All is not well in Downtown TRIDland. And that’s good news.
As the Post-Gazette reports it:
“A plan to borrow tens of millions of dollars to spur redevelopment projects Downtown has left some city officials — and residents — skeptical over the lack of details in how the money will be spent.”
Imagine that.
“The money — $50 million in all — would come from a bond issue being considered by City Council, and authorized through a state program that was designed to improve public infrastructure and fund other projects around transit hubs.”
The P-G notes that under the plan, “the city would pay back the $50 million loan by using the increases in property tax revenue that come from new development in an area that encompasses Downtown and parts of the Strip District and the North Shore.”
At least some of it heavily taxpayer-funded development, we would remind, in the TRID area (with “TRID” standing for “Transit Revitalization Investment District”).
The county and Pittsburgh Public Schools must also sign off on the plan. And Pittsburgh Regional Transit gets its say, too. As far as what it gets to spend, that is.
But, the P-G notes, the plan “sets aside only $10 million of the borrowed money for infrastructure improvements, while the remaining $40 million would be doled out to developers to help fund the sweeping revitalization effort underway in the city’s center.”
Translation: Nod-nod, wink-wink. It’s a giant corporate wealthfare program that exploits a TRID. And it’s analogous to the malarkey of the bended, folded, stapled and mutilated TRID program that’s being used on the much-touted Esplanade project just west of the West End Bridge.
How would transit be improved? “Trust us,” backers appear to be saying. But what about the details. “Details, schmetails,” many of those same backers also appear to be saying. “Let us get this plan rolling – approved — and we’ll figure that all out later,” they pretty much are saying.
How vague is the transit component?
Get a load of this “detail,” from the P-G, per Susheela Nemani-Stanger, executive director of Pittsburgh’s Urban Redevelopment Authority: Not only will the money supposedly strengthen connections between Downtown and Oakland – a project already under construction via a rapid bus transit project — “the money could also be spent on improving pedestrian safety in the Golden Triangle by improving crosswalks,” the P-G reports.
Hey, perhaps DayGlo fluorescent painted crosswalks cannot be far behind, eh?
As the P-G also reports, and thankfully so: “[T]he prospect of the city taking on more debt only to hand the money to real estate developers has sparked pushback from residents throughout the city,” and some public officials alike.
It’s about time such supposedly public-purpose ram-rodding is called into question. But it’s unlikely the few “naysayers” can overcome the usual rubber-stamping suspects of such debates.
One of the wags with whom we regularly converse calls this TRID laughable.
“It is obvious that the politicians around here are totally clueless when it comes to economic growth. These folks are the very reason why this area’s No. 1 export continues to be our kids.
“These ever-increasing government bribery schemes (both in dollar amount and complexity) will never create prosperity,” the wag says, lamenting the decades it is taking to redevelop the former civic arena site, as but one example.
“The fact that these politicians, most of whom couldn’t run a lemonade stand without a government subsidy, seriously believe that they, and their socialist community group grifter friends, need to micromanage everything is the problem.”
Well said, Mr. Wag.
Colin McNickle is communications and marketing director at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).
