Fiscal 2023 DIF Account

Lease Gets Worse Every Time We Read It But Time To Take A Break

 We will revisit Polar Park at the next WRA meeting.

 

$18 million cap on overruns for the team in a binding lease and the response ?

 

 


 



Comments

Anonymous said…
The city got pantsed. It got blinded to the risks in the excitement of getting a minor league team, got deal fever and got hosed.
Anonymous said…
This deal was bad before COVID and just got worse after COVID. The cost overruns and the lack of development will be blamed on COVID. My guess is the people involved in the deal are figuring out their exit plans before this blows up and costs the taxpayers and the City Council will just blame the previous deal makers without recognizing they did not even ask a single question. I just read the Field of Schemes post, the City look like a bunch of dopes.
Anonymous said…
Unfortunately, the current crop of council candidates are all focused on anything BUT numbers and probably wouldn’t be able to explain how anyone that they beat screwed up. Which will lead to an even more complex multiple rate tax scheme where residents are pitted against not only businesses but all of their neighbors.

That works great for politicians. Easy to collect votes making the person next door the enemy, and doing the same to him /her when you visit next door. Not so much for residents and businesses.

When are taxpayers going to wake up to this scam? You are NOT getting the lowest residential rate. You are getting the sucker rate that’s I’ll go up every year. Larry Luccino and Ritherford stadium is getting the lowest rate, on your back.
Anonymous said…
I know you have Polar Park fatigue BUT you need to post the Worcester Business Journal's recent article for nothing else but so readers who do not subscribe to see City Council Rosen's comment at the end of the article. He must have forgotten that the taxpayers of the City were assured that this project would not cost the taxpayers. Has the City abandoned that principle?
Furthermore, his sentiments are consistent with an out of touch politician who has been around far too long and does not appreciate the hard earned dollars which the residents pay to the City in taxes. If the taxpayers were given a choice of spending $157 million on a feel good project or a new school, with teachers inside, which one would do you think they would choose. City Council Rosen you have probably picked a good time to retire.
Finally the comments of the City Manager are out of touch with reality. A publicly funded project is more expensive due to union construction costs, This is a given but in all reality Larry Lucchini et al just moved into a brand new ballpark constructed with the taxpayers credit line for 30 cents on the dollar. Why would they even consider building a ballpark with their own capital or credit when they had cities or towns tripping over themselves to attract them which in turn led to this financial calamity. The basic premise of his statement is nothing but an attempt of spin for a project that has been mismanaged from its inception.