricane in modern history you’re a criminal. But when you put on a suit and tie and backslap your way through the system to con your way into taxpayer riches, you get invited to ribbon cutting ceremonies and are considered a pillar of society.
What a farce…
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I cannot think of a thing Graham Richard touched in his last two years that is not in disarray.
The Harrison Condo project
The HS Hotel
The Saftey Academy
Renaissance Pointe
What a legacy.
I’d take the Public Safety Academy off that list. That belongs solely to the current Mayor and his mismanagement.
Penny Wise - How about adding the creation of the High Performance Government Network, and the funding of it on the third last day of his reign?
Tim,
I’ll let them both share in the safety academy’s failure, and yes John, you’re right.
Jeff,
I’m not getting email updates to comments I’ve subscribed to. Might want to check that. My email is working fine otherwise.
Along the lines of doing & trying these things and kind of just wishing for success… from a psychological standpoint its kind of like a “New Age” try, or like in the book “The Secret” where the belief that just positive thinking will make it happen, or like by magic. The “Room for Dreams” theme does fit in with that airy fairy vibe as well.
A better FW theme suggested by a friend after hearing that theme was “A Place for Vision”… The real “magic” being great ideas, inventions, teamwork, the great feeling that someone is buying your stuff… buying into what you’re doing… the excitement, the enthusiasm for something that freakin’ works. We need more of that.
Question regarding….
The Harrison Square Condo’s.
The Harrison Square Hotel
The Public Safety Academy.
Renaissance Pointe
Northriver Now (new to this list.)
Why are some so quick to call these failures, as opposed to works in progresses that aren’t going according to “the plan?” I’ve never been a supporter of everything that previous administrations have planned for the Fort, but I do believe that all of these projects can be successful… with the right leadership.
p.s. and very off topic… go Michael Steele!
As huge and “in-Your-Face” as Harrison Square is, not enough attention has been paid, I think, to the Renaissance Point fiasco. That King Richard would have the gonads to point to that mess as an example to emulate only proves again that we have sunk so low that we need to start completely over.
The self-satisfied back slapping makes me so sick I have trouble sitting through City Council meetings. The smirking countenances of some of the public servants who have no job security worries and every imaginable benefit nauseate me. There they sit, making all the rules, while regulating those of us who actually do the work right out of business. Surely they must realize that driving the tax base into bankruptcy will eventually cost at least some of them their jobs? Not so much. They all just love that they’ve got the system so figured out.
Councilman Pape’s observation that not one speaker complained about the expansion of government after hearing the new City Code regs expanding to commercial properties was accurate, and speaks volumes about how kowtowed we really are. How have we let this happen? This country is rife for revolution, and it’s the local situation that’s the most odious. We’re there.
The slogan of Fort Wayne, by the way, used to be “Crossroads of America”. Those were the good old days . . .
Paul,
I think you are right. Mistakes can be corrected with the right leadership. The patterns that are in place creating those mistakes needs to change. So where is this “plan”?
I have a vision for the failing public safety academy.
Tear it down build a mall and call it Southtown.
Fort Wayne politics hasn’t changed much when it comes to waaaaaay overhyped and wasteful projects. Anybody who didn’t see Renaissance Point as an accident waiting to happen wasn’t paying attention.
Jeff, don’t be so quick to hang the builders out to dry, the politicians own this boondoggle.
I can’t imagine either Lancia or Granite Ridge dreamed that mess up, they’ve both had long successfull runs in subdivisions and would have no need to dabble in inner city renovation unless somebody hung out some really big guaruntees. It’s risky enough to build a row of $120k homes in a GOOD neighborhood, and in a good economy, and I know both those guys are pretty much “risk averse”.
The project probably ran along the same lines as Neighborhood Care did, a program I was involved in during the Win Moses administration. I was invited (as a contractor) to bid on re-habbing low income housing.
To make a long story short, the first job I turned a bid in on, the dude in charge of the program looked at me cross-eyed like I was from mars. I had calculated it just like all my bids, including labor & materials and profit but I was waaaaaay lower than all the others, and that didn’t look right so he told me to triple it, cuz that was the formula “everyone” was using.
Well, I did triple it, and I was still lower than anyone else and I got the job.
Chances are things haven’t changed a whole hell of a lot.
Paul Morrison,
The right leadership wouldn’t waste resources on a bad plan.
Jeff,
I of course agree with this post. This sort of thing happens on the state and federal levels as well. You can pretty much bet that with any large spending package, somebody who donated to a campaign is making money off of it.
Tim,
I’m not so sure that this isn’t developer-driven. Their latest
dealscam involving building the rental properties currently doesn’t have the support of the city (as far as I know).Jeff, I really don’t know enough about the current project to “indict” anyone so to speak, but let me ask you this, who will actually own the rental units after completion? Whomever ends up in an ownership position upon completion of the project and will be receiving rent is usually a good indicator as to who is pulling the strings..
Penny,
Have you happenned to notice the economy tanking to the worst level since the great depression and the dow being down about a gillion points?
I am sure this has had little or no impact on the items that you list.
Give me a frickin’ break, oh wait, maybe the economy is Mayor Richard’s fault too.
Tim,
I seem to recall (so I am not 100% sure on this) that there is a “rent to own” option.
Jeff,
I disagree that this is a looting by the private builders-it is purely and simply another example of the GROSS incompetance of the City administration in general and Heather Pressley in particular. The surrounding neighborhoods are adamant about NO city financed rental properties for this project and most of the city’s African-American leadership strongly opposes this proposal!! They know only too well what happens when neighborhoods/projects become predominantly subsidized rental units. The rent to own idea is basically a non-starter.
I tried looking up tax/ownership records for the Renaissance properties through the Allen County site and couldn’t really find a definitive record of Lancia, or Ideal owning any of those properties…I have a hunch the ground & homes alike are owned by the city or a non profit LLC of some sort not affiliated with the builders. As I noted before, Lancia & Tony Reinke are waaay to smart to put their boards, nails and money into that project without guarunteed funds upon completion whether sold or not. My guess is they were paid upon completion for the construction by the non-profit or the city (indirectly) and you certainly can’t blame the builder for building a house when a customer calls, no matter where it is. I’ll guaruntee you they weren’t “spec” homes on the part of Lancia or Reinke.
Lancia is using Pathway to subsidise low income families who really cannot afford the homes and slapping them up in sub-divisions all over the city!!!!