Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Another Downtown Caldwell Business Closes Doors":
So the task that lies ahead of the informed citizens of Caldwell is 'What will the catalyst be for change in Caldwell.' How do the un- or mis-informed become aware of the fact that the well has run dry in Caldwell? The very plan that was inmplimented to correct the course of downtown Caldwell by eliminating blithe has become the very same plan that is crushing this community into a blithe full wasteland.To those paying double the taxes on thier property taxes vs last year, the writing is on the wall. There is no demand for tenants in the downtown district due to no services or foot traffic, the property values have plummeted to the point that it makes no business sense to throw good money at bad money by renovation of the buildings, and the shear number of vacant buildings has obliverated the resale market.
And yet, at the end of the day, Caldwell's voters continue to drink the Nancolas kool aid and either can't see past the mis information or simply don't care. The milk and cookies, great day for Caldwell speech continues to keep the current administration in office, all the while promises of a new day in Caldwell plan o the month tactics have absolutely zero financial backing to support the effort, thus making even the most well thought out concepts doomed to fail.
What will it take? Your guess is as good as mine.
Apathy is proving to be a very strong force in Caldwell. It is the city nobody really cares about save a few people making racket about all the blunders made by Mayor Nancolas and his supporters.
ReplyDeleteThe City of Caldwell has a lot of great attributes; however the political powers have made Caldwell a very unpredictable and risky place to make investments. By trying to force business downtown it has had an unwanted consequence of telling business to go away. Downtowns thrive when there are people and businesses committed to the community. Maybe if the City appreciated all investments in its community it might find a renewed interest in its downtown
ReplyDeleteThe subdivision developers using cheap farm land between Linden and Highway 55, to build houses requiring almost no down payment, gave the illusion to the City Leaders that Caldwell was starting to prosper. Glutted with new property tax $$$$$, the City Leaders started all kinds of projects that would get their names cast in bronze and glued to the side of a building for all future people to see how great they were.
ReplyDeleteOn Linden just east of the interstate, sits just such a building. The "Caldwell Air Terminal" is there with a bronze casting with the names of the City Leaders proudly claiming responsibility for this grand accomplishment. I don't know what the building is for since Caldwell has no commuter airline services. The building is unoccupied and empty, the City Leaders are probably out of money and can't furnish it or staff it up. Just as well, why would someone fly into Caldwell?
Another problem with downtown buildings is they are old, outdated, and fire traps. Costs to bring them up to date make it cheaper to just knock them down and start over. Here is where Urban Renewal was meant to be applied and referenced in the 2006 Leland Report.
ReplyDeleteUR buys the property and clears it of existing structures and then sells the property on a par with virgin dirt. This is the origins of UR laws to clear blight and renew cities. Caldwell has abused the law to spend the money on everything but "RENEWAL". Shame on them for doing this. We will not see another growth opportunity like the last 15 years for a long way into the future.
Nobody in their right mind would spend what it takes to bring downtown Caldwell back with the existing buildings and the inherent costs to make them safe and up to code. I have to believe all of this figures into each business that decides to leave downtown. Costs to comply with codes and excessively high property taxes make Caldwell very unattractive to invest. Other places will bring more bank for investment dollars.
Why would anyone in their right mind want to run for Mayor of Caldwell or the Caldwell city counsel? To clean up the goofed up mess that these fellas have left to the city tax payer? Caldwell will be stuck with these goofy guys for a long time.
ReplyDeleteYou obviously have not heard all of this is part of the "plan" and everything is right on target for ...oh I can't seem to remember this part.
ReplyDeleteCaldwell had a fairly decent turnout for the last election and the city council kept their seats by a narrow margin and the mayor a 3-1 margin. They are now spending all the political capital the voters anointed upon them for the good of Caldwell.
Good Post.
ReplyDeleteCaldwell and Nampa have the same proplem. citizens who do not pay attention how their tax money is being spent, and a mayor and city council who are all to willing to spend it. Nampa will soon start construction of an $18,000,000 police station and plans for a new library which will cost far more than that are in place. Canyon County wants $48,000,000 for a new jail, at leaset we will have a vote on the jail.Our so called civic leaders are spending us into the poor house
ReplyDeleteI could not helped but notice the IPT article about the city counsel meeting and them patting themselves on the back. Yammomoto said his work was done or was it that the money had run dry. He was praised for his accomplishments.
ReplyDeleteWhat were they? I would guess that it was really not a whole lot! Just like the success of Urban Renewal in Caldwell. I don't see a lot of commerce going on.
It seems like Yammomoto got "out" at the right time. Now I just wish those long-time incumbents would do the same. Let some new leadership in.
ReplyDeleteJust our of curiosity Paul where is the AG with the UR thing? It's like it got sent to him and he filed it below EVERYTHING he has. Or how can we find out where it is?
ReplyDeleteWe are all getting impatient about the AG's investigation of CEURA. I sent off an inquiry. This is what I got back:
ReplyDelete"Mr. Alldredge,
Unfortunately I cannot share any information with you regarding the investigation other than to tell you that it is ongoing. Upon the completion of our investigation, a prosecutorial review will be conducted by attorneys within our office and the Canyon County Prosecutor will be notified of our findings and intentions."
Until Mr. Bujak gets the findings back from the AG's Office we all get to wait it out.
AG's investigation oc cladwell's "UR" is ongoing and remain so!
ReplyDelete