Last night as the city council was posed to vote on the new TIF application process (Item#21, FF: 23:00) a very nervous Q-Tip Smith, director of parking, community development, and golden P’s, had to try to explain why there should not be transparency and disclosures when applying for TIF’s. This happened after councilor Jamison offered an amendment (that he later rescinded) that said there needs to be disclosure as to who is applying for TIF’s (he borrowed the language from Rapid City).
Ironically Smith brought up a representative from Lloyd companies (one of the biggest receivers of TIF’s in our city) and Mike Crane (who received TIF #11 that had to be signed by director Cotter instead of the mayor-hmm). To argue against disclosure. Investors, Investors, Investors, blah, blah, blah.
Of course Staggers and Anderson said it best; if you are looking for government assistance or taking advantage of a government program, disclosure and transparency should go along with that, Staggers went even further and accused TIF benefactors of having ‘political connections’ (Gee, is that why Director Cotter had to sign one of the TIF’s instead of the mayor 🙂
Of course Councilor Erpenbach poo-poo’d the amendment (not sure what her pro-censorship, anti-transparency stance is about anyway, it’s just becoming weirder by the day).
What I found even more ironic is that as a citizen I have to state my full name before I can even address the city council in a video-recorded public meeting for 5 minutes, but if I am asking for millions in the form of a tax break, I can remain anon until that application is approved.
This isn’t the last you have heard of this, while the new process passed w/o the disclosure, several of the councilors agreed this will be revisited.
Smith was also asked why it could not be deferred Tuesday night for another month, he mentioned an urgency about another TIF that was fast approaching (my assumption is that the developer who is asking to build condos between 13th and 14th on Phillips Avenue is asking for a TIF to tear down Sushi Masa, but that is just an educated guess).
The graphic below shows the current TIF’s the city has granted so far (the italicized Dunham TIF’s represent a company that is in transition)
CLICK TO ENLARGE
I wonder if WikiLeaks has a municipality division?
This sh*t pisses me off. You should have seen Darrin, he looked like he swallowed a canary, and the mayor, he had this look on his face like him mom just made him eat beef liver.
It’s time our city leaders make decisions that are right for the community, not for the pocket books of the few that control this city including Mayor Huether. We need a full blown campaign to get rid of the four incumbents whose seats are up for re-election.
This reality is analogous to the Governor’s Hunt and his invitation list. I suppose their mentality is that if you release the names prior to the vote, it will scare away potential TIF developments…. Too bad, last time I checked our local government was suppose to be democratic (small “D”), which means open, right? If the TIF is justified, what’s the fear?
CCFlyer on 10.16.13 at 10:18 pm
It’s time our city leaders make decisions that are right for the community, not for the pocket books of the few that control this city including Mayor Huether. We need a full blown campaign to get rid of the four incumbents whose seats are up for re-election.
APRIL 2014
Incumbents:
Mayor: Huether (and his appointees, like Darin Smith)
At Large Council Seats:
Rex Rolfing
Jim Entenman
Southeast Council Seat:
Sue Aguilar
Central Council Seat:
Michelle Erpenbach
anonymous, if you publish a list, the requester becomes accountable. In our current system we can’t allow it, can we?
I see at 9:44 AM, today, 10/17/13 the video of the council meeting has disappeared. This SIRE thingy is becoming tiresome.
It is outrageous that transparency and disclosure are not a requirement for the TIF applicant! This needs to be fixed!
Anonymous is right on. Let’s rid ourselves of the rubber stamps sitting on the city council!
Nature Lover on 10.17.13 at 7:16 pm
Let’s rid ourselves of the rubber stamps sitting on the city council!
When you cast your vote next April, remember it is the Council that appropriates all tax dollars. This means the Mayor and his Administration cannot go forward without the consent of the Council.
A lot of what has happened during MMM’s tenure could have been stopped by the Council. With Mike’s puppets in charge, this has NOT been the case . Out of the four who are up for re-election, I’ll let you draw your own conclusions on who they are!!!!!
Future TIF watch: Keep an eye on the old depot on 5th and Phillips. Used to be Spaghetti Works, but now belongs to Southeastern Behavioral. I’m pretty sure that city won’t want the gateway to Falls Park/Downtown to house a place for severly mentally ill adults to get services. It will be more interesting since the current CEO of Southeastern is a fairly well known person in the old guard republican party (Janklow Era).
PLWNJ – Oh, I know that story to well.