There is simply no end to the greed and selfishness of the Simon family. Hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars were poured into Circle Centre Mall for the benefit of Simon Property Group. Taxpayers were forced to give up a prime piece of one of the few green spaces in downtown across the street from the State House for the billionaire Simons to erect their new office tower, along with about $25 million in public subsidies and free parking for their employees to boot. And forget the more than $200 million taxpayers have been forced to subsidize billionaire Herb Simon's Indiana Pacers. The Simons' private endeavors have been subsidized to the tune of over a half billion dollars to date. It's not enough. You're now being asked to pay $450,000 over a three-year period to keep Carson Pirie Scott from closing its doors. Nordstrom's, which paid no rent for its anchor spot in the mall, pulled out just ahead of the Super Bowl. And that's just for starts until a permanent deal can be worked out.
DMD Director Adam Thies tells WTHR's Mary Milz it would be "devastating" to downtown if Carson's pulled out of the mall. The unelected Metropolitan Development Commission is scheduled to vote on the taxpayer subsidy at its December 17 meeting. According to Milz' report, Simon Property Group is sharing in the cost of the subsidy. Yeah, right. What's that supposed to mean when Carson's doesn't even pay rent for its anchor position in the mall? So we're paying their share of maintenance fees as a mall tenant? Where does it end?
Downtown has been subsidized billions of dollars at the expense of the rest of the City, which is falling apart in many areas and in dire need of city assistance. We hear a constant drumbeat from the downtown mafia of how much all of these investments in downtown are paying off, particularly the investments in the Colts, Pacers and downtown convention business. Yet all of that traffic and spending they're supposedly generating downtown isn't enough to provide adequate revenues to keep the mall's rent-free anchor tenant in business. It is absolute insanity. At what point do the taxpayers rise up and revolt against these corrupt bastards who keep stealing are public tax dollars to give away to their cronies stuffing money in their campaign pockets?
8 comments:
Great post, Gary.
Really nailed it with that.
Let's see, I can go to Circle Center with no highway access and pay to park, or I can go Castleton or Keystone at the Crossing which are right by handy Interstates and have free parking. What will I choose?
What needs to be done, but nobody in this town will do, is to tear up Meridian from 96th St to Downtown and make it an Interstate. Five lanes each way, all the way down.
Sorry 'bout your nice houses from 42nd to 96th, but they're in the way.
It makes me want to reach for a barf bag every time I hear and read about other subsidy for Down Town. I can't believe the thousands of businesses in this county who do not receive a subsidy are not pounding on their Elected Officials outraged at this clear case of discrimination.
Our Mega-Media will never reveal the true dimensions of the Crony-Capitalism in Marion County. Billions of subsidy dollars on stadiums, the Circle Center Mall, and associated parasites Down Town will not be revealed the Public by our Mega-Media.
Down Towns had their Glory Years, but a changing social, transportation and communication environment led to their demise. The idea Down Town could be revived was simply not possible without huge and continuing subsidies.
Thank you for reporting the real news, Mr. Welsh! I'm so damn tired of all the money going towards giving Indy the appearance of being a real big city be building a gleaming downtown complete with hotels, pro sports teams, corporate headquarters, and a shopping mall; at least that's how our elected leaders sell it to voters. The real reason is to help crony insider developers, contractors, architects, engineers, team owners, etc by funding massive projects.
Funny that Simon never asked for such a subsidy for Washington Square. We know where their priorities lie.
Simon needs to learn basic accountability: Pay as you go.
No, the taxpayers will not continue to pay subsidies for your pro-sports thugs to abuse our community.
Pay us for the services and stadium we provide you! It's only fair.
Move out if you don't like it! -We don't care.
Theis may be correct that losing CPS could be "devastating" but he is magnificently incorrect about for whom.
The money-grubbing Simons would allow Circle Centre to become Washington Square - or Castleton Mall which is now knows as "the new Lafayette Square- and similarly walk away leaving others to clean up blocks of economic devastation- after they have wrung out every last cent for themselves.
The Simons and their local billionaire cohorts are parasites who must be eradicated from the public trough.
The big boy retail folks (Simon, Nordstroms, etc.) --and apparently now even their pretenders--have perfected a game whereby they can hold downtown districts hostage to their needs. A similar game was played in Seattle in the late 1990's, as part of a renewal of the retail district, leaving a remodeled downtown Nordstrom's flagship retail store exempt from property taxes..
The new Nortstrom's pays ZERO taxes (see top of 2nd page of this https://db.tt/euxCNmCX Notice that the property bought by Nordstrom's from the failing Frederick & Nelsons (Marshall Fields) in '98 for $2.5 m is now valued at $60 m but NONE of it shows as taxable.)
In the history I compiled of the Seattle area's development, I wrote the below as an entry for the year 1998. Take from it whatever lessons, conclusions you wish:
----
The City of Seattle authorizes the issuance of $74.5 million in
councilmanic bonds to purchase --from developers of the new
$400 million downtown Pacific Place shopping center-- a 1,200
stall underground parking garage constructed jointly with Pacific
Place. (Ordinance 119155) The city's purchase of the garage is
part of a deal that moves the downtown Seattle Nordstrom store
into a larger, refurbished building that formerly housed Frederick & Nelson's flagship store. Subsequent press reports reveal the city paid Pacific Place's developer $23 million more than the garage's
estimated $51 million construction cost. To construct the garage, the developer had earlier employed a non-profit firm to qualify for and obtain $47 million in low-interest/below-market financing through a program administered by the Washington State Housing Finance Commission. The new Nordstrom store is exempt from property taxes. (The same developer proposes a similarly-financed parking garage for Bellevue's convention center, but controversy surrounding the use of tax-exempt financing by
for-profit entities leads to withdrawal of the proposal.)
I'll remain in Indy for less than Carson's $450,000: c'mon DMD, make me an offer!
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