Forty years ago, investors built luxury garden apartments for under $10,000 per apartment. More recently, comparable units are under development in an upscale Harrisburg suburb costing under $100,000 per apartment.

“When the agreements which govern the hotel and convention center project were drawn up, the powers of the LCCCA were severely limited. This means that the LCCCA has been essentially powerless in the design and construction of the integrated facility; the ‘private partner’ which controls the ownership of the hotel business is also the master developer, general trades contractor, and precast concrete contractor for the entire project. This same ‘private partner’ chose the project construction manager, as well as the joint manager of both the hotel and convention center.”

In response to NewsLanc’s “Right To Know request”, the Lancaster County Convention Center Authority (LCCCA) provided digital copies of all invoices for legal services in its possession. Additional information has been gleaned from the Report from Chief Justice Emeritus Stephen A. Zappala on Stevens & Lee charges to the LCCCA.

Given the deceptions surrounding the Convention Center Project and the Norfolk Southern rail yard relocation, how can we in Lancaster any longer believe anything we are told by Jack Buckwalter, John Fry and Dale High?

A presumably knowledgeable source who was not directly involved in the TRRAAC controversy commented to a reporter that it was good that the old “Brick Yard” dump was being excavated and relocated as part of the rail yard relocation because this eliminated the source of ground water contamination.

Recently it came to NewsLanc’s attention that the several large planters on the Market side of Penn Square are currently adorned with nothing more than clover and weeds. In the peak of the Spring season, there is a not a flower to be seen at the heart of Downtown Lancaster.

Curious to discover for how long NewsLanc has been publishing its newsletter, we discovered how fitting was the lead article to the first newsletter: Lancaster Newspapers’ ‘Day of Infamy’: August 11, 2006- On August 11, [2006] the Intelligencer Journal crossed a red line when it ran a banner headline that purposefully and falsely announced: “Center Closes Fund Gap.” The article also extensively quoted its own chairman, Jack Buckwalter, who said: “This is a happy day. It looked like this project would fail. Failure was not an option.”

Tonight over fifty residents from the neighborhood surrounding Franklin & Marshall College (F&M) met at the school’s Barshinger Building to discuss a recent crime increase in the area bounded by Race Ave, President Ave, Harrisburg Pk, and Buchanan Ave. Local police officials attended the meeting, as well asMayor Rick Gray, F&M President John Fry, and Lisa Riggs of the James Street Improvement District (JSID).

With an audience of about 50 persons looking on, Convention Center Authority solicitor Kris Hausner started the meeting by recommending that discussion be limited to what needs to be done to open the complex, in part “because discussion concerning past events could prejudice the Authority in the future.” Chair Art Morris then explained that “all board members have been advised of this before hand” and that he intended “to follow the solicitor’s advice.”

Today the County Commissioners approved a $75,000 State grant to fund a “Transit Revitalization Investment District (TRID) Study.” The study is a prerequisite to instituting an official TRID in what is known as the Gateways Area surrounding the Amtrak station in Manheim Township and northwestern Lancaster City.

The fact that former LCCCA chairman Ted Darcus maintained such an impenetrable shield of secrecy over an issue where there was apparently nothing to hide is proof positive of the paranoia and ineptitude which characterized the creation and implementation of the hotel and convention center project.

A NewsLanc reporter took a stroll around Penn Square this week to chat with passing construction workers about the progress of the recently-delayed Convention Center project. The plan was to gather an impression of how the project is coming along from the “ground level,” so to speak. But few workers felt inclined to share any detailed information.