Yepper..........I took a nap, Rip Van Winkle style.
Decided I needed a break from posting here. Now that I've woken up, stretched my legs, fingers etc, it's time to hit the keyboard and resume posting my opinions.
First.......the Cobblestone project. At a recent city council meeting (12/22/08)the council voted to approve a TIF District for this development. The three council members who voted against this were on the right track, IMHO. In particular, council member Sawyer, who as reported by the KC Star was really confused since city services and staffing have been curtailed. Is this really the time for a TIF for this type of project? Methinks not. Would have to agree with the three who voted against it.
I'm always intrigued when tax abatements and/or TIFs are given out and we are told that "x" number of new jobs will be created. In this case the number is 68. But, will that be 68 new residents in the city? Will that be 68 existing residents working here instead of in another city? Or, will that be 68 people working here but living and spending most of their money somewhere else? Bet that it's the latter one.
I have asked the city to do a quick, periodic survey of how many employees at each business (maybe just the larger ones) actually live within Shawnee. Not personl info (name, address etc) just the number. It would be so easy to do, by zip code.
Moving on..............let's look ahead to April 2010. That is not too far away. It's actually less than 16 months. What happens in 16 months. It will be city election time again. Four council members will be up for reelection. My personal opinion: three of them need to be replaced. More on this as time goes on. Suffice it to say that if they were electronic directional devices their combined initials would be GPS.
Ahhhhhhhh, the keyboard feels good beneath my fingers.
