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I can only laugh at the foolish comments below the story though. It would really make sense for the City to build a building and lease excess space until it needs it and also lease additional class "A" office space (which is needed and commands high rates), retail and residential. It would be a diversified investment. The city would most likely hire a management company to handle the day to day operations. It would also sit on the balance sheet as an asset, and could improve the bond capabilities of the city, which would reduce the need to use TIF's to finance parking projects.
So the building could be 6 floors of parking at 60ft, 20 floors of office space (15 for the city eventually, and 5 for lease) at 250 ft. 7 floor of residential at 70ft (less than 130 units) and 30ft for roof and mechanical floors, we can get to a 410ft building at least. Add in a hotel and you could get close to 500ft tall.
Can by that i can probably draw a little picture of that idea to get a rough idea of what that'll look like in downtown.
I can only laugh at the foolish comments below the story though. It would really make sense for the City to build a building and lease excess space until it needs it and also lease additional class "A" office space (which is needed and commands high rates), retail and residential. It would be a diversified investment. The city would most likely hire a management company to handle the day to day operations. It would also sit on the balance sheet as an asset, and could improve the bond capabilities of the city, which would reduce the need to use TIF's to finance parking projects.
So the building could be 6 floors of parking at 60ft, 20 floors of office space (15 for the city eventually, and 5 for lease) at 250 ft. 7 floor of residential at 70ft (less than 130 units) and 30ft for roof and mechanical floors, we can get to a 410ft building at least. Add in a hotel and you could get close to 500ft tall.
LOL>.Yeah.. the average Columbian doesn't spend time to get enlightened on these types of issues...How local governments do redevelopment is only of interest to a handful of residents and most are either in areas where they WISH would be redeveloped or get more city attention OR they live in an area where they have high tax/water bills and feel they aren't getting what they pay for. They just view their tax bill and then read articles about the city spending money.. then look outside at their street and see a pothole or a review a high water bill.. then get mad and scream "What the #$@K am I paying for some development downtown that I will never shop, live or eat in for? Where is my TAXBREAK..Its that friggin mayor making deals for himself leveraging MY MONEY...".
I do think the City has eroded the "public trust" in decision making when deciding what to spend money on and how much to spend.. and in this era of "anti government spending" we will likely see more of this.. I said it before.. The average Columbian that is not in real estate, banking, development, business, government or on City Data.. doesn't want to spend tax money on government driven economic development especially if they feel their city services are lacking.....
LOL>.Yeah.. the average Columbian doesn't spend time to get enlightened on issues.. They just view their tax bill and then read articles about the city spending money.. then look outside at their street and see a pothole or a review a high water bill.. then get mad. I do think the City has eroded the "public trust" in decision making when deciding what to spend money on and how much to spend.. and in this era of "anti government spending" we will likely see more of this.. I said it before.. The average Columbia that is not in real estate, banking, development, business, or on City Data.. doesn't want to spend tax money on government driven economic development especially if they feel their city services are lacking.....
If the city didn't have hundreds of millions of deferred maintenance on the water system, and didn't mortgage the city's future to subsidize Hughes lazy development at Bull Street; there might be money for city-data's wishlist of parks and municipal-owned skyscrapers.
If the city didn't have hundreds of millions of deferred maintenance on the water system, and didn't mortgage the city's future to subsidize Hughes lazy development at Bull Street; there might be money for city-data's wishlist of parks and municipal-owned skyscrapers.
Exactly.. its about marketing to some extent and people are not going to buy that XYZ project is a gamechanger that will pay off in 40 years when most people will be dead or near dead.... If you kept up your infrastructure through the years, then there may be less opposition (not saying support for) some of these redevelopment..Opposition tends to drive people when it comes to city spending as opposed to support.. unless its for things like more money for rec center, schools, parks, police, etc which tend to get people out in numbers. As far as the average Columbian in concerned.. downtown and the City Center are doing fine but my hood is not....I have also found that many of the people that have strong opinions about what the City is or is not doing don't live in the City... which is interesting.....
