On Thu, Mar 06, 2003 at 04:06:28PM -0800, Bill Stewart wrote:
> At 12:56 PM 03/06/2003 -0600, Harmon Seaver wrote:
> > Are you sure there weren't TIFs involved in building the mall? The
> >mall here
> >in Oshkosh (now defunct, turned into offices) was build with city money,
> >the
> >newest upscale condo being built downtown is mostly TIF money, likewise the
> >newest big "low rent" housing development.
>
> There's worse state involvement than that -
> an appalling number of malls get eminent domain support from towns
> to force nearby landowners to sell them the land.
> Costco's management recently rejected a shareholder proposal that
> would have forbidden Costco to use eminent domain when building new stores.
Ah yes, forgot about that -- the fancy condo right smack in the downtown
historic district used to be a while city block of historic buildings people
wanted to save, and, in fact, there were developers with money who wanted to
restore them, but the city, for some reason no one could figure out, condemned
them, took the whole block with eminent domain, then razed the whole thing --
with no plan whatsoever in mind for what would replace it. Or so it seemed. Then
they sold the whole block to this other developer for one dollar, and gave him a
ton of TIF to build a big, very modern, condo which doesn't even remotely jive
with the rest of the area.
This same city council approved a zone change from church/residential to
business with no knowledge, supposedly, of what or who the purchaser of the
property would be -- the church said it had to be kept secret. Turns out it's a
new Super Wallmart.
Isn't it great the way fascism works?
>
> But even without that, most malls are owned by corporations,
> which only exist because the State calls them into existence,
> and in return for that favor it's legitimate for the state to place
> arbitrary restrictions on what they can do.
All corporate charters should require yearly re-approval, reviewed by a
board of citizens, all elected.
--
Harmon Seaver
CyberShamanix
http://www.cybershamanix.com
