The only thing a developer is after when performing a market study is
determining whether they can make whatever profit margin they have in mind going
into a project; whether or not a developer makes a profit often has little or
nothing to do with what is good for a municipality. We're talking about
revenue vs. the cost of government services for all those pancakes Barb wants sold;
if the revenue doesn't exceed what it costs the city to serve the folks that
live in the hotcakes, that's called a subsidy. Subsidized housing is not
something normally associated with urban condominiums in that we expect condo
associations to pay their own way. Now I will grant Barb that developers are less
overtly mercenary since I learned my land use planning; it is just a necessary
twist of doing business here. But I don't need any stinking studies to back up
my assertions (gotta go see the Treasure of Sierra Madre again or whatever
film that line came from) because it is pretty obvious that when you displace
businesses that employ people and pay taxes that aren't a big drain on city
services with residential housing that is a big drain with the added twist of
adding a parcel of new good citizens asserting their rights.....well, that's not a
pancake breakfast fundraiser, I tell you what. That's a bunch of folks who
paid good money who expect some ROI and good services for the taxes they pay.
Now I'd be really pleased if our Empowerment Zones and money attracted the
business to generate the unencumbered tax revenue needed to make this city run in
the black, but you'll never convince me that just adding some residential
development is magically going to put us in the black--that's Ponzi thinking.
"Their steam" must be paid for and you don't need a study to prove it; but if you
give me a few hundred thousand I'll try and perform a good one for you because
I need the money.
I always get a kick out of this quote:
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change
the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." -- Margaret Mead
It doesn't say whether they change the world for good or ill. Mead is an
interesting character much revered in her field at one time, but she was pretty
often just plain wrong; the studies and work she did to back up her assertions
were horribly flawed and baseless in reality. She often had an idealized notion
about how a given culture functioned and set off to prove it instead of
diligently uncovering what was there with solid field work; anthropology doesn't
work that way anymore. I learned that at the same time I studied land use
planning in California.
Cheer on the North Loop, by all means, but don't tell me that increasing
the tax base in this way will do anything but make the North Loop residents
comfy. Stinking badges, stinking studies, or any kind of stink you like are not
going to magically tell us we can squeeze revenue out of that kind of
development.
Now I've said in previous posts that I don't have any advanced degrees
in any field; I don't and I'm unlikely too get any. But I, like most folks,
know "shit from Shine-olaâ;" and I think that it would be nice to hear from some
folks who know more about city finances than me and Barb. The part of my post
she chose to quote and discuss merely raises the question of whether we are
building a better beast or just a bigger one; but the fact that an unemployed
geek like me doesn't "have a market study to back up" my assertions is not so
surprising -- cities don't really do them all that often, even though I urge
mine to do so. The subject of my post as a whole was "upzoning" and sources of
real unencumbered revenue. Perhaps I am a bit thin skinned, but I feel as if I
have been libeled here; that doesn't feel good to me especially when it comes
from someone who supposedly is serving my neighborhood.
Bill Kahn
Prospect Park
*******************************************
Bill said:
"We don't really need all that many expensive condos
in the North Loop; they are nice and certainly bother
the residents less than the industrial uses that
brought in the bacon at one time, but they really
aren't the sort of housing we need now. And I suspect
that when you factor in the increased services that
the increased tax revenue doesn't go that far; the
only ones to profit are usually the developers and
that's fine if they are meeting a real demand."
Me:
How do you know it isn't the type of housing we need
right now? Do you have market study data to back that
assertion up? I can assure you that all those
developers that built those lofts certainly had market
studies done before they plopped down their dollars.
This housing that you say isn't needed is selling like
hotcakes at very high prices. I work right across the
street from the newest group of lofts in Downtown
East. I would much rather look at these buildings than
the surface parking lots that sat there before and I
dare say they will add one hell of a lot more to the
tax base and thriving urban lifestyle along the river.
I just attended a North Loop neighborhood meeting
tonight that was the kick off for their small but
mighty NRP plan. A plan for a neighborhood that
virtually did not exist 10 years ago. Don't tell these
people we don't need them or their houses in our city.
They are excited and pumped to do all kinds of things
in North Loop that will establish their identity as a
"hot" "happenin" neighborhood. Just watch their steam.
Barb Lickness
Whittier
=====
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change
the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." -- Margaret Mead
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