Leonard

Recently there have been alot of very snobby, liberal know it all hypocrites, ruining the reputation of the Heights....we are rapidly becoming, if we have not already become the snotty, snobby, whiney, brothers kid that everyone makes fun of.

you make fun of your nieces and nephews?

Probably because they got the HEB instead of the Walmart. 

august, I think everyone on this thread knows where Walmart is. 

My objection is to the 380.  If Mayor Parker had given a 380 to build a Walmart in Montrose, I would object to that.  Of course, then I would probably be calling her former Mayor Parker.

Leonard -- that HEB is in a neighborhood.  This Walmart was built on a toxic dump.  If you want to build your home immediately adjacent to a heavily industrialized toxic dump, with heavy rail going through it to boot, don't complain when a Walmart spruces up the area.  (I would not have wanted the Target built at Dunlavy either, but again, the Target was built in the middle of factories, warehouses, and a heavy recycling center.)

htown - are you saying that Montrose is too good for a Walmart?  Are you saying that Walmarts should only be built on toxic dumps?  Would you have been against the Walmart if they had planned to build on Dunlavy? 

htownproud - too bad Walmart didn't build where the Montrose HEB is.  That would've been a nice addition to your neighborhood. 

The good news is that for those of us interested in facts is that we should be able to ask the City for the sales tax numbers for this Walmart once they start paying off the 380.  We already have the projected numbers (high and low).  That will give us an idea of how well the Walmart is performing. 

interest penalties?  what are you talking about? 

And by that I mean that I don't think that the interest rate for a loan is a petty detail.  You might.  The difference in what the Mayor said the interest was (none) and the actual interest could be $4M during the lifetime of the loan. 

one person's pettiness is another's $4M. 

ignorant = uninformed.  You are uninformed about the 380 because you haven't read it. 

Ross - oh yeah, politicians and lawyers are the most trustworthy people around. 

Ross, I assume your opinion is also based on not reading the 380.  And yes, they haven't gotten it yet, and with interest it will be much more than $6M. 

You really haven't been debating me. I don't care. I am fine with the City executing 380s with developers. I didn't read it because no one paid me to read it. And now you are mad that I didn't care enough to read a document that I do not care about? Priceless!

I'm not mad at you, you are making me laugh. 

Is someone paying you to post your unfounded opinions on HAIF? Or is that a freebie?

Has anyone besides me read the 380?  And the Request for Council Action? 

August, feel free to hire lawyers to skim documents for you.  I'm sure that's what the lawyers that crafted the 380 wanted.  The interest rate is a little tricky to figure out. 

Aww, Leonard is getting frustrated that no one agrees with him, so he is taking pot shots at me.   

 

Trust me, Leonard, I've been blasted by far better than you, and over far more important things than a 380 agreement. To answer your question, I have read only part of the 380, because I have no qualms with it. Why waste my time reading something that I no no problem with?

Red, thanks for the laugh.  Glad I've spent so much time debating with you over a document you haven't bothered to read.  Yeah, sure, reading part of it is enough to know you have no issues with it.  Next time I need half a contract read, I'll give you a call. 

August - yeah, pretty much my issues are with the 380.  And now of course the shoddy execution of the work. 

The downside is the 380.  Red, I thought you were a lawyer?  Have you ever read the  Ainbinder 380 and the Request for Council Action?  Probably too advanced for you - pretty sure you wouldn't be able to figure out the interest rate - it's tricky.

The Target development didn't get $6M worth of taxpayer money. 

And since we haven't defined "better", the Walmart isn't "better" than an empty field in generating tax dollars for the City, that money's been spent for the next 10 years on stuff like fire hydrants in the middle of the sidewalk and paint for bridges that are scheduled for demolition. 

In fact, since the 380 rebates all the property taxes, not just the increase (one of the lies in the Request for Council Action), the City will get about $150K less in property taxes per year until it's paid off. 

August, why do you care?  You live in Westchase.  Just a big Walmart fan?

Thanks, SilverJK, I appreciate that.  But I do believe that Walmart was involved in the 380, and I came to that conclusion on my own after reading a lot of stuff about it. 

And as one of my patented unrelated statements, I see on Swamplot that Buc-ees has gotten a 380 in Baytown and that this 380  "involves a waived height restriction for the store’s beaver beacon, so Buc-ee’s can raise one 100 ft. into the air".  This seems like a great use of Baytown's tax dollars to me  - giant beaver signs. 

http://swamplot.com/buc-ees-putting-itself-above-baytown/2013-06-17/

Did you go and look?  I think it's between Chase bank and Walmart on Koehler. 

I'm not a liar, and I resent that.  Just because Red called me one does not make it so. 

Please keep your rude comments about me to yourself. 

Red, I'm sure you're particularly happy with the non-ADA compliant sidewalks.  More potential laughs for you. 

I know that the City, specifically Parker is responsible for this mess.  Who exactly is your beef with?  You got your precious Walmart, why aren't you happy?

Building the Walmart prevents something better being built there.  A grassy field is better than a Walmart, in my opinion.  I wouldn't buy a house next to a Walmart.  You might. 

Regardless of whether or not Walmart is great to live next to or not, the 380 was a waste of $6M of our taxpayer money, since Parker and Ainbinder both say they would have built it with our without the 380. 

I think it does matter what the development was.  A better development would have improved the area.  This development isn't worth our $6M of taxpayer money.  Parker and Ainbinder said they would build anyway - that would have included sewer, water, turn lanes, traffic lights and sidewalks.  The infrastructure they put in is actually substandard.  Broken curbs and fire hydrants in the middle of the sidewalk is substandard development. 

Has the fire hydrant been moved yet? 

I disagree. 

Just because you haven't seen older homes razed and townhouses built inside the loop doesn't mean it hasn't happened.