Cogen hops in bed with "urban renewal"
Why would the chair of the Multnomah County commission go along with allowing real estate developers to skim off huge amounts of property tax revenue, starving essential public services? It's because he gets money for a new building for his own empire out of it. More bureaucracy and greed, working hand in hand here in Portlandia.
| Posted at 2:12 PM | Permalink |
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Comments (7)
Does this mean the future of government is to be a provider of transfer-of-wealth services? I guess as residents we can expect to benefit from the resulting trickle-down economics that will fall from the sky.
Posted by Mr. Grumpy | March 8, 2012 3:18 PM
Something is wrong with Cogan.
He's acting like this is some new funding source.
County services funding will be drained of more revenue, not less, from this deal. All of this new UR debt will be repaid with property taxes taken from county and city services while depleting the state common school fund. Oh well. Someone after them will fix it.
Posted by INFO | March 8, 2012 3:29 PM
It could also be another sign that the local political process is infested with apparatchiks.
Posted by Mr. Grumpy | March 8, 2012 5:41 PM
Cogan didn't do his math.
The proposed URA has a life of 32 years. Minimally the County will be losing over $1 Million per year, and that actually increases each year-roughly $32 Million lost for the County. On top of that the collaborative PSU/County building isn't built for over 10 years, meaning no benefit for the County. Of the $19 Million dollar building, assuming the County might get 50% usage would mean the Co. only reaps $9.5 Million of that.
So for $32 Million lost to Co., it gets $9.5 Million, and no use of their rightful amount of property tax dollars for 10 years, meaning there's a $42 Million difference for a $9.5 Million return. Total loss to the Co. taxpayers=$32.5 Million.
Gosh, what a deal, Cogan. I don't want you negotiating for me. And that seems to be the story of our government officials.
Posted by Lee | March 8, 2012 8:05 PM
Multnomah County Chairman Jeff Cogen praises Portland's urban renewal deal
Calling the district narrow and focused, Cogen also noted that the zone has a definite expiration date of 2044, thanks to the city of Portland's tentative agreement with the county.
But of course he would hop in with this, isn't he an insider and that is what insiders do? Remember he comes out of the city, Saltzman's office.
Is that why the decision for Cogen to not run for Mayor?
Waaaay more beneficial for him to stay on as County Chair, to go along with the plans.
Posted by clinamen | March 8, 2012 8:57 PM
Thanks Jeff for helping the scam along. Without people like you in key positions the construction mafia would never be able to continue to rape and pillage the public assets.
Keep up the good work and best wishes on a cushy consultants job when you finally decide to cash in.
Posted by Tim | March 9, 2012 9:29 AM
Tim,
Would be very interesting to have a chart of movement of certain people back and forth on these projects.
Certainly has not been a level playing field.
Where do you think Sam and Randy will be next year?
Posted by clinamen | March 9, 2012 12:24 PM