Should Taxpayers Help Pay for Sequim's Big Box Development?
The City of Sequim wants Clallam County to contribute $1.5 million to help pay for road improvements near a proposed Big Box development site. As a commenter at the linked article pointed out, the Sequim city government has previously required a small business owner to pay $20,000 in infrastructure fees, and another small business owner to install an expensive sprinkler system in order to get a permit.
At the same time, a deep-pocketed developer should get $1.5 million worth of government largesse. Is there a certain "logic" I'm missing here?
At the same time, a deep-pocketed developer should get $1.5 million worth of government largesse. Is there a certain "logic" I'm missing here?
posted by Tom Harper at 5:28 PM
26 Comments:
Come now, Tom. What are you missing? The only thing different here from the usual arrangement with developers in a town building some kind of a project is that the City of Sequim is being up-front about what usually happens behind the scenes.
Who do you think pays for the roads, sidewalks, sewers and pretty much everything else that makes "development" happen in towns? The developer?
Why should they be bothered to pay for the costs incurred by the developments they build and profit from? These would be "constraints" to "economic prosperity".
Studies have been done for decades now that show developments cost more to a town than the taxes and income they supposedly generate.
But, the "local leadership", usually comprised of members of the real estate and building industries, push these things along. Ya wonder why?
Ya wonder why so many of the candidates for local leadership are big players in the local real estate business? Sequim real estate?
:(
RIP another big chunk of Sequim and what makes Sequim Sequim. Jobs, jobs, jobs. (not really)
A fatwa has been declared against all big box stores.
Not enough empty retail space around.
We need to spend more public monies to create more empty retail space.
Reminds me of Harborworks.
14 million for "phase one" of the Lincoln Park revamp? !!!
http://www.konp.com/local/8852
The dog and pony show with a COLONEL from THE ARMY at the council meeting should be a good distraction from the approval of the Lincoln Park master plan. Does anyone really think the FAA is "on board" to pay $7 million to cut the trees and re-vegetate?
I drove by the Airport this evening and had to laugh at the sign. It's in such poor condition that it looks like the words "international airport" have been crossed out due to the peeling wood veneer. The whole sign is in pretty poor condition. They can't spend a few thousand on a decent sign and they want to spend tens of millions of our money on a completely unmaintainable park plan?
No surprise here, PDN's top stories are the Army apology and elected official corruption. The city council going ahead with yet another massively wasteful capital project that spends our tax money? Nowhere to be seen.
Read all about it at KONP where they can't even mention which council member voted against it (maybe it's too obvious at this point?): http://www.konp.com/local/8853
How long will it take to pay off that $14 million, given how many flights that actually generate any economic profit take off from Fairchild?
This is just another "project" to be able to apply for "free" grant money, so that special group of people can benefit.
They want Olympia really bad, the local teabaggers. Four years of bullshit obstructionism here, not helping the random small biz owner, and also, making them even more distrustful and PARANOID of government. They don't have a sizable minority population to target here, so they go after/suppress/overregulate/ripoff/ignore anyone that isn't a coconspirator.
For your downloading and printing pleasure, here are the Port documents. I took the liberty of rotating the pages that needed it.
Original WB complaint - http://imgur.com/a/auwSN
June 10 Memo - http://imgur.com/a/udGo4
June 17 Memo - http://imgur.com/a/EsAjb
June 29 Memo - http://imgur.com/a/Ujrgk
Stay frosty kids!
It's a boondoggle. Someone is going to make money, but no one is really going to shop at ANOTHER crappy discount/poverty mentality store. Aren't 2 Walmarts in the area enough, and a Ross and a Big Lots!. Who wants more crap made in China? Leave the land alone, and don't burden the already over burdened taxpayers alone. Our local government needs to get a handle on their spending, now.
Citizens,
The Royal Air Force of Bhutan will be conducting "training" excercises over Port Angeles this weekend.
We ask all citizens to remain calm.
5:41 - You are a genius and so funny too. The only liberal in PA has left, we get it. Har, har. Fuck you, teabagger.
It's a mistake to break our local politics down into the classic (and stupid) "liberal" vs. "conservative" thing. Mania consistently votes to not spend taxpayer money (he wants to conserve it), which makes him "conservative" in some respects, while in others he is clearly more classicly "liberal." Then there's Sissi Bruch, who is clearly very "liberal," but who is learning to spend money liberally with the rest of the so-called "conservatives" like Kidd and Downie.
Confusin', ain't it? All I know is that it all stinks. Scoundrels and swindlers are plentiful, while functioning brains are in short supply.
Vote Ripley 2013! Yes, he's a moron, but at least he's honest...
8:05 - No, it's not confusing. Kidd is a squishy moderate. That's the future of the conservative/republican. Ripley, is the last gasp of...well, wait and see. I don't want to ruin it for you. Ok, I'll say it. He's like a really stupid Sarah Palin.
Yes, anyone who has listened to Ripley for ANY period of time would agree. He IS like a really stupid Sarah Palin.
Port Angeles just sucks.
Yes, Peter Ripley IS very, very stupid indeed. That seems to be the elephant in the living room in this election; the one undeniable fact that no one will ever actually talk about. Sad and weird, but true.
But his opponent is, in my view, clearly a stealth right-winger or Republican. Think about it: Were the local Republicans gonna let Mania run again unopposed? Does anyone think that Peter Ripley is their chosen candidate? No, of course not. Even Dick Pilling, idiot that he is, wouldn't run someone as low-functioning as Peter Ripley.
