Mark your calenders folks. In an American economy where even the most rabid Keynesian economists are warning about the prospects of a coming "third depression," the one-trick ponies at city hall are gearing up for another round of tax increment financed (TIF) borrowing and spending. As Ace Reporter Schwebke reports in this morning's Standard-Examiner, the city council last night calendered a public hearing for the evening of August 10, 2010, to consider adoption of a proposed urban renewal project area plan for the East Washington Urban Renewal Area in downtown Ogden. Despite the miserable condition of the economy, and notwithstanding the obvious failure of economic stimulus on the national level, Boss Godfrey's apparently cooking up a local economic stimulus plan all his own:
• Ogden council OKs public hearing on urban renewal proposalOgden City Community & Economic Development Department Director Richard McConkie is of course ecstatic about embarking upon this boondoggle, as he pulls optimistic "blue sky" numbers out of thin air:
The plan indicates if the entire project area were redeveloped with commercial, mixed-use and residential buildings within the next 20 years, the cumulative value of the investment would be about $99 million, said McConkie. An investment of that amount would generate about $17.2 million in tax increment that could be reinvested back into the project area, he added.Remember folks, we have a municipal election coming up in a little over a year; and we suppose its incumbent upon Boss Godfrey at this time to begin reassuring his friends and supporters that despite the terrible condition of the economy, there will neverthelss be gobs of taxpayer financed crony capital in the pipeline very soon.
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