A GUARDIAN reader sent us a copy of the lease agreement and we can't figure out if Caldwell taxpayers will see a dime of return on this investment or not. It calls for $200k annually in lease payments for 20,000 square feet of the 39,000 square ft. building. What is going in the remaining 19,000 square ft? A coffee shop built and furnished at Caldwell taxpayer expense will take up a small part of the remaining real estate. Will TVCC be getting a free ride on the remaing portion or will it be used for yet another purpose not known to the public.
We also heard on KBOI Saturday morning radio TVCC director Kathleen Robinson singing the praises of Mayor Nancolas and Mr. Waite for all they have done for out of state TVCC at Caldwell taxpayer expense. Ms. Robinson is hoping to get a Nursing program up and running in the near term also at Caldwell taxpayer expense. Oregon contributes nothing to the operation of TVCC Caldwell operation and to show their appreciation for the largess of taxpayers they send 20% of their gross revenue back to Oregon to subsidize their expenses in Oregon.
In the lease with TVCC the good people of Caldwell will also be responsible for insuring the building, maintenance, repairs and to provide a minimum of 250 parking places within a three block radius of the building.
What is really confusing is the lease document says TVCC will be using 20,000 square feet of the building. We were under the impression they were going to occupy the entire building save a small portion set aside for a coffee shop operation also set up and paid for by Caldwell taxpayers.
What the Caldwell taxpayers are getting is a functioning business in downtown Caldwell that will generate traffic, interest, and momentum. All in a previously vacant set of lots that were generating nothing. Zip. NADA. Something has to be done. Waiting for existing business and property owners to improve their own properties certainly hasn't worked.
ReplyDeleteIt's quite simple really. Mayor Nancolas wants a new city hall and this is his sneaky way of doing it. Without taxpayer approval of course.
ReplyDeleteJust another example of our "leadership" making decisions that will hurt Caldwell in the long run. All the time telling people this will be the rebirth of downtown. I am glad someone like you keeps an eye on these wolves in sheeps clothing. Has the URA offered any other business in downtown the chance to have all their equiptment purchased, or is this just another "friend" of the Mayor deal?
ReplyDeleteIt is funny that Vicky "I am Mayor Nancolas's buddy" Holbrook hasn't had any of this in the Idaho Press Inquirer. Thanks for staying on top of this Paul!
Us taxpayers are just dummies, that could never understand such high ideas and finance. The city is leasing TVCC the classrooms but the halls, restrooms and other non specific areas are being provided as a courtesy as are the parking spaces by the city to show our appreciation of this "Golden Opportunity" of having a prestigous Oregon college in the bowells of downtown Caldwell.
ReplyDeleteFiona says..
ReplyDeleteIf a college/school is such a great generatior of traffic, interest and momentum, explain why there isn't more businesses around the College of Idaho, Caldwell and Vallivue High Schools?
Face it, they squandered the money, gave little to revitalize downtown, created a tax and regulatory disincentive to locate downtown and have cared little for what they already had downtown.
All the downtown businesses have seen their proeprty taxes skyrocket due to the largess of profligate property purchases by the urban renwal agency using our property taxes to create this mess.
The one thriving enterprise downtown is the Felony Probation Office. I am sure the lady who put up her personal money for coffee shop just loves the idea of the Urban Renewal Agency 100% (taxpayer supported) subsidized coffee shop in the TVCC bldg.
Urban Renewal blundering, and dictatorial management of our property tax dollars has pretty well sealed the fate of downtown Caldwell.
The Mayor of Caldwell has done little to keep what we already had in downtown.
If the city wants to stimulate the economy they really need to become business friendly. They have jacked up water-sewer rates. They have burden existing businesses with the Urban Renewal tax. The have made it very difficult to start or maintain a business in caldwell with all the different code regulations. Build TVCC and they will come...I don't believe that will be the case. It is an example of government trying to produce something, that is not their proper role.
ReplyDeleteDo you know why existing businesses (those of us still hanging on) haven't done much to improve our property? Because the taxes are crushing us in this town. The few left here are covering the cost of:
ReplyDelete1. Indian Creek- Price tag, approx $9 million
ROI by way of property tax: ZIP, NADA.
