The Observation Deck

An interesting article from Crain's:

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/ ... /120829891

An interesting quote from the article:

" if the developer decided to quit subsidizing mortgage payments and the property went into foreclosure, she said, there would be less incentive to repay the parking garage bonds."

As I read it the rents are not covering the mortgage.

Bonds outstanding:

$67.7 million
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/2 ... ty-Crocker

Future bonds:

$60 million

http://westlife.northcoastnow.com/city- ... r-hq-move/

A similar mixed use development in University Heights sold for $155,000.

The Cuyahoga County Port Authority issued more than $40 million in bonds to support the facility.

Of course we can be sure that the County and the City of Westlake will offer whatever subsidies are necessary to keep the facility open.

I think Virtual Reality is always more expensive than engaging the real deal. Illusion Maintenance takes a lot of energy.

Thus we get a Crocker Park which is an astroturf cartoon of a real city. And a ton of money to create it and sustain it. Apparently there's no such thing as "good money after bad" in a municipality dedicated to living the illusion of community. That rule only applies to real turf and real communities.

Meanwhile in Lakewood a few miles to the east, The Real Deal is starved. And is usually forced to subsidize that illusionary community.

The mistake will continue until further notice. A real danger, IMO, is when leaders in The Real Deal get drawn to the Illusionary Community's ideals of virtual community and emulate those cartoon developments. Ugh. A Cracker Barrel, indeed.

Terry Tekushan wrote:Meanwhile in Lakewood a few miles to the east, The Real Deal is starved. And is usually forced to subsidize that illusionary community..

I never knew that the parking garages at Crocker Park were financed with bonds from the Toledo Port Authority. The Toledo Port Authority?

I wonder who authorized the Toledo Port Authority to subsidize shopping centers in Cuyahoga County?

Is there some secret deal between the Toledo Port Authority and the Cuyahoga Port Authority to finance shopping centers in Toledo in exchange for Toledo subsidizing shopping centers in Cuyahoga County? Without those bonds Crocker Park would never have been built. Seems like news to me but you will NEVER read about it in the Plain Dealer.

I wish this town had some reporters who knew news when they saw it.

And why are port authorities financing shopping centers in a region where shopping centers are being sold at a 99% discount?

Terry Tekushan wrote:The mistake will continue until further notice. A real danger, IMO, is when leaders in The Real Deal get drawn to the Illusionary Community's ideals of virtual community and emulate those cartoon developments. Ugh. A Cracker Barrel, indeed.

They already have.

There was a short report on the radio a few weeks ago about some Cuyahoga County mayors complaining about all the subsidies for downtown. The mayors thought the focus on downtown was doing real damage to their communities.

There were no other reports, no follow up and no mention in the newspapers. I'll go out on a limb and say they were told to shut up and if they didn't shut up they would be shut out.

Taxpayer subsidies to Crocker Park will total tens of millions of dollars. Meanwhile, the corner of W 117th and Clifton

can't get 10 cents even though
more people live within a 5 minute walk of that
corner than live in all of
downtown.

Since I like to beat a dead horse:

The medical field is one of the few businesses in this region that shows any sign of life. A City that has those jobs has at least some prospect of surviving. So....

.. why is the City of Lakewood quietly standing by while the Cleveland Clinic moves doctors and procedures and emergency rooms and specialists and services from Lakewood to Lorain County? Why is Cuyahoga County subsidizing those moves?

Bill Call wrote:I never knew that the parking garages at Crocker Park were financed with bonds from the Toledo Port Authority. The Toledo Port Authority?

I wonder who authorized the Toledo Port Authority to subsidize shopping centers in Cuyahoga County?

Is there some secret deal between the Toledo Port Authority and the Cuyahoga Port Authority to finance shopping centers in Toledo in exchange for Toledo subsidizing shopping centers in Cuyahoga County? Without those bonds Crocker Park would never have been built. Seems like news to me but you will NEVER read about it in the Plain Dealer.

Unfortunately, the truth is extremely mundane. Cuyahoga Port Authority could not finance anything at Crocker Park due to a conflict of interest of one of their members. Cuyahoga referred Crocker Park to Lucas County as they would rather have the money stay in state than be financed out of state.

Incidentally, Westfield Mall sued to stop Lucas County Port from investing but lost.

http://www.toledoblade.com/local/2003/1 ... -deal.html

Interesting article ... from August 2012. Why bring up a discussion of something from a year ago? There's no other evil government/Cleveland Clinic/New World Order conspiracies you can bring up today?

c. dawson wrote:Interesting article ... from August 2012. Why bring up a discussion of something from a year ago? There's no other evil government/Cleveland Clinic/New World Order conspiracies you can bring up today?

You don't have to believe in grand conspiracies to question the investment choices made by government agencies.

Crocker Park would not have been built without taxpayer subsidies. How would the regions economy have been hurt if Crocker Park was not built? Who made the choice to subsidize the development and why?

And just for fun: Why question the questioner?