Mayor Steve is getting the brunt of it now because he is the Mayor and has proposed some pretty large initiatives such as CC. The infrastructure issues include but mostly pre date his leadership since he was never a councilman....
Exactly.. its about marketing to some extent and people are not going to buy that XYZ project is a gamechanger that will pay off in 40 years when most people will be dead or near dead.... If you kept up your infrastructure through the years, then there may be less opposition (not saying support for) some of these redevelopment..Opposition tends to drive people when it comes to city spending as opposed to support.. unless its for things like more money for rec center, schools, parks, police, etc which tend to get people out in numbers. As far as the average Columbian in concerned.. downtown and the City Center are doing fine but my hood is not....I have also found that many of the people that have strong opinions about what the City is or is not doing don't live in the City... which is interesting.....
Mayor Steve is getting the brunt of it now because he is the Mayor and has proposed some pretty large initiatives such as CC. The infrastructure issues include but mostly pre date his leadership since he was never a councilman....
Seemingly every decision he makes drives toward one goal: to expand the tax base. He knows that annexation is politically challenging and that USC continues to buy property within city limits, so the best option is bring city, county, and state owned land back on the tax rolls. Of course Columbia on its own cannot generate the kind of organic interest to absorb all of this land, so he's banking on city investments to incentivize developers. How do you explain this to the average resident? It's hard to turn that nuanced synopsis into a talking point. Even so, making decisions behind the scenes has eroded confidence as you mentioned.
To be fair, he knew about the $750M EPA judgment long before he took over as mayor. You can't transform the city and kickstart growth if you're spending all of your budget on maintenance. He's made a very calculated choice to spend general fund money rather than reimburse the sewer and water funds for all of those unauthorized transfers.
Seemingly every decision he makes drives toward one goal: to expand the tax base. He knows that annexation is politically challenging and that USC continues to buy property within city limits, so the best option is bring city, county, and state owned land back on the tax rolls. Of course Columbia on its own cannot generate the kind of organic interest to absorb all of this land, so he's banking on city investments to incentivize developers. How do you explain this to the average resident? It's hard to turn that nuanced synopsis into a talking point. Even so, making decisions behind the scenes has eroded confidence as you mentioned.
To be fair, he knew about the $750M EPA judgment long before he took over as mayor. You can't transform the city and kickstart growth if you're spending all of your budget on maintenance. He's made a very calculated choice to spend general fund money rather than reimburse the sewer and water funds for all of those unauthorized transfers.
Speaking of annexation People don't want to be annexed which is why most SC cities are under populated. There was a lot of misinformation like school zones changing if you annex and on what it means and doesn't mean to come into a city but I suspect all the conversations on taxes and spending play a role. The article below is a case in point
Speaking of annexation People don't want to be annexed which is why most SC cities are under populated. There was a lot of misinformation like school zones changing if you annex and on what it means and doesn't mean to come into a city but I suspect all the conversations on taxes and spending play a role. The article below is a case in point
I read that last night. It sounds like the city staff was ambushed.
Yeah it really did sound that. I was reading it myself. I am disappointed how people act. They make it seem like they are being taken over by North Korea or something.
I read that last night. It sounds like the city staff was ambushed.
They were by the County Councilman who invited them out there. To be honest they should have known better a CITY staffer is invited by a COUNTY politico to come into his County Council District to talk about annexing into THE CITY???? Most County Council members dont get along with their City Council peers and very few support the annexation. Of their district into a city. Yes the city is in the county so they are still the rep but very few city resident know who their county council rep since they likley deal only with the city rep thus diluting the county reps political power
I suspect the county rep did his own whispering campaign against the city and riled everyone up with misinformation then invited the city staff out to get blasted and sent them back to city hall with their tail between their legs to curl up at the feet of the mayor in hopes that they will never broach the issue in north richland again.
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