Quote:
Originally Posted by kermitology
But the whole point of bringing numbers into the equation is that a CRL in the West Village will pay back the investment to clean up the area. It can't pay for clean up AND an arena. It also can't take away investment from the East Village until that CRL is near completion, otherwise you stagnate the ability to reconcile the CRL in both. And lastly, you can't have an arena/stadium mega project take up so much space without any contribution to the CRL.
Considering the numbers is extremely important.
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Sure it is. I think the argument is that areas next to the CRL area would also increase in value, adding a higher tax base and the cleanup cost gets at least partially addressed. You could also increase the footprint by not having some of the sports complexes (i.e. the stadium), but negotiations never even approached that level. Or you could negotiate something about the return from CSEG in property taxes. I don't know why they have to be 100% or 0% only. Or why rent has to be $1 or market price only.
I don't really have a dog in the fight - I am just bemused by the attacks on Bettman for arguing the position of his employer.
The City made a huge mistake (though most of that council are gone) by buying that land. Nenshi has made the west side a very low priority, which I think has coloured his approach to it. Numbers aside, I think he felt that any development on that side detracted from his favoured project, the East Village.
I don't think the West Village will get done in the next 20 years. An arena project was a good concept to getting it done.