I'm glad to see you survived, Catherine. I as afraid you might get bitten down where you were sitting. Frankly, I found it distressing to have to say the same meaningless phrase over and over, and never complete a proper sentence. One kep adding "OK?" to every phrase which can be grating when repeated over and over, while another never, evidently, learned that sentences have a subject, predicate, modifiers and punctuation at the end. But at least no one kept saying "like,"
You are dead on that the RP does not run on the Caucus record. I remember Trustee Smith railing at those of us who opposed the VC and new CBD Zoning and suggesting that the first floor could be residential. He may well get that wish when it goes Sec. 8. The lawyer from the GOP, Jay Reyes, let the cat out of the bag when he effectively said that only an act of altruism, that is some not-for-profit or the government - could rescue the Arcade, because the numbers just won't work for buying the property, putting in what it will cost to restore it faithfully, and then rent it profitably to tenants that can themselves have successful and profitable businesses like restaurants, hairdressers, shoe repair, dry cleaning, etc. - which is what we had.
I think a possibly viable solution - short of somebody buying it as a legacy and giving it to the Village - is for the Village to take it off the bank with some creative public/private partnership deal so that it can immediately be funded as a shove-ready project via one of the Stimulus programs. We could have done that if we hadn't tied up our money in providing subsidized parking as a result of the planning commission and the Board subsidizing the VC. I really wish that instead of hearing so much about Bill Ayers we could have delved further into the record on development here and who spent what, who voted for what, but as Trustee Shields once told me - "That's old wine." Well sometimes old wine is good wine, and I think if people knew what the record was and who did what, they wouldn't want to vote for a candidate that was up to his eyeballs in these decisions, as late as a few months ago was still thumping for spending another $30-40,000 more with Camiros for another "study", and then says, "Well the consultants are behind us." Not for guys that want to build something, they're not. Protect us please from more of the same that think Zoning is not the protection of the many from the few, but rather the way to get what you want to build.
The RP candidates don't seem to like the idea of going into the budget, top down, to see what we are really getting for our money. But the point above, that even if Macy's went into the VC and the CBD ran 24 hours a day, it doesn't have the potential to do more than add a small increment to our revenue. The problem lies in the refusal to look at each and every expense and see what can be streamlined and accomplished for less, and then following through. Whoever recalled last night that the Board first created the urgency for the tax referendum by sliding the million bucks to the Cap Improvements account and then levied real, honest-to-goodness Chicken Little threats at the voters that "We will have no option but to destroy this or that if you don't give us more money", and then did the opposite, made a telling point. Many could and did say that there has been talk for many years and little accomplished in the CBD. I say something else. I say it is worse now than before, with that awful yellow monster looming out from its developer's grave, and not even any place to plant vines, or beanstalks, as they would need to go that extra mile. But they have also endangered the very real loss of the Arcade - a unique and cherished focal point of this town from its inception. That alone should signal a clarion call for change... as much as we can get.