Mayor TenHaken admitted during the presentation that their really is no plan, except maybe a new convention center and rec center.
He also made this announcement at a public building and chaired the presser, there was NO public notice on the city website for this meeting. While no official action took place, you could technically call it just a presser, but with city money and property being involved, there should have been a public notice.
Like most pie in the sky ideas from this mayor, they lack details and transparency which means they probably won’t make the finish line. The ‘Vision’ that was presented today was sold to the listening public (and kids bussed in from daycare) on the premise we are behind on indoor rec space. While Paul is correct, the city lacks PUBLIC indoor rec space, it certainly probably has more private indoor rec space then any city our size in the country. As Neitzert pointed out there is a gym on every corner. Not to mention every school in this city has tons of indoor rec space.
Maybe the city needs to build a municipal casino to compete with all the video lottery casinos?
While I agree the Convention Center should be downtown, I think the city should move to make the actual convention business private and get out of investing public money in it. (we had an opportunity with the new EC to do this, but when you have a credit card salesman running the town, this is what you get, lost opportunity).
After watching this lackluster presser that reminded me more of an episode of Mr. Rogers neighborhood, I have come to the conclusion that not much is going to happen anytime soon at the Riverline District.
Remember Phillips to the Falls? The city sat on that property, collecting NO taxes for 10 years, then turned around and handed it over to a developer with a TIF to boot.