Fiscal 2023 DIF Account

Great Comment On WBJ Column: Downsized Shrinking Developments Around Polar Park Raise Concerns About the Stadium Payoff Plan


 LINK TO COLUMN

 MUST READ!!!!!


 I just searched for and read to the Brad Kane editorial which you reference. If you can you should post a link so people can read it. I will say that the ball park is generally an improvement to the area, with the exception of parking (which Masslive originally reported -once). 

I think the issue which I am concerned with is the promise that the expenditure of public funds on a private venture will not cost us any money and the lack of transparency by the City on the project generally. Getting facts out to the public is the basic function of an independent press and the WBJ is doing there job. Other media sources have reported on the delay in development, the downsizing of the Cove but non of these media sources put the articles in context, which the WBJ did. 

This project is like no other project the City has undertaken, both in terms of approach, building a public building for the benefit of a private company, or scope, $175 million, and the public scrutiny should be raised accordingly. It is a shame that a local media source needs to fill this void because our local officials have abdicated their responsibilities.

 

***  Editor's note:   We like how comment goes with our estimate of $175 million as to the cost of the ballpark.   To date the actual final cost has not been released.  

Heard there were less parking spots, but did not realize 160 spots ( a third) less!! 






 

Comments

Anonymous said…
The left hand does not know what the right hand is doing (or saying). I heard Ed Augustus on the Jordan Levy show tonight and he said that the developers of the Cove reduced the size because they heard the people from the Canal District who said a 13 story building would be out of place in the Canal District. I get home and read the WBJ article and read that the development leader on the Cove project states the transition from steel to wood is more budget conscious. I do not think you can construct a 13 story building without steel. These guys need to get their stories straight.
Anonymous said…
City officials know that the ballpark is a financial albatross but won’t ever admit it.


I hope this isn’t true, but I fear that Ttey will be long gone in new jobs (hopefully not with the people who got TIFs and sweetheart deals) when the other shoe drops, still collecting public pensions and enjoying free health insurance that Woo taxpayers fund.

I hope it’s not true, But this I would not be a deviation from how many politicians around the country act.
Anonymous said…
I wish the City would just provide a new set of financials and put all the speculation to rest. I don’t fault the Worcester Business Journal for reporting on project and highlighting the delays and reductions to developments. If nothing else they have been consistently apprehensive about the project from its inception. I believe they were the ones who originally polled economists who resoundingly stated that these deals never work as planned. Quite simply if the City just presents a set of financials from the information currently at hand all the debate and conjecture might come to an end. I hope someone in the City reads this blog and heeds this suggestion.