More of the same...

As things draw closer for Edmonton City Council on the arena project, more things are becoming clearer.

The latest document provided by the City, I am presuming at the request of Kimmie, details "updated" information on the effects of the CRL zone proposed.

One thing people seem to have noticed about Kim, is she constantly saying how great of a job she does and all of the hard questions she asks. The other thing people seem to notice, is Kim seems to think that asking a person in Grade 3 "how much is one plus one?" ... is a tough question.

Putting that aside, and if you take a semi-close look at the document, it is all speculative Rah Rah at best. The majority of anything from this, is based on the promises that Katz and other developers are making about their future contributions.

But do you trust Katz? Not me... he came out swinging saying how he was going to do all of this and all of that... only to end up with little to none of what he implied as being factual. Just like he implied he was going to put $100 million of his money in, when in fact he is putting in taxpayers money... that he is borrowing from the City... and isn't really responsible to pay back. More on that in a bit..

Looking closer at the document you see "While the forecast has been updated to reflect the impact of this new development, it must be noted that development permits have not yet been secured nor are they guaranteed. The ADG Group has advised that their plans are contingent upon securing an anchor tenant for their proposed office tower, and that they will not proceed until such time as an anchor tenant is secured."

We are also hearing that it will take 10 years before any payback will be had, which means the entire value of the CRL will only have 10 more years to actually cover the costs. You see, CRL's are only for a maximum of 20 years, and any funds directed towards that must be paid immediately and in full... But what I love most about the CRL, is it magically holds levels of taxation paid for services (fire, police, infrastructure etc) to zero increases. I mean really... costs are certainly not going to increase for the next 20 years for these areas, because.. well.. they are magical... I think the tooth fairy even said so, so it must be true.

As for the "not paying it back" part, remember... the entire framework of this agreement terminates the second Katz sells the Oilers. This ride at tax payers expense, some say, is nothing more than taking the money and running. And in a normal world in a normal time with normal people, many would consider that to be criminal.

This is all about developers helping developers to make money. And clearly not one of them cares they are putting tens of thousands of seniors and fixed income and low income people at risk.

This is the type of City Council, and Administration people... that you really want to be in charge?