2. YMCA-Price tag, annually, $1,000,000.
ROI by way of property tax: ZIP, NADA
3. Airport terminal-Price tag, $575,000?
ROI by way of property tax: ZIP, NADA
4. TVCC-Price tag, 15.1 + million
ROI by way of property tax: ZIP NADA
ROI 15.1 Million / 200k annual=75.5 yrs
(assuming 100% occ for 75.5 years 0% interest)
I could go on...Public school parking lots, Bleachers, condemned buildings, etc, etc, etc.
How many tacos a day you think the poor guy at Aculpoco has to sell to cover his share? Or bottles of glitter at the craft store? The poor people who have empty buildings; well they don't even have an income on the prop to offset the taxes.
Surviving this administrations (or at least the quasi-mayors) management decisions is all they can do. Spending whatever nickels they may have left to fix up the facade's of their buildings to keep the parolee's, the tumbleweeds, and the brainwashed like you smitten is the least of their concerns.
Your naivete to both the Caldwell's spending spree over the last 10 years and consequently it's resident's tax burden tells me you either just got off the bus or you hold public office in Caldwell.
Wake up.
I have looked into the abysis and have seen the enemy, me. City hall and Urbun Renewall will save it all, and alass I will be gone to a happier hunting ground.
ReplyDeleteI too heard the comment by Kathleen Robinson about wanting more from Caldwell taxpayers before the paint is dry or classes even starting in the new Caldwell TVCC building. She wants Caldwell taxpayers to pay for a nursing program so students won't have to drive back and forth to Ontario.
ReplyDeleteThe YMCA and TVCC will no doubt become Caldwell's Idaho Center and a huge burden on proeprty taxpayers. Who gave these fools the green light for this nonsense? A 75 year payback on TVCC based on the rent tells me we need a regime change and quickly please!
Who? We did. Not by voting on the items, because the current UR's legislation does not require voter approval, but rather by standing by idle and buying into the fresh-baked-cookies-let-me-sing-you-a-song-everythings-great-in-Caldwell spin.
ReplyDeleteAll the while, they were patting us on the back with one hand and pick pocketing us with the other.
That being said, there have been pockets of resistance along the way, all of which were quickly labeled as trouble makers and smeared as non-credible or crazy. This resistance has lost steam and become worn out over the last 12 years if for nothing else but for the fact that they've been crying wolf all along and it's been falling on deaf, unengaged, uninformed, low voter turnout ears.
In the end, they got away with it because they could.
VIVA REVOLUCION
See if you can wrap your mind around this:
ReplyDeleteFor Sale: Southwest District Health Building
39,0000 square feet
Price: $1,500,000.00
Price PSF-$38.46
TVCC Building
39,000 square feet
Price $15,100,000.00
Price PSF-$387.17
I have a couple of Caldwell business clients and they are thinking about giving the keys to their buildings to the bank, they just are not making it! So Mr. Mayor where is the progress in your tenure as the top city leader!
ReplyDeleteHave seen the parking lot . Why would anyone put a big old parking lot on the creek . Bad planing. How running this town .
ReplyDeleteThrow the singing bum out
ReplyDelete70 million plus gone
urban renewal program has no return of it's investment
urban renewal was appointed by the bum .
Throw the singing bum out
The Mayor said the same thing about buying property downtown from friends and building the Police Department that it would bring critical mass downtown and attract additional businesses downtown as of then nothing was built downtown and now we have TVCC and again he says we need critical mass downtown to attract new business and guess what its working we have a new coffee shop how critical is that and its in the same building. Go figure there will be another election another day and maybe the citizens of Caldwell will grow a backbone and vote them all out of office.
ReplyDeleteI remember his exact words about the police building. "It would be a clear demonstration Caldwell was willing to invest in itself and without moving forward with a new police station no serious investor would come to Caldwell."
ReplyDeleteWell, here we go again 14 years later and we still have a ghetto downtown with failing businesses and no new business downtown. How long will it take for citizens of Caldwell to realize the incompetence of what is going on with Mayor Nancolas? There has to be a better way to manage a city like Caldwell.