Thanks for the insight, Dave, and for the commitment from you and all at
City Hall to prevent recent history from repeating itself. Please keep us
posted.
(Just a friendly reminder: to my mind, and from what I gather from SHPO
and other zymurgical organizations, the Schmidt Brewery site is not about
housing but about BEER. "Industrial Archeology" - catch the buzzphrase.
How many houses sit beneath the Gateway Arch? There is no magic number
that will ensure an enterprise's success. Michael Lander himself warns of
a condo glut:
http://www.rismedia.com/index.php/article/articleview/9348/1/1/ So, this
is Saint Paul!, but just the same, I wonder about the Housing 5000 boom.
Can we just stop at 5000 and catch our breathe for a while, please? Will
people really say "Wow, man, I can't believe you had 5,000 new units of
housing built while you were Mayor! Not counting the ones that sank or got
washed away, of course. Good for you! Come in here, dear boy, have a
cigar, you're gonna go far! You're gonna fly high! You're never gonna
die, you're gonna make it if you try, they're gonna LOVE you!")
As our Federation Commander In Chief has stated, THE MARKET HAS SPOKEN.
Indeed. The brewery and the processing equipment are worth what those
bidders were willing to pay. This is the case on Wall Street, hence the
terms "bid" and "ask." An auction is the quintessence of the free market
system. The Amer. Her. Dict. defines "auction" to be "A public sale at
which property or items of merchandise are sold to the highest bidder." I
found GSE's "rule changes" upsetting, to put it mildly. I don't recall
there being a minimum bid declared weeks ago, and arbitrarily declaring
your property to be worth $6 to $12 million (or whatever it was) is nowhere
near the same thing.
Just because I invest in, for example, JDSU, doesn't mean I am guaranteed a
certain rate of return. I certainly could not have sold it at whatever
price I wanted - I had to sell at the price someone was willling to pay.
The GSE folks made an investment that didn't pay off as they had hoped, and
well, that's just too bad for them. They need to learn to take their
losses like the rest of us.
<world's smallest violin gesture>
The Brewery didn't "fail to find a buyer" (I'll give Laura the benefit of
the doubt, that she does not entitle her columns) - there were buyers
there. I actually feel sorry now for the hot rod Lincoln drivers we saw
driving in, who came from all over the country to buy something on sale.
The Sherman-City Team ("St. George"?! Another omen!), and presumably the
ethyl alcoholics, put considerable effort into their bid packages only to
be sent home with nothing but debt.
<recent personal auction experience deleted>
<appeal to hearts of professional Dayton's 13-Hour Sale shoppers deleted>
My anger at the sham is tempered by strong feelings that we now seem more
likely to get want we want, and to not get what we don't want. As near and
dear as this place is to my heart and bladder, it now occurs to me that it
may not even matter to me what any of the mayoral candidates say about the
brewery - our election of Thune to the Council, the emergence of a single
development team, and the resolve of my neighbors and friends seem to have
already determined the brewery's destiny. Hopefully now it's just be a
matter of what it will look like... That may sound naively optimistic, but
when's the last time we've experienced such, dare I say, "teamwork" amongst
the people, the District Council, the Mayor, the Council, PED,
preservationists, hipstorians, brewery ancestors, etc.?
(This is not the "Hendry is a big, white, weinie!" rant I had going through
my head all weekend - I'm not sure what's come over me... <insert Terry
Gilliam art here>...)
AMH
Armstrong Av
W2-P6
"Send lawyers, guns, and money - the Schmidt has hit the fan."
-W. Zevon
"I believe everything we dream
can come to pass through our union
we can turn the world around
we can turn the earth's revolution
we have the power
People have the power ... "
-P. Smith
(And now for something completely different:
I once remarked to a Glockenspiel bartender that I was surprised they
carried NOT ONE English ale. Feeling discriminated against yet again, I
wondered if it was Gerry's snub of Limeys. [An aside: It's OK for
Britons to call each other Limeys, but if non-Brits use the term, it's not
right, and it hurts an Englishperson like citric acid on a scratched
cornea. It's a little green fruit, for fuxake, and I aks that you instead
call me Sir, or Mate, or Guv'nah, or Me Lord. For example, if you come
across a gang of Limeys in a dark alley, you should yell "Go hither, Me
Lords!" not "Sod off, ya effin' Limey dogs!" Ouch! It pains me to even
write about it.] But imagine the sound effects and hallucinations I
experienced when I just saw in the Glock beer cooler "Monty Python's Holy
Grail Ale"! This is a sign from above, or at least from the side, that I
really am on a Mission From God and will continue my Quest if it means I
have to bite the kneecaps of black knights or battle with the most foul,
cruel,and bad-tempered rodent you ever set eyes on!)
Andrew M. Hine
Corporate Research Materials Laboratory
3M Center 201-1W-28
St. Paul MN
55144-1000
USA
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Tel: (651) 733-1070
Fax: (651) 737-5335
Lab 201-W110
"Dave Thune"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]
paul.mn.us> To
Sent by: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] <[email protected]>
forum.org cc
Subject
02/19/2005 01:14 RE: [StPaul] GSE Auction
AM
Bruce Hendry has bought up the debt that is in a secured position and
therefore has a certain amount of time to pursue a sale like this. it
was not a court ordered auction although the court would ultimately have
to approve the results had it been sold.
Now we just hope that he will seriously negotiate with the housing
developer.
The city (both council and mayor kelly) is comitted to continuing this
pursuit to develop housing on this site and end forever any chance of it
resuming as an ethanol plant.
dave thune
councilmember, ward 2
>>> John Birrenbach <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 02/18/05 9:46 PM >>>
At 9:37 PM -0600 2/18/05, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>Only one bidder appeared willing to make serious offers on the land and
>buildings.* And although the market had spoken, it apparently
>hadn't spoken richly
>enough, and the one bid made by a qualified bidder for the land was
rejected.
WAIT A SECOND... when there is a foreclosure sale, there can't be a
REJECTED bidder.... this is to liquidate to satisfy the holders of
the liens.
Who authorized the REJECTION? Did those that hold the liens and
want their money (Ramsey County Taxes, Excel Energy, Water
Department, City Of St Paul, THE LOCAL CONTRACTORS) say they would
only settle for a certain amount?
GSE it's the plant that never ends, it just goes on and on and then,
it starts all over from the very beginning and goes on and on and
then, it just starts over where it left off, leaving everyone
wondering what is going on, it is the plant that never ends :-)
--
Sincerely,
John Birrenbach
W 7th Neighborhood, St Paul MN
=== Political & Business Consulting ===
http://www.birrenbach.com/
======================================
The Counter to Republican Radio http://www.airamericaradio.com/
======================================
"Six years on the council has trained me to feign interest for long
periods of time"
Chris Coleman Jan 21, 2004
+++++++++++++++
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