Thursday, March 23, 2006

What A Difference A Day Makes

Let's see if I have this right. The philosophy is "don't look a gift horse in the mouth" or you may find it is fifteen years old instead of three like the giver told you. Or that he's blind, deaf and lame but is a registered thoroughbred that will win the Kentucky Derby. Accept the gift at all costs.

Okay. I'm gonna name my contender "That's a Kroc". Monday I learned the city has to scramble to come up with $1.1 million to fill a pit. Today, Thursday, it's only $500,000. Monday the amount of fill needed was 190,000 yards; today it's 100,000. Talk about compacted interest!

Monday Mayor Bloem pledged no tax payer money would be spent. Today the Lake City Development Corp lookes to be the salvation. Guess how the LCDC is funded. With deferred tax dollars. Hello? What that means is that when LCDC helps a party improve a piece of land, a portion of the increased taxes goes into the LCDC coffers. Is that not tax money?

Then there is the matter of LCDC board members Deanna Goodlander and Dixie Reid. Ooops. Did I forget to mention that both these ladies are also members of the CDA City Council? Says Goodlander "...the center could result in business growth in the area." Where? The site is bordered to the south by the UPS facility and to the north by Ramsey Park. On the east side of Ramsey is another gravel pit and the transfer station. They going fill that pit too? Might there be some telltale conflict of interest here with these ladies being on both the board and city council? Is it ethical? Is it good judgement?

And the representative of the Salvation Army out there in his Red and Blue colors cheering this on. Is he jockying for a better position than the one he now holds? Is that horse manure wafting on the breeze?

3 comments:

stebbijo said...

Yep - if it smells like horse manure - it probably is.

Idaho Dad said...

Well, actually to the south is where some big retail development is supposed to be built... Coeur d'Alene Crossing or some such thing. So, in a way, the Kroc Center would be a major attraction to businesses going into that development.

But ultimately I want this Center because there isn't anyplace to go with my kids from October until June for swimming. And there aren't any large, clean, safe places for the kids to play at any time of the year. There are no family-friendly gyms in this town.

Personally I don't care how it's paid for. I wish Hagadone would donate some of that $20 million he was going to spend on his useless garden, but what does he care of middle to low-income children have someplace safe to play and be active.

I think there are a whole bunch of things that are a waste of our tax dollars (the new library, for example). The Kroc Center isn't one of them.

StibitzRK said...

hmmm... I wonder who owns property ajoining or very close to the area this community center is to be built? *cough*

I don't question the need for a nice community center for the Coeur d'Alene area and it's families.

I don't even care if that sort of thing is funded with tax dollars.

BUT... If any project has the smell of crap like this one does... Maybe it should be scrubbed clean before proceeding.