The City Council shored up $57 million in funds to expand the downtown district out to the Truman Parkway. On tap: 6 new squares and a renovated President St.
I've been saying this ever since the River Landing was announced. Why would anyone in their right mind build a multi-million dollar development, which attracts upper-class patrons with lots of money in their pockets, right down the street from the worst housing projects in the city? I'd have to believe that the city has some plan under the table to kill Hitch Village in order to make the Landing development successful.
Now they have a 500-600 space parking garage planned right across the street from Hitch! Supposedly, it is meant for people coming downtown from the Islands. Sure... I know lots of people from the Islands willing to park their car right across the street from Hitch Village.
A perfect example is Atlanta Station near midtown. Developers spent millions creating a yuppie utopia right in the heart of Atlanta.
But, the yuppies never came... only the local welfare recipients living within a stone throw away visit the shopping villa. Now, no sane person in his right mind would walk through Atlantic Station after dark.
If Hitch Village is not demolished, the same result may happen to The Landing.
Also, has anyone notice that besides the Savannah River, the view from the back side of the Landing will encompass 1. Hwy 80 2. Truman Parkway. 3. Kayton Canal 4. Swamp Land and 5. the Air Liquide Chemical Plant and other factories?
The city should not be involved here. Let the developers do all of this. Maybe this project's a great idea...maybe it's not. Who knows. Either way, the city needs to stay out of it and stop gambling with the taxpayers' money.
The squares and parking garages should be privately built. If the developers aren't willing to do that, then it must not be that good of an idea in the first place.
Corporate welfare is just as evil as public assistance welfare. If developers aren't willing to risk their money, then there's no reason why disinterested taxpayers who live 15 miles away and may never even visit this thing should have to risk theirs.
Patrick, you should be in favor of TADs. From Wikipedia:
A tax-allocation district (TAD) is a defined area where real estate property tax monies gathered above a certain threshold for a certain period of time (typically 25 years) can be used directly for eligible improvements. These improvements are typically for revitalization and especially for complete redevelopment efforts.
Enactment of a TAD typically requires approval of all local governments who will be giving-up taxes, thus a project within a municipality will also require approval of the county's commission (or its local equivalent), and the board of the school district, in addition to the city council and possibly township board of supervisors (if applicable).
The government is getting out of the way. Don't tase me, bro.
You are right Pat. Also, the government created the Hitch Village problem. If they would sell the property to individuals, the area would be cleaned up.
TC, you should know me better than that. I am always against anything involving the word "tax," unless it is followed by the words "elimination," "reduction," or "cut."
Any system where people are forced to pay for something they otherwise wouldn't is coercion and the quintessence of government involvement, regardless of how neat it sounds with words like "district," "allocation," or "revitilization."
If I were mayor of Savannah, I would privitize everything: parking garages, police stations, fire deparments, roads, you name it. Everything would be on the chopping block. The first thing on the list, of course, would be our fantastically-run public schools.
6 comments:
I've been saying this ever since the River Landing was announced. Why would anyone in their right mind build a multi-million dollar development, which attracts upper-class patrons with lots of money in their pockets, right down the street from the worst housing projects in the city? I'd have to believe that the city has some plan under the table to kill Hitch Village in order to make the Landing development successful.
Now they have a 500-600 space parking garage planned right across the street from Hitch! Supposedly, it is meant for people coming downtown from the Islands. Sure... I know lots of people from the Islands willing to park their car right across the street from Hitch Village.
A perfect example is Atlanta Station near midtown. Developers spent millions creating a yuppie utopia right in the heart of Atlanta.
But, the yuppies never came... only the local welfare recipients living within a stone throw away visit the shopping villa. Now, no sane person in his right mind would walk through Atlantic Station after dark.
If Hitch Village is not demolished, the same result may happen to The Landing.
Also, has anyone notice that besides the Savannah River, the view from the back side of the Landing will encompass 1. Hwy 80 2. Truman Parkway. 3. Kayton Canal 4. Swamp Land and 5. the Air Liquide Chemical Plant and other factories?
The city should not be involved here. Let the developers do all of this. Maybe this project's a great idea...maybe it's not. Who knows.
Either way, the city needs to stay out of it and stop gambling with the taxpayers' money.
The squares and parking garages should be privately built. If the developers aren't willing to do that, then it must not be that good of an idea in the first place.
Corporate welfare is just as evil as public assistance welfare. If developers aren't willing to risk their money, then there's no reason why disinterested taxpayers who live 15 miles away and may never even visit this thing should have to risk theirs.
Patrick, you should be in favor of TADs. From Wikipedia:
A tax-allocation district (TAD) is a defined area where real estate property tax monies gathered above a certain threshold for a certain period of time (typically 25 years) can be used directly for eligible improvements. These improvements are typically for revitalization and especially for complete redevelopment efforts.
Enactment of a TAD typically requires approval of all local governments who will be giving-up taxes, thus a project within a municipality will also require approval of the county's commission (or its local equivalent), and the board of the school district, in addition to the city council and possibly township board of supervisors (if applicable).
The government is getting out of the way. Don't tase me, bro.
You are right Pat. Also, the government created the Hitch Village problem. If they would sell the property to individuals, the area would be cleaned up.
TC, you should know me better than that. I am always against anything involving the word "tax," unless it is followed by the words "elimination," "reduction," or "cut."
Any system where people are forced to pay for something they otherwise wouldn't is coercion and the quintessence of government involvement, regardless of how neat it sounds with words like "district," "allocation," or "revitilization."
If I were mayor of Savannah, I would privitize everything: parking garages, police stations, fire deparments, roads, you name it. Everything would be on the chopping block. The first thing on the list, of course, would be our fantastically-run public schools.
Markets work. Governments don't.
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