Why does WARF – the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery – want the CDA to give them $300,000 for their $180M bond project? And what is CDA going to do with those Lake Point Condos? And why don’t they want to do what the federal government prefers which is to use Truman Olson for homeless programs? And why isn’t it CDAs (the “Master Developer”) problem if the Allied Drive project doesn’t hire Allied Drive residents to do the work there? What? What? What?
First, let me say, going to a CDA meeting is infinitely frustrating. The agency that touted it openness during the Allied Drive process, is, at times, anything but. There is rarely enough materials for the public, the rooms are often crowded and difficult to hear in, and the information isn’t available electronically linked on their agendas and even if it was linked, they often hold their meetings in rooms without wireless access. Oh, and when they go into closed session, Alders are not allowed to stay. Often Alders Kerr or Bruer give me their copies of materials after the discussion is over, and I appreciate that, but its no way to run a public meeting.
I have two huge sources of frustration in this regard to lack of information from their meeting last night.
WARF/WISCONSIN INSTITUTE FOR DISCOVERY
The first was this item that appeared on their agenda with no linked materials:
7a Consideration of a request from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation for the CDA to waive a portion of the required bond closing fee for the redevelopment project in the 1200 and 1300 blocks of University Avenue.
It was a little unclear what George Austin, the former Secretary of the CDA, was asking the CDA to do. Apparently, their project, for which the CDA is providing/hosting a $180M bond, with $50M from the state and a gift of $50M (and maybe another $50M it was hard to tell) is asking the CDA to give WARF, a “non-profit”, $300,000. Essentially, I think he was trying to say that the $600,000 fee that the CDA charges (1/3 of 1% of $180M) should be donated to WARF so that they could buy more science equipment for the Center because they’re a non-profit and it would help their mission and it would be “exciting” for the City to be a part of this project. What’s more interesting is the WARF has other options and could get bonding elsewhere, but the CDA offers double tax exempt bonds, saving WARF even more money.
If the CDA grants this request, it means they will have less money to do the things they need to do on Allied Drive, Lake Point, Villager, Truax, Truman Olson and who knows what else and ultimately, will come with their hands out to the City, and it’s taxpayers – and we will likely fork it over. Do you think the CDA has the ability to just give away this money at this time? They wisely referred this to a later date for more thought.
LAKE POINT
The second issue was the Lake Point project. It’s hard for me to share information with you because they didn’t have copies of what they were talking about for the public, or the Mayor’s office. It makes it very hard to follow the discussion when you can’t see the spreadsheets they are referring to.
This is what appeared on their agenda with no linked materials:
5 DISCUSSION/ACTION REGARDING THE LAKE POINT CONDOMINIUM PROJECT
As I understand it, with a back of the envelope calculation and not enough facts available to the folks who were doing the calculations – if they take over the condo project the best case scenario they
- Would have $18,000 in holding costs per month
- Could make $664,000 if they sold everything immediately (yeah, right, in this condo market?)
- Have 37 months before they end up “upside down” (they love that phrase)
That’s the best case scenario. But, there was all kinds of ifs. Concerns ranged from not knowing how many hidden costs there might be in liens and apparently there was $300,000 that might not be in the calculations. And, they’re not certain the condos are priced at the right price.
If you ask me, they made a huge mistake when they didn’t choose the Wisconsin Partnership for Housing Development to do this project. And now they have to clean up their mistake. I wonder how much this is going to cost us – um, I mean the CDA.
My frustration with the next two items was that even tho they were supposed to discuss these two items – they didn’t.
TRUMAN OLSON
This one brings up a different frustration. No staff showed up, so they didn’t talk about it. If I was a member of the public who showed up to hear what they had to say – and there was at least one person there – I would be mad that I wasted my time. Interestingly enough, the one thing they did say was that they were “on track” and determined to make this site “economic development”. i.e. not transitional housing for the homeless.
MERGER
This item appeared on the agenda, with no links to any information:
8a Discussion regarding the Community Development Authority / Dane County Housing Authority (DCHA) Merger
The public was quickly informed that this was not going to be a discussion. They reported there was a meeting with the Mayor and there will be another one. Public not invited. Despite this warning, a few CDA member, and one Andy Heidt, managed to get in a few words. CDA members really wanted to know in what universe this was a good idea and what the thinking is. Apparently, the meeting that was had was just an identification of the possible issues that they should eventually discuss. And it was clear, they didn’t want to get into that discussion now.
And here’s one more gem from the meeting.
ALLIED DRIVE
There is growing concern that the City’s promise to the residents of Allied Drive that they would get jobs out of the development that is happening in their neighborhood will not be honored. When chair Levitan asked about this, the response, through gritted teeth, from our Planning and Community and Economic Development Director and CDA Secretary Mark Olinger was:
Our job is to build the building. On budget. On time.
And then he quickly reminded them of the fast approaching deadlines and requirements that they have to meet to keep the tax credits they were awarded. Alder Kerr quickly asked for clarification and the explanation is that its the City’s problem and she should talk to Larry Nelson about the public works (demolition and streets) part of the project.
