Penn Square Partners (PSP) gets off for nothing, literally.
Instead of paying hundreds of thousands in additional Food and Beverage commissions each and every year under the Commissioner Scott Martin Plan (MP), the Gray Proposal simply has them forgiving $350,000, a “portion”, of the debt the LCCCA owes them…[exactly how large is the LCCCA debt to PSP?].
What and why does the LCCCA owe PSP? Even it the debt is valid, the LCCCA, who cannot pay their own bond debt, is in no position to payback PSP so who cares… PSP can get in line behind the rest of the creditors.
You certainly cannot equate the forgiveness of this debt to $1 million plus that would be thrown into the pot by PSP under the MP. I don’t know how City Planner Randy Patterson or Mayor Rick Gray or Commissioner Craig Lehman (who I think also may have had a hand in this) can offer it with a straight face regarding PSP’s “contribution”.
The city’s portion, or lack thereof, seems to be a request to Redevelopment Authority of the city of Lancaster (RACL) to take some of the money it collects from PSP and put it towards marketing. Once again, we have another stakeholder, and the only other potential stakeholder to see benefit from the project, getting away without throwing in any real dollars…unlike the proposed city portion of the MP.
Gray makes an offer for the Pennsylvania Dutch Country and Visitors Bureau (PDCVB) to receive a portion of the increased proceeds on the bed tax, but the excise tax is not in play. How exactly can Gray do that? Under what authority does the Mayor tell the County Treasurer how to distribute funds? Or do they expect the LCCCA to forward the money to the PDCVB once they receive it?
What would bonds owner Wells Fargo Bank say if the LCCCA had outstanding obligations to the bank? How can they even consider making such a promise?
The tax increase will sunset? … Don’t insult my intelligence.
Mayor Gray and PSP are an insult to all of us, and they are an insult to the words integrity, accountability and cooperation.
Only an ‘outside’ investigation / reporting will ever get the the whole truth and provide that truth to county/city taxpayers. Would WGAL have the ‘barnacles’ to do it??????
Would WGAL have the “barnacles” to do it?
Short answer: No.
I seem to remember they helped the mayor add credibility on his inane blatherings entitled here as “The Funding Gap Closure.”