EDA, City Council and Three Card Monte

What’s Wrong With This Picture?

In 2008, Kalahari Resorts announced its intention to build one of their “Authentic African Themed Resorts” at Celebrate Virginia. The resort would include an 832 room hotel, four restaurants, a 100,000 sq ft convention center, a 200,000 sq ft. indoor waterpark, a full service spa, a 100,000 sq ft indoor theme park, and 10,000 sq ft of retail shopping. Fredericksburg City Council voted to return to Todd Nelson, owner of Kalahari Resorts, 47.5% of their annual local taxes, in order to snag this project. The buzz phrases used to incite uncontrolled salivation for Fredericksburg residents and their elected officials, then and now are “economic boom” and “major tourist destination.”

Although touted as “shovel ready, two years later, not one single spade of dirt has yet to be turned.

However, two years later, we find Mr. Nelson, back in front of the Economic Development Authority and Council with his hands out, asking for more concessions.

I have this nagging feeling of Déjà vu.

Mr. Nelson just announced (Que Shock!) that he would also like to do a taxable municipal bond issuance through the EDA for $200 million. Yet Mr. Nelson and his financial team have declined to reveal the specifics of the municipal structure regarding the bonds. Unashamedly (although it should come as no surprise), Mr. Nelson has the temerity to demand the EDA waive or reduce its fee for both the tax-exempt and taxable issues, calling the $25 million dollars the city would receive for the taxable portion of the bonds and ostensibly use for economic development; “ridiculous and unnecessary.” Let me repeat that; $25M dollars to the City of Fredericksburg is “ridiculous and unnecessary” per Mr. Nelson. All of this despite the fact that Mr. Nelson has access to $25 million in Recovery Zone Facility Bonds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the probability of another $10 million.

To top it all off, Mr. Nelson isn’t even sure he can sell all of the taxable bonds. However, it is his “hope” that this will happen by the end of 2010. Hell, I “hope” I win the lottery this year, but I don’t plan my financial future around it! Couple that with an evaluation of costs to decide whether or not the project is doable. Doable? A 47.5% rebate on local taxes and two years later and Mr. Nelson still hasn’t decided the project is doable? “DANGER WILL ROBINSON…DANGER!”

My only surprise is that Mr. Nelson didn’t use the sorry state of the “economy” for putting his hand out. Then again, how can he, when he himself touts his parks as “recession resistant.”

Fredericksburg has been in this position before. We saw it with the Silver Companies and Central Park; and with the now infamous Slavery Museum. City Council gave up concession after concession to these two entities. What did we end up with? The asphalt abomination that is Central (Hell) Park and former Gov. Wilder’s dead-on-arrival, Slavery Museum.

While there will be jobs associated with Kalahari, the vast majority will be in the service industry and of little "career" value. The city of Fredericksburg and the surrounding counties are rich with history; ranging from George Washington to the Civil War. The region can become a major tourist destination with more regional cooperation and savvy marketing. We do not need to give up the farm to another Three Card Monte artist, yet again. City Council and the EDA should blink two or three times in order to clear the vision of fleeting dollar signs from their eyes, remove their rose colored glasses and send Mr. Nelson and Kalahari packing.

It's All About Communicating

The City of Fredericksburg appears to have a major disconnect when communicating with its citizens. During the recent record breaking snowstorms, the salting and plowing of neighborhood streets was spotty and a number of them, simply overlooked. I concluded that city representatives were most likely receiving quite a bit of hate mail because of the situation.

Despite extensive searching of the city's website, I was unable to find any mention of snow removal efforts or the trials, tribulations the city was going through. There was an after action report from the December storm, but nothing on the current efforts. My search for communication continued. I presumed the Mayor, Vice Mayor and each council member would have some sort of blog/website in order to communicate with their constituents about the situation. In this I was wrong. While one councilman has a website, I found nothing on it about the city's uphill battle with the snow & ice. Another council member pointed me towards a FredTalk site that discussed snow removal. It was buried (no pun intended) in the Fredericksburg Community forum.

My point? City representatives need to be more communicative with residents when incidents like this occur. Residents were/are screaming for roads to be plowed. What they don't know (and I only recently learned) is that city plows have rubber tipped blades. These are good only for small to moderate amounts of snow and protect the tarmac better than steel blades. Well, we've had something slightly more than "small to moderate amounts of snow," thus the plows can only be effective to a point. Had this small tidbit of information been forthcoming, I predict much of the venom from residents, may have been ameliorated. Even if council members are unable to do anything, the perception that they too are experiencing the same frustration, pain, heartburn and inconvenience, earns them some capital, understanding and tolerance from their constituents.

I personally would like to see all of our elected representatives with some type of Blog or website. Not only to communicate with the residents of their specific wards, but to all residents. Providing individual views and insight; good, bad or indifferent, on not just major events such as this seasons snowstorms, but on all matters pertaining to the city. Sure, we can read about their positions in the local paper; but that naturally contains a journalistic slant, selected sound bites and rarely provides the whole story. Most people appreciate getting their information, unfiltered. Heck, I know I do. While I may not agree with every position of my elected representatives, they earn my respect for being forthright and allowing me to hear/read it in their own words.

Missed Opportunities and Frustration

I previously wrote about the joy of living in a real neighborhood. A place where we all come together to help one another. With an additional 18" of snow received over the course of last weekend, we once again emerged from our homes to begin digging.

One of the first things we noticed was that the City had not yet come through to plow or scrape. Not one pass on the street. I understand the need to put resources towards the main roads and keep them clear during the storm. As of this writing, almost 48 hours after then final flake has fallen, the City still has not shown its face on Winchester Street. We now have 4-6" of hard packed ice. Both Sunday afternoon and today the City missed, in my opinion, opportunities to do additional clearing, not only here but on the main roads as well. With temperatures in the mid 30's and bright sun, the snow is melting. A heavy slush that would have been much easier to remove. Instead, it will refreeze with the low of 16 degrees for tonite, create havoc for drivers and serve as a hellacious base for the next round of winter weather that is to begin tomorrow afternoon.

Where is Public Works to scrape the streets and massive ice ruts that exist? More importantly where is City Council to oversee the situation? I'm sure there are streets in the same state and residents all over the city, asking the same questions, however, I really don't care about them. I care about the folks in the 5 blocks that make up the length of Winchester St.