Chief
08-13-2008, 09:06 AM
http://columbian.com/news/localNews/2008/08/08132008_Murray-asked-to-find-funds-for-waterfront-redevelopment.cfm
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
By JEFFREY MIZE, Columbian staff writer
If U.S. Sen. Patty Murray was disappointed by the view, she did her best not to show it.
Murray, D-Wash., peered at the bare dirt of the former Boise Cascade industrial site Tuesday as she heard Vancouver Mayor Royce Pollard describe a waterfront community loaded with $1.3 billion in private investment.
“When this is fully built, we will have a population in this area during the day of 10,000 people,” Pollard told Washington’s senior senator from the fifth floor of The Columbian’s building. “We’re going to build another little city, right here.”
But Vancouver will never fulfill its waterfront dream without continued financial support for a rail relocation project, already under way, as well as road extensions south to the Columbia River.
Which explains why city officials, along with representatives from Gramor Development, the Port of Vancouver and BNSF Railway, did their best to impress Murray with the project’s potential.
Vancouver wants $7 million in federal funds, plus another $5 million from the state, to help pay for $38.6 million in rail and road improvements.
The city has agreed to contribute $12 million and has applied for an additional $500,000 a year from the state using a limited version of tax increment financing, where tax revenue generated by the waterfront project would gradually pay off infrastructure debt.
City officials are optimistic that Murray, using her position as chairwoman of the Senate appropriations transportation subcommittee, can deliver the envisioned $7 million in federal funding.
Murray said she was impressed by what she heard, but she made no financial promises.
“Federal dollars are really, really tight, as everyone knows, right now,” she said. “But these are the type of projects we are looking for.”
**SCHNIPP**
Someone explain to me just why they keep voting for Patty Murray if this is all the better that she can do for this area, including the Columbia Crossing...
This project is doomed from the start unless it is heavily underwritten by Local, State and Federal Governments. Economically successful development does not require substantial contributions of tax dollars in order to succeed. Look at the development in East Vancouver between 164th and 192nd.
Is Clark County or any other Government entity paying a cent in order to help Lowe's and JC Penny open their stores?? Of course not, and they aren't even eligible for tax subsidies or abatements either.
For every $1 in public money spent on infrastructure, the project should attract $30 in private funding for buildings and other improvements, what Holmes described as “pretty incredible leverage.” That private investment would generate $147 million in state tax revenues over 25 years, plus another $88 million for local governments, he said.
Use that statement and work backwards to get some idea about just how much of our tax money should go to help a developer build 2700 condominiums. Remember those $500,000 condos out in Camas that nobody wants to buy, and are about to be sold at auction?? Think about the same thing happening to Vancouver tax payers if we allow this madness to go forward.
There simply isn't money available for this project, nor does it deserve the injection over time of at least $100 Million (or more) of tax money
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
By JEFFREY MIZE, Columbian staff writer
If U.S. Sen. Patty Murray was disappointed by the view, she did her best not to show it.
Murray, D-Wash., peered at the bare dirt of the former Boise Cascade industrial site Tuesday as she heard Vancouver Mayor Royce Pollard describe a waterfront community loaded with $1.3 billion in private investment.
“When this is fully built, we will have a population in this area during the day of 10,000 people,” Pollard told Washington’s senior senator from the fifth floor of The Columbian’s building. “We’re going to build another little city, right here.”
But Vancouver will never fulfill its waterfront dream without continued financial support for a rail relocation project, already under way, as well as road extensions south to the Columbia River.
Which explains why city officials, along with representatives from Gramor Development, the Port of Vancouver and BNSF Railway, did their best to impress Murray with the project’s potential.
Vancouver wants $7 million in federal funds, plus another $5 million from the state, to help pay for $38.6 million in rail and road improvements.
The city has agreed to contribute $12 million and has applied for an additional $500,000 a year from the state using a limited version of tax increment financing, where tax revenue generated by the waterfront project would gradually pay off infrastructure debt.
City officials are optimistic that Murray, using her position as chairwoman of the Senate appropriations transportation subcommittee, can deliver the envisioned $7 million in federal funding.
Murray said she was impressed by what she heard, but she made no financial promises.
“Federal dollars are really, really tight, as everyone knows, right now,” she said. “But these are the type of projects we are looking for.”
**SCHNIPP**
Someone explain to me just why they keep voting for Patty Murray if this is all the better that she can do for this area, including the Columbia Crossing...
This project is doomed from the start unless it is heavily underwritten by Local, State and Federal Governments. Economically successful development does not require substantial contributions of tax dollars in order to succeed. Look at the development in East Vancouver between 164th and 192nd.
Is Clark County or any other Government entity paying a cent in order to help Lowe's and JC Penny open their stores?? Of course not, and they aren't even eligible for tax subsidies or abatements either.
For every $1 in public money spent on infrastructure, the project should attract $30 in private funding for buildings and other improvements, what Holmes described as “pretty incredible leverage.” That private investment would generate $147 million in state tax revenues over 25 years, plus another $88 million for local governments, he said.
Use that statement and work backwards to get some idea about just how much of our tax money should go to help a developer build 2700 condominiums. Remember those $500,000 condos out in Camas that nobody wants to buy, and are about to be sold at auction?? Think about the same thing happening to Vancouver tax payers if we allow this madness to go forward.
There simply isn't money available for this project, nor does it deserve the injection over time of at least $100 Million (or more) of tax money