I wonder how much they will put on their lobbying report for making the video?
Shawn Doherty at the Cap Times has been doing a great job digging in to the Edgewater issue, the Isthmus also blogged on this email below. I’m guessing the media blitz is on and we’ll see the media getting the word out for the Edgewater more. Here’s what the alders and Mayor got.
Dear Mayor Soglin and Madison City Council Members,
I wanted to share a couple of exciting new pieces of content regarding the Edgewater redevelopment project. We have created a short video, “Great City Great Moment”, which features members of the community discussing the benefits of the project to the city, community and neighborhood: http://bit.ly/edgewatervideo.
We also have a new rendering of the Edgewater which showcases the public space and some of the wonderful activities that will be available to Madison’s residents and visitors on a year around basis: http://on.fb.me/winterrendering.
Both of these pieces showcase the many public amenities and benefits that will result from the City’s $16 million TIF investment in the project. Importantly, the City’s investment is being used to create these public spaces. It is not being used for the development of hotel rooms.
Your investment will realize the vision that we created together for the project. It will result in increased tourism and spending in the region, significantly increase tax base, generate economic development in one of our most important downtown areas, create new jobs – now and in the future, and result in a unique destination within our City that can be enjoyed by residents and visitors alike.
Please call me if you have any questions related to these materials or the project.
Thank you.
Amy Supple
Hammes Company
I particularly like how they act like the council helped create the vision. It’s more like they were sold it, and the council swallowed it hook line and sinker or bought it without kicking the tires or looking under the hood. Now that the truth is coming out, that the facts that were glossed over are being discussed and the public has sort of lost its will to dole out $16M in assistance to multi-billion dollar corporations, I wonder if anything will change. Or, will the council feel like they made a decision and will blindly stick with it due to ego?
Brenda:
Regardless, you’re not on the council anymore and it’s not your call to make. That fact might seem obvious, yet it bears repeating since you seem to think you could run things so much better than the folks presently doing so. At every critical stage of the game, Edgewater opponents have failed. They failed at the Common Council. They failed in the courts. And again, they failed when they suggested private financing for the project would never materialize. The project is going to happen – and the shrill band of community blowhards in opposition will just have to find something else to complain about.