First, we find a guest commentary by one David D. Griffiths, alleging, among other things, that the now notorious Bootjack stealth transaction had actually been conducted under some sort of informal bidding process. Surely as the night follows the day, it was predictable that the administration would drag some poor soul out of the woodwork to claim (cross his heart) that he had been a low bidder prior to Chris Peterson's secret acquisition. Well... David Griffiths is that guy:
The city needed to come up with some additional funds to pay for the parking plaza in The Junction development on the old mall site. Part of the plan to raise these funds, approved by the RDA Board, was to sell some excess RDA properties. Properties are considered excess if they have no planned current or future use by the city or the RDA. The property in question is about one acre located between 21st and 22nd streets on the west of Wall Avenue. The RDA Board was asked to approve the sale of this property to an entity by the name of Bootjack LLC for fair market value to be determined by an independent appraisal. The board unanimously approved the transaction. I wanted to buy the same property, but was only willing to pay $240,000.But Mr. Griffiths does not stop there. The rest of Mr. Griffiths' article spirals into yet another lame Std-Ex anti Garcia/Wicks/Jeske broadside, (the third of these within a week's time,) accusing these three members of the RDA board of playing politics. Rather than recognizing that the ENTIRE RDA board's recent foray into sound business practices is a good thing, designed to ferret out insider transactions and assure disposition of RDA properties at the highest possible price, Mr. Griffiths amazingly characterises the new RDA policy, requiring full disclosure of purchaser identify and intended use, as political gamesmanship.
We'll note in passing, by the way, that we spoke with a gentleman yesterday, who informed us that he had made a backup offer to the Emerald City Economic Development Department, for the subject Bloom Recycling properties, at a cash price well in excess of the $270,000 price embodied in Chris Peterson's option contract. He indicated he would have readily made a similar offer prior to the grant of the option to Mr. Peterson, had he been aware that the property was available for purchase. There really is no telling, of course, just how much the Bloom properties might have fetched, had the properties been properly placed on the open market.
Secondly, we find this strange Scott Schwebke "expose/confession," in which the beleaguered Emerald City Business Development Scott Brown bares his soul, and inexplicably plasters certain recent "job related allegations of impropriety" all over the Standard-Examiner front page.
And for readers who've been carefully following developments in the Emerald City Planning Commission, in connection with the ongoing Mixed Use ordinance topic, gentle reader Ogden iii provides a brief summary of last nights' Planning Commission action.
The floor is open. Avid readers all over the blogosphere eagerly await the latest thoughts and comments of our gentle readers.
Have at it.
Update 3/8/07 10:30 a.m. MT: We have just received word, and are pleased to announce that one of our very favorite sites -- Grift Ogden --- is back for its second season. Be sure to check it out. You''ll also find a link in our right sidebar.
