The city of Tracy will gift, not loan, around $500,000 of taxpayer money to a national corporate landlord so it can spruce up property on the hope and prayer the city will find a more successful corporate tenant than the last?
And this helps who, exactly? But wait, it gets better:
The landlord that owns this “prime” property is in U.S. bankruptcy court and may itself be sold on the auction block. That’s right, the owner of our beloved mall, General Growth Properties (with annual revenue of over $3 billion), owns and leases mall properties throughout the nation and is b-a-n-k-r-u-p-t. Broke. Kaput.
As such, I’m not certain exactly how that $500,000 from the city — I mean, taxpayers — helps.
Of course, there’s also no guarantee Macy’s or any major national retailer will lease the mall space once occupied by Gottschalks even after we give money to a bankrupt corporation to spruce the space up. But don’t worry, according to the mayor, we’ll get this money back “over time with sales tax.”
This is an “investment”? Sounds like another corporate bailout for Wall Street, not Main Street. I haven’t seen any gifts for downtown Tracy businesses lately.
While I agree there’s bound to be an initial boost in consumer activity and consequent sales tax revenue should somebody — anybody — lease this space, do you honestly believe that a multibillion-dollar corporation like Macy’s (with annual revenue of about $25 billion) will move into our Dead Valley Mall just because the city threw a measly $500 grand at it?
Believe me, if Macy’s wants to move into Tracy, it will, with or without a gift from the city to put lipstick on a pig. (For more on the “dead mall” phenomena, see Dead Malls.com).
No, Macy’s and other national retailers will move here for the market share — to make a profit — pure and simple, not because the bankrupted landowner re-painted and put in new carpet as a token welcome mat courtesy of the taxpayers of the city of Tracy.
But maybe I missed something the high-flyers at City Hall can explain to justify such generosity during the worst economic downtown in a generation.
• Over the past 10 years, Randy Yates has secured over $600 million in state and federal contracts and grants for a wide range of industries and organizations. After living on the East Coast for nearly 25 years, he moved back to California in late 2001 and has lived in Tracy since 2004.
Charge the user one dollar per 911 call and 300 for the taxi ride. That will save the taxpayers a bundle.
If Tracy is in such a dire economic situation, how on Earth can they justify giving away $500,000? Here's how I figure they're going to do it. It's actually a "loan" from expected revenue of the 9-1-1 EMS firefighter fee they're about to implement. It's kind of like spending money you don't have but think you're going going to be getting it soon. It's kind of like workers relying on over-time to pay bills. If the city is saying it doesn't have money, then it shouldn't be spending what they don't have. Plain and simple rule of finance.
No need to drive to Roseville. There's a DSW in Brentwood, a mere 25 minutes from Tracy! :-)
Give me a reason to shop at our mall and I will. Until then, I take my business elsewhere since I'm not 16 anymore and I need clothing and shoes to wear to work.
Seens a lot of people are worried about thair tax monies being spent incorrectly by City Council. So I wonder if they are just as conserned when th president an congress does virtually th same thang?
Anyone care ta offer an explanation?
If the city hall had 500k that belonged to me I would go to the next meeting and ask for it back. Then I'd retire.
I prefer to keep my money local. Tracy has pretty much everything I need. I moved here for the lower cost. With fuel pump prices that wdrive to Roseville would defeat the purpose.
I understand folks want a mall and places to shop. I think the council did the right thing making the mall a one story building years ago. If they got a good anchor store maybe someday we can talk about expansion of the second story someday.
Right now it's not just an article about Tracy's shopping experience. I think it'salso about bringing revenue so fewer services and jobs don't get slashed.
Other cities don't have this potential to make a difference.
We need this.
RedHotChiliPeppers,
Macy's does have a larger selection of shoes but may I suggest DSW in Roseville. ;)
Also, I have a hard time believing that the TP writer could mistake an INCENTIVE with an out and out GIFT of public funds when it was noted the Council would have to pass a resolution to bypass the law to do so. That's not something you pull out of your "hat". In this case I'm inclined to believe what the TP wrote and less the "facts" (or lack thereof) provided by r2girls. His/her vagueness makes me very suspicious of his/her motives and affiliations with the parties involved in this little "back door deal"!
"Now is not the time to be gambling with taxpayer dollars!"
If the city would have worked with the mall when times were good we might be in this situation we are now. What the city needs to do is balance its budget "immediately" then start working on investments in the business community.
Regarding the downtown improvements, this investment was not a handout to businesses to persuade to stay, this was an investment in improvements that will benefit the city over the long haul.
Manteca absolutely does offer incentives. Someone wrote an article in the paper about it last year.
What do you mean, "no assurances"? People have been asking for it ever since Manteca started doing this.
Tracy was wise to wait to see if it works.
http://www.ci.manteca.ca.us/econdev/rr-study2008.pdf