Editorial “Mayor Gray’s next challenge” states: “Indeed, Gray received a great pre-inaugural present last week when Gov. Tom Corbett named Lancaster as one of two City Revitalization and Improvement Zones in the state — a designation that could bring upward of $100 million in new investment into the city.
“But one issue that remains undone is the need to create a level tax base for all residents of the city. Gray made that an issue in his 2010 inaugural address and it remains every bit as important today. That requires convincing state lawmakers that property owners alone cannot continue to finance city services.”
WATCHDOG: 1) The City Revitalization and Improvement Zones (CRIZ) is like a ‘pay check loan’ because future taxes from the projects will go to pay off past debt rather than the needs of the time.
2) If there is less future tax revenue, city and county residents will need to make up the difference by paying even more than otherwise. So CRIZ offers no relief. It is living high today at the expense of our children and grandchildren.
3) CRIZ will be used for large new projects of dubious merit that create a feeding trough for special interests. For example, there is no big fees and contracts for renovating and expanding the Lancaster Public Library, a project that was displaced when its funding was re-channeled to the Convention Center. Another example: Acquiring and razing most of Lancaster Square East and reselling to private enterprise for upscale condominiums generates little opportunities for special interests to consume vast sums.
4) The editorial also reported “Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray recited lines from Langston Hughes’ poem “There is a dream in the land,” which concludes: “To save the dream for one it must be saved for all.”
Judged by the Convention Center Project and CRIZ, what he really meant is for some to get rich it must be at the expense of the public.
Mayor Gray and LNP are liberal to the core. looking out of presents wants, rather than long-term needs; at the expense of future generations of taxpayers.
EDITOR: With all due respect, that’s not “liberal”, that’s reckless. These things don’t serve the needs of the general public. Rather they are feeding trough for the already rich.