Saturday, March 17, 2007

Polls

I have closed the most recent poll where I asked you to classify me as a member of a Political Party based on 20 of my views.

The results were STRANGE...

27 votes for Democrat
27 votes for Libertarian
3 votes for Republican

Huh?

I do not understand that one...

I have decided to start a new one. The new poll concerns Downtown Development.

You can vote in the new poll once per day and I hope everyone takes the time to vote in the new poll...

This is in honor of Sam Talarico and his views of Downtown Development (Sam seems to think moving an existing baseball stadium Downtown is the best and only hope to save Fort Wayne!)

Due to popular request I have added several options including NONE OF THE ABOVE to my poll about Downtown Development...

Mike Sylvester

16 comments:

Robert Enders said...

I'm going to abstain. I support businesses by conducting my business there. I do not go to baseball games, nor do I go to casinos.

Unknown said...

Mike,

You forgot the option, "None of the above"

Fred Rost

Anonymous said...

Who goes to a blog called "XX Libertarian John Doe" and votes for any option OTHER than "libertarian"?

I'm betting the 27 votes for Democrat had to do with libertarian noninterference in social issues.

As for the activity votes, let me tell you that we here in North Haverbrook also have an IMax theatre, which has struggled mightily over the years. It's doing some better than in years past now that they show first run movies there as well. But it was yet another thing where earnings failed to live up to the promised hype.

Andrew Kaduk said...

I do think those who vote the "none of the above" option should be encouraged to voice their opinion about what would be their choice for a catalyst. Solving problems requires people with suggestions and opinions, not those who just have a penchant for naysaying.

Robert Enders said...

Now that I can vote NOTA, I will.

Andrew Kaduk said...

I guess I'm inclined to give you a pass, Robert...as you truly believe that doing nothing is a good idea. I don't entirely disagree...but yours is not a philosophy born of "bah humbug," but rather one of discipline. I just suspect that some of the "none of the above" voters will likely have something in mind.

scott spaulding said...

Are these ideas supposed to replace the ballpark at the Harrison Square site? What if Lincoln isn't willing to sell their land for an IMAX theater or aquarium in their backyard?

What if there's already a water park developer looking at sites in Fort Wayne and we can have both Harrison Square and a waterpark?

Doug H 3rd Dist Rep LPIN said...

To All,

I drive around this town every day. That is my job. I have driven at least 500 miles per week in Fort Wayne for the last 4 years.

For part of my time in Fort Wayne I worked in an office downtown in what was the United Way Building (corner of Barr and Washington).

When I was just out of highschool I helped dig the holes for trees at what was to become the Barr Street Market. The idea was for farmers and vendors to come in and attract folks with locally grown foods. I don't know why it didn't work, but it didn't seem to catch on.

I have three (3) philosophical disagreements with what is currently proposed:

#1) The city of Ft Wayne acted in an immoral manner by abusing Eminent Domain to take property owned by one person to give it to another;

#2) Public money is being used to favor certain business interests over others by going ahead with this project;

#3) We already have a baseball stadium that is drawing a certain group of people to this community and simply DUPLICATING it in another location will NOT draw significantly more businesses.

My disagreement with the use of public funds is the assumption of risk.

For my retirement plan I required my financial planner to invest in a program that "does not invest ANY money in US Treasury Bonds. I refuse to invest in a government that is $7 Trillion in debt." So he put all of MY money in their Europacific Growth Fund. The risk is mine. All rewards OR losses will be MINE. I am the only one that will suffer if my decision is a bad one.

Who will pay back the taxpayers if this project is a flop? Who will indemnify the taxpayers the millions of dollars lost if this fails?

Will all those with power to vote on this issue sign a document promising to pay back the money if it doesn't succeed? The question is rhetorical as the answer is obvious.

I've heard it said that it will take at least $10 million to repair the current stadium. Does anyone follow this planning backwards?

Consider please: The current baseball stadium was planned so poorly OR run so poorly that it is incapable of maintaining itself. What will change when the new stadium is built? Will the financial mechanics be built into it ahead of time to guarantee self sufficiency or will it be yet another drain on our tax dollars?

With respect to Mr. Scott I would propose the following axiom:

Just because there isn't a better idea than the Baseball Stadium DOESN'T make that idea by default a good one.

The intentions of improving our downtown are good ones. I think we can all agree on that.

Can we at least agree that when $125+ million are going to be spent that they not be gambled on "dreams" but rather based on cold hard facts?

In the end, if it were one person or companies money I would support their decision to do what they want. But when some of it is our money it is only fair to show us the courtesy seeing that all of Mike's questions are answered. Don't we deserve that as we are going to be paying for it?

With Respect,

Doug Horner
Secretary, LPAC

david said...

People have been asking about how much draw the ballpark brings downtown. Find the following site of statistics (2003)

http://www.ballparkwatch.com/features/attendance_by_average_2003.htm

Fort Wayne Wizards: 3,894 people on average per game. This times 70+ games assuming we don't draw anyone else: 272,580 people in a season downtown.

Fort Wayne is great for families, no matter what we put downtown, it cannot be just about families - it or the result of it (big picture) must also be attractive to the brain drains ..... that is what we need to solve here so we can diversify our economy with more and better paying jobs.

Number one reason why businesses choose a particular location ? Labor Pool.

We are not in a GM economy anymore.

david said...

sorry, it cut off my link.

http://www.ballparkwatch.com/features
/attendance_by_average_2003.htm

Jeff Pruitt said...

David,

The brain drain occurs from a LACK OF JOBS. I do not see how this project fixes that basic problem. I have seen no analysis that suggests this project will create high paying jobs for young professionals like some are claiming.

Will it help RETAIN some people that might have otherwise left? Possibly but that certainly isn't worth the $70+ Million we're investing.

Until someone convinces me that this project will create 500-750 high paying jobs ($>50k) within 3 years, I don't think I can support it...

david said...

It occurs because of lack of jobs and lack of things to do. You must have both to attract young professionals - they go hand in hand. One of our top 3 technology employers loses about 30 engineers a year due to lack of nightlife / things to do in Ft Wayne.

Nothing can prove that 750 jobs will be created - take a risk for once. Not taking risk is what has caused this region to fail. We want to study everything until it is obsolete. We must have proof and we must micro manage our elected officials. Meanwhile the rest of the US just keeps passing us by ......

Jeff Pruitt said...

So adding a baseball stadium and some bars downtown will keep those 30 people? I would argue PAYING THEM MORE would keep them as well. Some people want the action of larger cities and Fort Wayne will never be able to compete in that arena.

I'm not asking for PROOF, I'm asking if there is ANY evidence whatsoever. Also, I don't believe the region has failed. And if anything is to blame for this "failure" it's our own government's ridiculous trade policies (a debate for another time I suppose).

Should we not be skeptical about a project this large when it comes to elected officials that won't be around to be held accountable?

Robert Enders said...

The question then becomes where are they going after they leave? If they are going to the coasts, warmer climates, or cities with over a million people, then there isn't anything that we can do for them. These are things that Fort Wayne cannot be.

Lower property taxes would be the same as paying them more. The Midwests' greatest appeal is that it is both a good place to do business and it has a low cost of living. The South has a low cost of living as well, but they are just catching up in the business department.

Change Fort Wayne said...

I'd love to see the reaction to the CRED money being used towards a casino. The options on your poll are mostly privately funded projects. Show me the investors for the other options.

LP Mike Sylvester said...

Paul:

We could find investors fairly easily be sending out RFP's...

Mike Sylvester

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