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I have to support Grid Girl on this one. As non taxpayers into the city, we can voice our opinion on items pertaining to the city, but should not try to influence the outcome. That is up to the residents of the city to decide. Nothing irritates me more than people that write into the public pulse of the GR press and rant about a item that will affect the taxpayers of Grand Rapids, yet they sign their home from Stanwood, Rockford, etc. Not railing on you personally, Jeff, it is just a pet peave of mine.

Well, when you put it that way, I agree. It irritates me too when people complain about something in Grand Rapids and don't live there. So I should probably be consistent. I guess I should just see us all as one big happy family (with a few issues of course) :)

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We met again Monday afternoon with the City staff and some Commissioners, and the meeting went pretty well. I'm optimistic about coming to a postive resolution in the near future.

As far as the Press's views; they're still relying on comments about cost, made by some people who haven't been involved or understand the facts at all, so I don't think it carries any credibility with the Commissioners who do the facts.

The "my timing"point is an argument by them I just can't agree with. We've been actively negotiating with the City for more than a year. There is a point when you need to bring things to a conclusion.

More importantly, the City needs to look at themselves as a service provider, not the customer. I'm not saying I'm the customer - I'm just a facilitator who creates space that is occupied by the City's customers (employers and residents). The City relies on these customers for their tax base, and when they neglect or abuse their customers the City loses them to communities who will take better care of them.

Employers virtually always have time constraints, caused by everything from existing leases, job contracts...the list of reasons is endless. If we can't meet an employer's time constraints, they'll scratch our projects off their list of potential new locations. In many cases, probably most, that means the City loses that employer as well. They don't usually factor in a long beauracratic process in that decision and they never say "hey City, tell us when you're ready, we'll be waiting".

Hope that helps. I'll be unreachable for a few days. Thanks for the dialogue.

Jack

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That would be sad if another downtown project bit the dust because of city hall beauracratic b.s. There has been a fare share of developers over the years that have walked away in disgust from this way of thinking from the city. Hopefully this won't have any negative repercussions on your potential tenants.

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More importantly, the City needs to look at themselves as a service provider, not the customer. The City relies on these customers for their tax base, and when they neglect or abuse their customers the City loses them to communities who will take better care of them.

I couldn't agree more. I wonder what role the city views itself as filling? I can't stand the entitlement philosophy that is so common in government.

That would be sad if another downtown project bit the dust because of city hall beauracratic b.s. There has been a fare share of developers over the years that have walked away in disgust from this way of thinking from the city. Hopefully this won't have any negative repercussions on your potential tenants.

Sounds like it may have already <_<

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Sounds like it may have already <_<

I don't know Gary, I thought Jack's opening line sounded pretty promising:

We met again Monday afternoon with the City staff and some Commissioners, and the meeting went pretty well. I'm optimistic about coming to a postive resolution in the near future.
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I don't know Gary, I thought Jack's opening line sounded pretty promising:

I'm not doubting that Jack will come through with the project if he gets approval. I'm just saying that if he started this process a year ago I wouldn't be surprised if someone he had lined up to go into the project had to find somewhere else. Construction itself takes long enough; add another year to the process and I can see why Jack was trying to hurry things along.

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I'm not doubting that Jack will come through with the project if he gets approval. I'm just saying that if he started this process a year ago I wouldn't be surprised if someone he had lined up to go into the project had to find somewhere else. Construction itself takes long enough; add another year to the process and I can see why Jack was trying to hurry things along.

There's a blurb in the Region section of the Press today regarding the meetings.

Garage Plan Moves Along

Selected quotes:

"...Deputy City Manager Eric DeLong told city commissioners Tuesday they probably will be asked to approve a deal with Buchanan at their Dec. 20th meeting.....officials said they have come closer to an agreement with Buchanan"

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In conjunction with that, I keep thinking that at the corner of Michigan and Monroe, there's no way you would know that there is a cool neighborhood North of the highway. I was thinking it might be cool to put some type of arch over Monroe with "Monroe North" on it, similar to GVSU's new arch at their campus entrance.

gvsu_arch_at_night.jpg

Cheesy?

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In conjunction with that, I keep thinking that at the corner of Michigan and Pearl, there's no way you would know that there is a cool neighborhood North of the highway. I was thinking it might be cool to put some type of arch over Pearl with "North Monroe" on it, similar to GVSU's new arch at their campus entrance.

What? Pearl and Michigan don't intersect. Do you mean Michigan and Monroe, by the Post office and GR Press?

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In conjunction with that, I keep thinking that at the corner of Michigan and Pearl, there's no way you would know that there is a cool neighborhood North of the highway. I was thinking it might be cool to put some type of arch over Pearl with "Monroe North" on it, similar to GVSU's new arch at their campus entrance.

You've got my vote :thumbsup:

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GaryP: I hope I didn't give you a negative impression of how things are going. We have some very verbal forces trying to stop the project but overall I'm confident that it's going to go forward. They aren't credible enough to sway the support of the Commissioners who understand the project. We have a lot of support on Commission because they know this will bring in a lot of new revenue, and everyone knows they need it. I strongly think the project is going forward.

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GaryP: I hope I didn't give you a negative impression of how things are going.

Not at all. I'm looking forward to the 20th and seeing some drawings here in the near future!

If the commission were to say that they would only pay $13M (or what ever the Press is reporting the number is) what would the difference be between you keeping the Brownfield tax credits all to yourself versus sharing them like you are now proposing? Like you said, with the credits the cost/space comes down to $27,000/spot v. $43,000/spot. Say you sold the 480 spaces for $27,000 each (ramp total $12,960,000) then kept ALL the tax credits, wouldn't the credits cover your loss on the ramp (like they would for the city) and the deal would still work?

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I haven't heard a GR taxpayer complain about this... I wonder who these forces are, nontaxpayers without a solution?

I'm certainly not complaining, but I'll be honest. Although I usually trust the stance of my 3rd ward commissioners, I'd have to see a lot more detail about this project before the Press would get my letter of support.

I'm looking forward to the 20th and seeing some drawings here in the near future

Likewise.

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