So here comes Lee Whetham, holding himself out as some sort of pro-union, MSNBC-watching guy - just the kind of guy who might undercut Mania's base if he were running. (Which he could have been when Whetham signed up to run.) Only, no one from the local pro-union, MSNBC-watching crowd knows this guy. There was a group of almost a dozen local liberals beating the bushes to find City Council candidates, and none of them know this guy. None. They talked to around 30 people about running, and ol' Lee wasn't among them. And again, NO ONE KNOWS THIS GUY.
And if Lee really were a pro-union, MSNBC-watching kind of guy, you'd think he might have run against one of the good ol' boy, more conservative types in the race, like Downie or Gase. But no, he signed up to run against Mania and - by default as it turns out - Peter Ripley.
So I smell a rat. Again.
8:09 AM, July 20, 2013
Pretty spot on analysis, I think...
But it begs the question : if 12 Libs talked to 30 other libs about a possible candidacy, that means 42 Libs wouldn't touch the opportunity with a ten foot cardboard cut-out of Edna Peterson.
Whys is that?
I'm thinking it's because you'd have to be as crooked as a dog's hind leg, or as stupid as Peter Ripley to want the job, but that's just a guess.
8:09 - Name a name. Interesting, but I "smell a rat", like you said. And, it's you!
The whole Max thing had run it's course and even Max knew that. Please. He's been in fucking Bhutan for six months. I don't think he could have run a serious campaign, after the email fiasco not to mention that living in that extremely remote mountain kingdom eight thousand miles away that JUST got electricity thing. The number one industry there is goats followed by goat compost. Port Angeles' first couple obviously wants to insure it stays that way. Someone has to do it. Talk about forward thinking!
Most hardcore Maxinistas were probably amused, as I was, at the drama surrounding the emails and the visual imagery in our minds the following weeks. But how many of us are there that can relate to moving to Bhutan?
Hardly any small towns are as viable as we are, it's an interesting and visible position, it could have gone either way and held us back four more years, and embarrassed us even more than we are now (google "Port Angeles") and the right wing is scrambling to position itself, with the upcoming realignment in this new age of transparency and tit for tat. And with their connections to certain "industries" and "collectives" (like government but ours here is "different") it's too fucking funny. This like fucking Orange Co. in the early 90s. But with facebook.
Who the fuck knows if Wheatham is pro Nippon or not deep inside. I hope he is, they will leave eventually, when the whole fucking harbor is shut down and cleaned up. Will take a while, but in ten years we will have a clean harbor and beach, with many inexpensive live/work spaces amidst great security and happiness and a fucking Ferris wheel mark my words. Seems like, if I were Nippon, I'd fear him, just because he has the appearance of a local caring about worker safety, wages, health care, pensions. Would make me shit cardboard bricks, if I were Nippon, and would make me plan for that. Assuming they have watched MSNBC. This is a small town. Small taters to Nippon. Hopefully they will get the message before the "clean up" bill is too big.
In the meantime, what we need is a new industry! Something that can take advantage of our abundant sunshine, clean water, diverse culture, something PNW weekend type tourists would like, and fill state and local coffers!
???
A new industry? Wow! Why didn't any body else think about that.
???
Maybe the local governments, say, the Port of Port Angeles along with the City should form a redevelopment front corporation, and hire some of the local business leaders. Pay them with tax money, of course. Then hire an out-of-town consulting firm to market the wonders of Port Angeles to retail and industrial companies, enticing them to relocate to Port Angeles.
Lots of vacant properties to move right into.
Oh. That's right. They already did that. Harborworks.
U-pick organic marijuana farms! We can have our own "lavender" festival just like Sequim.
Seriously though, if we keep trying to sustain ourselves on money from tourists (or the state, or anyone external) we'll never get ahead. The bulk of the money we bring in goes right back out through purchases at Walmart, Costco, Albertsons, Safeway, etc.
Let's forget Max's ultimate blunder in shouting "Fuck off!" at Jack Slowriver at last year's Fourth of July parade. Whoopsiedaisy! Even the Mania Kultists can't get past this one.
And it's kinda hard to run for re-election when your wife is suing the county for "discrimination" and you and the little lady have a loooooong history of filing frivolous "discrimination" suits.
With the arrival of Dale and Max, Bhutan became a happier place!
Detroit didn't get ahead. They had jobs and industry.
China's slowing down.
Read "The Limits to Growth".
Detroit and China are producing a bunch of crap that no one needs. We shouldn't try to survive by exporting forestry products or composites or whatever else to other markets. We should be focused on producing the goods and services that meet the needs of people actually living here: food, shelter, healthcare, education and transportation. There's more than enough work with all of that to keep everyone here employed with living wages. Income from tourism and exports would just be the cherry on top.
"Detroit and China are producing a bunch of crap that no one needs."
I dunno. The new car lots are FULL of big, US made cars. Most of the vehicles in Port Angeles are big US made vehicles. Virtually EVERYTHING on the store shelves, in most any store in Port Angeles has "Made in China" written somewhere on it.
Let's not forget the US corporations that moved their industries TO China. We can see that "wall of logs" down on the Port Angeles waterfront, headed for China.
I don't disagree with your idea that Port Angeles, as is also the case with virtually all communities, needs to become more self reliant.
But, do you see any evidence a significant number of Port Angeles residence have any interest in anything other than the status quo? Doing anything remotely resembling "change" of any kind?
Anon 4:53, as someone who's been here for 20 years, I think you're being too optimistic. You know what changes have been made in 20 years? We have a Super Walmart and a Jack in the Box. Other than that, it's been a slow slide downhill for the economy. You'll forgive me if I'm pessimistic about this upcoming utopia.
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