In a Letter to the Editor, headed “Why not question cost of convention center?”, Randolph Carney asserts
“A decade ago, articles in your newspapers stated that the cost of this project to taxpayers would be $30 million. The actual taxpayer expenditure for the hotel and convention center project has exceeded $140 million…
“Your newspapers never questioned the real estate tax exemption for the [Convention Center] project’s hotel, which would have generated significantly more revenue for Lancaster city and the School District of Lancaster than 150 N. Queen St. Yet you complain about the loss of real estate tax revenue for the county offices.”
To which the Editors respond:
“In an editorial prior to the approval of the Tax Increment Financing Plan on March 9, 2005, the Intelligencer Journal stated: “(Penn Square Partners) must prove conclusively that this plan will ultimately benefit the school district and the city. They must demonstrate that the TIF represents a hand up for the entire community, not a hand out to a group of businessmen.”
WATCHDOG: The editorial makes no mention that Penn Square Partners had previously assured the School District of Lancaster that they would be receiving $400,000 in real estate taxes annually in order to gain SD of L’s support in the selection of Interstate Hotels to manage both the Convention Center and the Marriott.
Nor does it mention the skyrocketing costs and public’s opposition (about 4 out of 5) to government guarantees as reasons to scrap the project.
Rather, buried in an editorial, it makes the above mealy mouth statement in order to try to exculpate itself from future responsibility. When, if ever, will the Lancaster Newspapers, Inc. apologize for these foul deeds?
