The public give-aways to the downtown insiders never ends. Closing in on the end of Mayor Greg Ballard's administration, the politically-connected developer of the City Way project on the south side of downtown is back for another public handout. This time Mayor Greg Ballard is offering $15 million in TIF funds to Buckingham Properties. This is on top of the $86 million Ballard gave to the private developer for its original mixed use development, which included apartments, retail space and the Alexander Hotel.
The second phase of City Way will slap up 450 more cheaply-built apartments on top of the thousands of units that have already been slapped up throughout the downtown area over the past several years with tax subsidies soaring into the hundreds of millions of dollars. We know the cycle of these apartment complexes and what they'll look like a few years down the road. It's only a matter of time before downtown turns into a firing range like the rest of the city and the apartment dwellers begin fleeing and those who invested in homes downtown begin seeing their property values slide.These are building that aren't built to last more than 25 to 30 years. We need structures being built downtown that will be around in 75 or 100 years to ensure a sustainable, vibrant downtown.
Indianapolis has no credible, long-term plans for its downtown development. Organic, entrepreneurial development is non-existent. Only corrupt, political insiders who pay off the politicians with campaign contributions or offer their family members jobs are allowed to develop downtown, and that development only occurs with a pot of taxpayer money. There is no palatable reason whatsoever to offer TIF money or any other public subsidies to anyone to develop any property downtown, particularly cheap apartment buildings that add nothing but blight to the landscape. The developer tells the Indianapolis Star the money is for parking, and that taxpayers should be happy because "it's a sign of the success of the project" that the developer is asking for much less public money this time. I don't know what it takes before the people of this city awaken to what is happening with their taxpayer dollars and take to the streets to protest. This is beyond criminal.
What a thoroughly corrupt POS is this Greg Ballard. The guy should be hauled off in ankle irons... but we all know it's not gonna happen.
ReplyDeleteIs this a payoff for a future job for the outgoing corrupt Marion County Republican Mayor Greg Ballard? This guy is just unbelievable and more so is the Council that refuses to stop the illegalities of this crook
No, it really didn't matter who got elected... it sure as hell doesn't matter a damn who your Councilor is... because it's all still there with more largess and corruption to come.
GREG BALLARD IS THE VERY REASON THE DEMOCRATS TOOK THE COUNTY. The. One. Reason.
I loved how the Star buried the $15 million TIF subsidy near the end of the story as if it was an inconsequential detail.
ReplyDeleteMayor Brainard has passed out more TIF money than Ballard. Mr. Chambers was given a TIF for Gramercy in Carmel but still couldn't afford to do what he proposed so he rehabbed the apartments in place. Developers love TIF. It is a cheap buy for them. A $10 or $20K campaign contribution gets them millions in taxpayer money. Just ask Mayors Brainard & Ballard.
ReplyDeleteThese corporate handouts are also prohibited by the Indiana Constitution, but our judges simply read the words right of the constitution just like our U.S. Supreme Court. We are a nation of men, not laws. We have to stop lying to ourselves about what our country has become. "It's a Republic as long as you can keep it," Ben Franklin said after its adoption in Philadelphia. Americans are just too much in a haze to realize the Republic was lost decades ago.
ReplyDeleteYou are spot on correct Mr. Welsh. Many of these units will sit empty because there simply are not enough hipsters in Indy to pay $1500/month to live in a mediocre, taxapayer-funded, Midwestern downtown esp. when Mommy and Daddy's basement is empty up in inner city Carmel. Those that do move in will abandon quickly when crime and shoddy maintenance makes them realize that they scewed up. Fortunately fo them, they're renters. They don't own these dumps. Indy does. As you said previously, one need only take a drive around 465 to see what these apartments will soon look like. It's all over for Indy. This city is officially in the Detroit death spiral, circling the proverbial drain, picking up speed. This is going to be case study stuff in another generation. How to destroy a city...
ReplyDeleteGood thing they've ringed Indetoilet with 465, that will make it easier for martial lawmart troops to contain zombies when the economic collapse happens.
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