"That's a hefty tax break..."

I've sadly watched the better part of an important historic block, in an important historic neighborhood, fronting an important historic park, be demolished and cleared without so much as a peep of concern from anyone in NEO, other than on REALNEO [1]. Are we really so disengaged, or are we just so dumbfounded by the rapid succession of bad plans coming from NEO leadership that we can't keep up and focus. The block I question, today's header above (full size image here [2]), was a wonderful grouping of interesting mixed use urban landmarks, complimenting the astounding Rockefeller Park to the west, University Circle to the south, and the surrounding Wade Park neighborhood, now a massive demolition zone that looks suspiciously like a surface parking lot. In a few short weeks, "they" have done immeasurable damage, and that is exactly how leaders in this region operate... quietly destroying what they may and explaining what they must as they must, largely through their Plain Dealer [3]. Already, I doubt there are many people who remember the buildings just demolished here, or the many mature Rockefeller Park oak trees ripped from their roots in the haste of greed (did they have a right and permit to do that)... see the earlier demolition picture here [4] to see the beautiful setting before this eco-disaster. Seeing the trees gone made me wonder what evil "they" lurks behind this tragedy, and of course learned this is another Carney Port Authority bond deal, this time to be repaid at the expense of Cleveland taxpayers, to enrich a new character on the "developer" scene... Michael Forlani... CEO of Doan Pyramid Electric, of Bedford Heights, Ohio, and a major Republican contributor, who has formed a new company, Veterans Development, LLC, to process $ millions in federal and Cleveland taxpayer contributions to his bottom line, this time routed through the Federal Veterans Administration. This deal is an extreme example of what is wrong in Northeast Ohio and America today.

The interesting thing is that all of this is happening in plain sight of all of us, but we just don't pay attention. We don't notice when a block of historic buildings or a line of 100 year old oaks are ripped from our community. We don't notice when freeways are being planned through our parks and historic fabric. We don't notice when parks are planned to become ports. And we don't notice the politics of all of this. We don't notice when our leaders are failures. We only seem to notice planes hitting buildings... anything less is ground-clutter.

What I notice about this situation, in addition to all I don't like about how this project scarred my community, and killed my trees, and demolished my historic buildings, is I do not see proof the developer is qualified to provide an exceptional result in this important site, and in all the media-puffery I have not seen plans for the development supposed to come, and I don't like the developer's connection to the Republican Pioneer Political Action Committee, along with all the folks of Forest City and others you will recognize [5].

The Pioneer Political Action Committee [6], "operates with one goal - to maximize the impact of your organization's contributions towards keeping and strengthening the Republican majority in Congress". The Doan Pyramid Electric website announcement [7] of their development of this VA project, written for Crain's by Jay Miller, states "Congress appropriated $170 million for the consolidation of the VA's hospitals in University Circle and Brecksville"

The Doan site goes on to explain... "the plan is for Veterans Development - likely in a joint venture with the city of Brecksville - to take a long-term lease on the Brecksville property for a redevelopment that would follow completion of the consolidation of VA programs at University Circle."

Also of interest, from Jay's article on the Doan website:

"Veterans Development would finance its project with bonds issued through the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority. However, Mr. Forlani told a Cleveland City Council committee last week that the VA's lease payments would cover only about 80% of the debt service on the project. He said he would be asking the city to approve a tax increment financing plan to bridge the financing gap once final agreements have been reached among the parties."

"When Mr. Forlani laid out his plan before City Council last week, he said he hoped the city would agree to approve the tax increment financing. If it does, taxes on 100% of the increase in the assessed value of the property would be diverted to help cover construction costs."

"That's a hefty tax break, more than the city would grant in a tax abatement, but Mr. Forlani argued that the financing structure of the deal and the nature of the project justify it."

"'The market rents wouldn't support the project without some incentives to reduce the capital cost,' Mr. Forlani said after the City Council hearing. 'And if the VA had the money to do the project itself, it would pay no taxes.'"

"Under a tax increment financing arrangement, the county auditor would bill the project for its full tax payments. However, the bulk of the tax money collected would be diverted to pay off the port authority bonds rather than be sent to the city or to the Cleveland Municipal School District. "

"Mr. Forlani told City Council he is negotiating with the Cleveland schools to make payments in lieu of taxes and would give the school district a portion of the tax revenue. An analysis of the project by the city's Economic Development Department describes the entire VA expansion as bringing 1,200 jobs to the neighborhood, in large part by creating a hospital complex that employs 2,700 people. The analysis estimates the new jobs will bring in $1.6 million a year in city income taxes at current salary and tax levels, and it projects a total of nearly $80 million over 30 years."

"Mr. Montague of the VA said he's optimistic that ground will be broken for the projects on both sides of East 105th by early summer. Completion is not anticipated until 2009."

Of course, this deal has already broken ground, trees, the public trust and more of the spirit of the community.