The Loveland City Council has received a note attached to their agenda package explaining the Flex URA (Urban Renewal Authority) and now property blight designations for McWhinney Enterprises have been postponed until the September 2, 2008 council meeting. These items are still isted on the public agenda.
People interested in this topic of giving the McWhinneys more discretion, power and authority over which of their own properties can receive special tax subsidies from city taxpayers (without the need for council approval) need to attend the September 2, council meeting now instead of the August 19, meeting.
The “Golden Nest Egg” (employee retirement benefits for the city manager and a few others if they retire early) issue will be brought back for a desicion at the Aug. 19 meeting. It failed in previous meeting when the Mayor was not in attendance but the Mayor has already agreed to follow the city manager’s direction on this so it is likely to pass on a 5-4 vote.
Feel free to post any comments regarding the URA or nest egg issues.
The Loveland Town Council recently voted to provide heathcare coverage for senior officials in Loveland about to retire. After the first vote was turned down, a second vote was taken (guess they didn’t get the “desired” result the first time around). The second vote passed by Mayor Pielin casting the breaking vote “FOR” TAXPAYER DOLLARS (projected $307,000 over 10 year period) going to select city individuals for their retirement healthcare coverage.
I, for one, am sick and tired of supporters of large corporations (McWhinney, Don Morostica,owner of Loveland Commercial and over half of our town council being owners of construction companies) dictating how the hard working citizen tax monies are spent in this town. We need more minimum wage citizens representing the town majority.
The ordinary Joe or Josephine are trying to hold down 2 jobs, sometimes more, to feed their families, provide a roof over their heads, and keep gasoline in their vehicles. Heathcare and dental care are an UNREALIZED DREAM for most families in Loveland. I am outraged at the audacity of the city council to disregard the reality of the taxpayer in favor of healthcare for a few select fat cats in city government.
I would like to point out the members on the city council who voted AGAINST the heath coverage:
Walt Skowron, Daryl Klassen, Ken Solt and Cecil Gutierrez.
Thank you gentlemen for showing concern for the less illustrious citizens of our community.
I would suggest everyone remember who supports the taxpayers at the next city council/mayor election!
I would also like to point out that Ken Bennett was instrumental in bringing Gov. Ritter to Loveland to hold a non-partisan town hall meeting on healthcare in Colorado at the Rialto theater last fall. We need people like Ken standing up for the little guy/gal for a “much appreciated” change! A vote for Ken is a vote for taxpayer representation.
There are some very substantial reasons why the Flex URA is not allowed under current state law.
The council is required to “as narrowly as possible” define the property, check it against the general plan and notify the county of any changes etc…
If the developer can willy nilly change which parcels qualify for the Urban Renewal Authority and by design more property is blighted than will be used to give them that discretion – than the Flex plan is inconstent with not only the intent of the law but the language as well.
Coucilmembers who put Loveland on the map as the first city to abdicate elected authority to a developer are walking over a political cliff.
They will not recover from the fall.
Carla: Your assumptions are wrong. The health care is for any city employee who has 80 points ( 60 years of age with 20 years of service ) or more. This currently includes police, meter readers, clerks, water treatment workers, etc. etc. Once they retire they would be allowed, if they wish, to participate in their current health plan while paying the entire costs and only until reaching age 65.
Also, only two council members are in the construction trades.
A lie is the greatest insult to the intellect of the hearer, because it presumes that the listener is stupid enough to believe it.
As taxpayers of Loveland, we’re asked to believe the McWhinney properties are “blight”, and therefore pose some risk to the community. A breeding ground for crime, perhaps. Perhaps a toxic leak that if not subsidized by diversion of tax dollars to private development would harm soil or water & endanger citizens. Perhaps a structure in immenent danger of collapse, w/ potential harm to people & property nearby. However, most of the properties for inclusion in the URA are vacant (& fertile) farmland. It’s pretty hard to make any of these causes for the blight designation credible.
As citizens of Loveland, we’re asked to believe Centerra is economically disadvantaged, and therefore “blight”, and a URA is needed to keep the area from devolving into a slum of some kind. The idea here is that without public largesse, the area won’t create jobs, sales taxes, or contribute to the general welfare of the community. However, lease rates tell a different story. Lease rates in (increasingly vacant) downtown range from $8- $15 per sq ft, NNN. West Eisenhower lease rates are noticeably less, like $6 – $10/sf, nnn. On the south side, on and around SW 14th Street, lease rates are close to those of W. Eisenhower. There are growing vacancies in all of these areas, too. And Centerra? Lease rates range from $18 – $23/sf, nnn. Vacancy is low as well. In other words, the most sought after, upscale area of town is asking for a subsidy from all other landowners, all of which could make a better argument for blight designation, using lease rates or vacancy rates as the yardstick.
The request is repugnant. It asks the poor & middle classes of Loveland to make the super-wealthy developers, who don’t even live here any longer, even wealthier. It coerces money from competing commercial real estate holders to subsidize their competition. Most of all, it’s just a bald-faced lie, and the liars should be ashamed of themselves. *Any councilor who votes for it should be aware that the campaign to unseat them begins in the next instant.