Monday, August 10, 2009

Mama knows best?

Read what Lois wants
  • She wants to pay $6 mil for the former Helen Wilkes Hotel site
  • She would take the money from Reserves and loan it to the CRA for free
  • The CRA gets the TIF on it
  • She will give the CRA 5 years to pay back the $6 mil
  • In a 1996 Referendum, the residents voted on height limits. She wants to raise that from 5 stories to 8 on a parking garage on Banyan.
The City has held off on raises and spending because of the $12 million shortfall it will be experiencing in this coming Budget. Lois said only 4 months ago that "I don't anticipate anything large, unless something happens that we don't know about," inferring that the city was going to do just fine in spite of $12 million short in the budget.

Kimberly Mitchell has already warned the Mayor about "spinning like we don't have anything to worry about." Three years ago, Mayor Frankel wanted to put 15 stories on the Wilkes site.

The property is valuable and $6 million seems like a great price. We all are wondering what Lois really has on her mind and I would bet it has nothing to do with the will of the people regarding height or what they might want on that waterfront site.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

She is a tough old broad but she gets things done.