Wednesday, March 27, 2013
The Doll
http://www.winonadailynews.com/news/local/features/article_57c47940-224c-11e2-8944-0019bb2963f4.html
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Weird news-Crop circle edition
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/26/pond-circles-new-york_n_2956942.html?utm_hp_ref=weird-news
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Flagstaff Mayoral race
Subsidies a flash point for Flagstaff mayoral candidates
- Font Size:
- Default font size
- Larger font size
The four-way race for mayor might turn out to be a referendum on some of the biggest decisions by the Flagstaff City Council in the last decade.
Unlike three-term Councilmember Al White, the other three mayoral candidates would not have supported the financial incentives that landed a second commercial airline route out of Flagstaff -- for two years.
Nor would they have offered tax-increment financing for the conversion of a midtown brownfield site into a retail and housing project by a Phoenix-based developer who would later default.
And they would not have backed the sales tax rebate aimed at luring a Chrysler dealership to Flagstaff, according to a 14-question checklist sent to candidates by the Arizona Daily Sun.
In all, the three political newcomers disagreed with White on about half of the questions on the checklist. Retired attorney Jerry Nabours differed with White a total of 8 times, videographer Paul Reilly 7 times and small business owner Paul Kulpinski 6 times.
NOT BACKING OFF
White does not distance himself from the Council decision in 2007 to back millions of dollars in bonds to help the Aspen Group turn a former contaminated lumber mill site into a 40-acre mixed use development.
The Aspen Group defaulted on a portion of those bonds in 2010, leaving the city liable for millions of dollars for roughly a year before the city was able to sell the property to another developer and recoup all outstanding costs.
He doesn't regret the decision to back the bonds, saying inaction would have meant the property would have remained a brownfield and none of the construction jobs would have ever materialized.
"We might not have come out of the recession as well as we did," White said.
Nabours said the development was bound to fail from its inception and argues city staff never did its homework when researching the development agreement.
"The developers and the brokers I run around with were saying from the beginning this is not going to work -- these condos next to the jail are not going to sell for the prices that they need to sell for," Nabours said.
NO ISOLATED INCIDENT
Nabours, who has sued the city multiple times during his 37 years of practicing law in Flagstaff, says Aspen Place is not an isolated incident.
He points to the city's role in the creation of the Flagstaff Auto Park near the mall as another example.
"Why would you do the auto mall when your local dealers are not going to move there?" he asks. "Who is going to buy into there when the local Ford and Chevy dealers won't go there?"
To date, the auto park still has several unsold lots.
Kulpinski says he saw a "red flag" when the Aspen Group was listed as the only party responsible for the bonds.
"The success of an improvement district lies in spreading the risk over many individual property owners," Kulpinski said. "On this project, there was only one property owner, the Aspen Group, which, when it went bankrupt, left the city holding the bag for the bonds."
The purchase of the city-owned land by a North Carolina-based student housing group last year transferred the entire bond debt to the developer.
The FUSD board member says he supports infill projects in general, but there were other locations in the city at the time that are more suitable for such projects, including the Fourth Street corridor.
NOT IN BANKING BUSINESS
Reilly -- running again for mayor after losing to Joe Donaldson in 2006 -- also opposed the redevelopment agreement for Aspen Place.
He said the city is not in the banking business.
"If a developer cannot succeed without incentives, the developer is on a shaky financial foundation to begin with," Reilly said.
White said on Thursday he knows he needs to win the trust of Flagstaff voters and cannot rely just on his voting record.
He said future partnerships will contain stronger "clawbacks" to protect city interests so that the mistakes made will not be repeated.
"The lesson learned is invaluable. We would make sure that far more city protections are built into public private partnerships in the future," he said.
Answers to the checklist question did produce one point of agreement among the four men: ending train noise.
All said they supported the decision to silence trains passing through Flagstaff, even though it meant the placement of wayside horns in the eastern half of the city but not in downtown Flagstaff.
Joe Ferguson can be reached at 556-2253 or jferguson@azdailysun.com.
2012 Arizona Daily Sun checklist - Mayoral candidates
| Number | Issue | White | Nabours | Kulpinksi | Reilly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Establish Meet and Confer process for city employees | Y | N | N | Y |
| 2 | Rezoning for Catholic Church atop McMillan Mesa | Y | Y | Y | U |
| 3 | End train horns through Flagstaff, with wayside horns in East Flagstaff | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| 4 | Contract to sell reclaimed wastewater to Snowbowl (2002) | Y | Y | Y | N |
| 5 | Purchase of Red Gap Ranch for future water supplies | Y | U | Y | N |
| 6 | Redevelopment agreement for Aspen Place at the Sawmill | Y | N | N | N |
| 7 | Financial incentive package with Horizon Airlines | Y | N | N | N |
| 8 | Financial incentives to bring new Chrysler dealership to the Autoplex | Y | N | N | N |
| 9 | 90-day limit on storage containers in residential areas | Y | Y | Y | U |
| 10 | Permit for snowboarding event on North San Francisco Street | Y | Y | Y | U |
| 11 | $42 million bond issue for new public works yard | Y | N | N | N |
| 12 | $23 million bond issue for new city court | Y | N | Y | N |
| 13 | Adopt a residential energy efficiency code | Y | N | N | Y |
| 14 | Council resolution opposing SB1070 | Y | N | Y | D |
Read more: http://azdailysun.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/elections/subsidies-a-flash-point-for-flagstaff-mayoral-candidates/article_cd691251-feb5-5d74-823f-99c76ea0a783.html#ixzz1uMDxXiB5
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)