Shockoe Center Development At The Plate Again
A quick round up of what is going on in the ongoing debate of the Shockoe Center Development.
First up we have this article from RTD about a study:
The city is spending $100,000 to get its financial advisers to study of the financial feasibility of the Shockoe Center project. The two-month review is being done by Davenport & Co., with Economics Research Associates of Washington and Chmura Economics & Analytics of Richmond.
Baseball on the Boulevard blog asks for the “truth”:
Yes $100,000 is a ton of money, but it is a drop in the bucket compared to what the $70,000,000 bond issue will end up costing the citizens of this city. I just hope that the Davenport folks look at the real numbers and the real demographics and give the mayor the truth.
This morning the RTD is saying:
The City Council in Norwich, Conn., voted unanimously to authorize that city’s manager to transfer a lease of Dodd Stadium from the Class AA Connecticut Defenders’ current owners to Richmond Baseball Club LC, according to the Norwich Bulletin.
The group is led by Bryan Bostic, who did not return two calls yesterday from the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Councilman Conner is going to host South Central 9th District Meeting and Dinner topics will include; Proposed Baseball Stadium in Shockoe Bottom and Street Gangs. This happens on Tuesday the 24th at Southside Baptist Christian School, 5515 Bryce Lane from 5-7 p.m. For more information contact Councilman Doug G. Conner, Jr., at 804.233.8288, or doug.conner@richmondgov.com.
I’m confused. Since this is being promoted as a completely private deal that will not cost the citizens of Richmond one thin dime, why are we paying for this study at a time when the city doesn’t have a lot of money to throw around.
Shouldn’t the developers already have done that if they truly expect to be able to sell this project to the private sector?
This is 100K being funneled out of city coffers at a time when things are so bleak that word on the street is that Westover Hills residents will most cetainly lose their leaf collections this coming fall and have to pay big bucks out of pocket to have them removed by private contractors.
Paul Goldman is asking if this $100,000 payment is even legal under state law.
btw, blast from the not so distant past:
http://floricane.typepad.com/buttermilk/2008/08/i-dont-hate-bas.html
The city is being asked for $8 million in infrastructure, roads, sewer, trees and also making a major commitment towards the character of the bottom and the community. It makes sense to invest a small amount of money into a feasability study.
Kudos to the linkmeister.
Paul Hammond loves to cheer for that downtown corporate welfare.
The fact is I like to cheer for a better Richmond. We just disagree on how to accomplish that. If you took time to stop making accusations, you might find we agree on many topics, if not tactics.
The way the govt. works-by the time the study is done its not worth the paper its written on. Politicians prefer when the people are handcuffed and silent and cant interfere with their “smart” ideas. Its time the people stopped being taken for fools when we finance and are the “owners” of the crappy govt. we have