Monday, February 16, 2009

CentrePointe misdirection?

I, like a lot of writers, look for various tidbits of information from which I can piece together a solid train of thought. Yesterday's ACEWeekly blog ran this piece that started with one of their favorite whine destinations and constructed a convoluted trail of data in order to arrive there. I have no reason to think that any of the news reports mentioned are false, but I do believe that the "facts " taken from them are nothing more than conjecture. This is not what i was taught in Journalism, those many years ago.

Mr. Schankula has again taken aim at the CentrePoint project and continues to refuse to believe ANYONE involved with (those who know about it in detail) the project when they give reassurances about the progress and/or the financing. There are many of us who have seen the recession coming for a few years now and I am sure that it has not snuck up on the Webb's. We have to remember that this particular project started nearly three years ago(well before Newberry ran for Mayor) and the Webb's most likley had their financing tied up then, so this economic downturn will be weathered.

The string of "facts" are all tied to the name of the hotelier Marriott International Inc. , yet in each of the articles referrenced, the individual developers are the ones seeking the finances to develop their properties. Marriott has not sunk any funds into the projects, only a committment to run the hotel when it is finished. The current financial health of the Marriott corporation is not the root of the delays in the other cities nor is it involved in the the CentrePointe progress so far.

Lastly, David leads us to the New York Times piece on the exodus of foreigners from a formerly "boom" town. The latest information show that those cities which were having the best of boom times are one having the greatest bust times. If, and that is an if, the financing is coming from Dubai and not from the Maktoum family personally, I would be worried. As it is , the Maktoum family already owns a large number of horse farm acres in Fayette, Bourbon and Woodford counties, so adding to their holdings would not be unheard of.

The Urban County Council is satisfied with the funding , as they went forward with initiating the TIF district. And the State seems to be satisfied as they moved it on. Each of these entities stands to gain from the TIF and the development. The Webb's will not gain from the TIF financing since none of the improvements will be done on their property, conversley itis their project that will fund the TIF district. It should also be noted that a number of the projects funded by TIF are on the Mayor's "stimulus wish list" , although it is unknown presently whether they qualify under the aproved plan.

So, yes Mr. Schankula, there is no need to worry about the CentrePointe financing. The financing is there. Leave the economic questions to the experts.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

by no stretch am i a CentreSupporter. I am however, an admirer of truth & honesty

a few days ago I read the ACE Weekly editorial and my opposition to the project certainly increased

how foolish i was to allow my perspective to be so sheepishly peddled. i've always felt the tone of aceweekly to be conspicuously sophomoric combined with a piffling sense of humor

more people need to read this post of yours because it presents an argument based upon information as opposed to an opinion based upon emotion...i think it is impossible to change someone's perspective with your opinion alone, instead, presenting rational/factual/non-emotional information is the journalist's only effective approach

i love it when someone (you) succeeds in calling bulls**t to someone's (AceWeekly) attempt at calling bulls**t to someone else (Webb Co.)

like you, i'm a big fan of experts