Since City Hall seems hell bent on allowing the EDC to recommend TIF projects without oversight by City Staff, I thought it wold be worthwhile to look at how the EDC is spending your tax money.I started by poking around the EDC web site. The first thing that caught my eye is an aerial photo of the new H&R Block headquarters. This photo struck me because I've seen that view before, from the lobby of the EDC office.
For those of you who haven't guessed it already, the EDC office is in the Town Pavilion, the 17th floor to be specific. At this point, I should mention that the EDC receives part of it's funding by taking a cut of all tax money diverted to TIF plans. Copaken, White, and Blitt, itself a beneficiary of the EDC's activities manages the Town Pavilion.
I hope C,W, and B are giving the taxpayers a good deal. Office Space rents in the range of $16.50 to $20.00 a square foot in the Town Pavilion. I found a store front in the Crossroads that went for $9.00 a square foot. I don't know if it was big enough to accomodate the EDC. (Actually, I have a better idea. I think the EDC should find offices on Troost. They can't leave until Troost looks like Brookside.)
One final thing, I noticed that the page for each TIF project has its own photograph. I wonder what this costs. In the digital age, photos themselves are pretty cheap. But somebody had to drive to each of the nearly sixty TIF projects in town and walk around to find a good photograph. I'm sure there are better uses for taxpayer money.
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3 comments:
The EDC digs at Town Pavillion are very nice. I appreciated the irony sitting in a CW&B property watching both sides of the Andrews-McMeel Boley building deal walk into a TIF Commission meeting together.
Nice and tidy isn't it? I agree that pseudo governmental agencies do not need Class A office space. If the EDC is paying the going rate then they're overspending. If they're getting a "deal" from their landlord then there's a huge conflict of interest.
Nice post.
In theory wouldn't it make sense for them to have nice digs? They're supposed to be recruiting big business and rub elbows with the city's and nation's BSDs.
If the EDC can PRODUCE-- let them have expensive offices and locales. It would make sense that if they pull off big business deals they should locate among big business. My argument is they aren't producing. What was the last big move downtown? A wholly taxpayer-subsidized move of a company from one end of Main Street to the CBD? Where are the out-of-town companies that have been brought downtown by the EDC? Where are the small businesses nurtured into big businesses? Where are the success stories? If there is evidence they are actively working to enhance development in the urban core then I'd grant them some excess, but the evidence is dubious at best.
I'm not saying their digs should be dumps. Regardless of where they are, their offices should be clean and modern. As long as they're skimming from our taxes, I expect them to be somewhat frugal. There's cheaper real estate, even within the loop.
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