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San Diego Navy privatization costly, audit says
Well I hope it's NOT a windfall! Housing for military personnel shouldn't be a big, fat lucrative windfall for private companies. Not only the taxpayers suffer; the military personnel are treated like suckers. For an idea of how the private company Pacific Beacon treats military employees, just read these Yelp comments: http://www.yelp.com/biz/pacific-beacon-san-diego Why should "market rate" be subsidized by the public and the military personnel when the buildings are cheaply built, there is no choice in roommate, and there are myriad other problems? The myth of privatization: saving money while providing better services. Bah. It's always a lie.— March 20, 2014 7:34 p.m.
Manchester rumored to drop Austin hotel
I wonder how the 99-year lease works. Can Manchester break it if he doesn't build? Can he build something else, and how much does he control the lot usage? In a July 8 2011 article, the Austin Chron wrote: "Manchester has signed a 99-year lease agreement with longtime Downtown landholders Perry Lorenz and Robert Knight. ... Though Lorenz and Knight no longer control the property that they've owned for some 15 years, the two are playing an active role in getting the project off the ground."— March 15, 2014 1:50 p.m.
Manchester rumored to drop Austin hotel
Hey Ponzi, I see the skybridge you mentioned (though it's totally unnecessary - Waller Creek passes under the street; only a decorative bit of it passes through the east side of the Convention Center landscape): http://www.ccimtexas.com/images/website243/waller… This plan was presented by Doug Jr and the Gensler architect at a 2012 Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM) conference in Austin: http://www.ccimtechblog.com/2012/02/austin-is-get…— March 15, 2014 1:44 p.m.
Manchester rumored to drop Austin hotel
Me too. Sixth-generation, Austin-born, I fled on my 18th birthday and never returned.— March 14, 2014 3:41 p.m.
Manchester rumored to drop Austin hotel
And Ponzi: Manchester's ego is NOTHING, in Texas. As for the attitudes and political leanings in Austin, in general, it's about money, heritage, connections, and power, more than San Diegans could ever imagine. For younger people, it's much more Libertarian than Liberal. Especially members of the latest native-born generation, "Gen App," are more concerned about the right to carry, to Tweet, to drink, and music and BBQ, than they are about protecting the environment or any progressive-thinking issue. If you want a sense of what appeals to the majority of people in Austin, and a taste of Texas-size ego, just thumb through a recent issue of Texas Monthly. You'll be sick of Texas w/o setting a foot in it.— March 14, 2014 2:24 p.m.
Manchester rumored to drop Austin hotel
Ponzi: The Manchester hotel, if built on the Lorenz-dynasty lot at [608 E Cesar Chavez St][1]., as planned, wouldn't need a bridge over a waterway: the [1.7-acre lot][2] is directly across the street from the convention center. It's possible that Manchester would want a "skybridge" simply to cross Red River Street, although the walk through one intersection or mid-street is nothing. The AA Statesman business blog (June 2011): “We have looked carefully at many hotel sites in the Austin market and concluded this site is by far the very best with its immediate location adjacent to the Convention Center” said Manchester. “With our many years of developing world class hotels, we concluded our patrons would find it unpleasant during the summer heat and winter’s freeze to walk several blocks to access important exhibits and meetings at the Convention Center.” Waller Creek Eleven Ltd. owns the parking lot that Manchester may build on. Perry Lorenz, partner of the limited entity, is the son of two oil-connected families (mother, of the Reinhold family, all major Varco shareholders; father, Howard Lorenz, inventor of several patented oil-drilling tools/equipment). Perry Lorenz (in his mid 60s) is married to Sheridan Mitchell, daughter of fracking inventor, philanthropist, and developer George P. Mitchell. GPM, who died last summer, was said by Forbes, in 2004, to be worth $1.6 bill. Lorenz is extremely wealthy and hardly needs Manchester's money, and could care less what Manchester's political leanings are, but I'm sure Lorenz enjoys using the prospect of Manchester's development to control other development in the Austin area. Lorenz, who owns a ton of other properties all around the convention center, did in fact did use the potential Manchester hotel to thwart a $4 mill incentive to another hotel developer in 2011. What saddens me is looking at the destruction of a beautiful, historic area. Take a Google street-view look using the above map link: the old Rainey/Waller Creek neighborhood once had many historic buildings, from the early and late 1800s. You can see a few of them now, amid the high rises and new construction. The beautiful old Victorian-house neighborhood where I lived in Austin in the late 1960s, near the Univ of Texas campus, has been bulldozed for mini-dorms. The huge pecan trees that were in our front yards are gone. Connected, rich developers like Perry Lorenz have almost total control over the Austin City Council, even to the extent of thwarting laws that require developers to obtain approval if they want to cut very old, large trees, of which there were once many. [1]: http://propaccess.traviscad.org/clientdb/Property… [2]: http://goo.gl/maps/nUYiz— March 14, 2014 2:19 p.m.
Auditor, ethics director back plan to purge emails
As Norma Damashek recently wrote in her [Numbers Runner blog][1], "there are too many years of inbreeding" in this city. The hidden government Pat F correctly cites is not all that invisible, largely thanks to Pat and The Reader. Pat documented many intermarriages, as well as vicious battles among city personnel, when they didn't go along with the status quo. On 6/25/2008, Stacey Fulhorst, involved in supporting Sanders in his managed-competition contract give-aways, is described by Pat, in [BlogofSanDiego][2], as "Casey Gwinn-trained and establishment-compliant." Surprise! You cannot have an independent, honest ethics officer in Our Town. Luna survived attack in fall of 2012 from within Sanders' circle when his audits on building permits and DSD came too close to the truth. Enter well-known players named Broughton and Goldstone. Luna, of course, used Sanders' nemesis Aguirre as his attorney! And of course, as the UT wrote, "The investigations have apparently been spearheaded over the past six months by some combination of the Mayor’s Office and the City Council’s Audit Committee, which is chaired by City Councilman Kevin Faulconer." Luna seems to be getting along just fine, now. Inbreeding can lead to extinction after long periods of decline, in the animal world. If only. [1]: http://numbersrunner.blogspot.com/ [2]: http://www.blogofsandiego.com/BlogArchives/2008-2…— March 11, 2014 8:17 a.m.
Handwriting on the wall for city’s anti-graffiti bid
Does the audit name the included neighborhoods in the city's UC service contract? The city should be contracting for service for **all** neighborhoods, because the money paid to UC comes from the revenue pool from all taxpayers. UC has additional privatized-service contracts with business associations that control assessment district funds throughout the city. This means that people subject to property assessments via MADs or PBIDs (e.g., downtown, Little Italy, North Park, Barrio Logan, City Heights, to name just a few) are paying taxes in two ways for graffiti abatement. The city and the assessment-district managing BAs try to hide this. People within assessment districts are told to report graffiti to their MAD or PBID management (who then relay the report to the UC). If you live in an assessment district and call UC directly, I suspect they still log/charge the response to the assessment district contract. I think the problem with this is pretty obvious. Is the city's "all-neighborhood" contract really only with UC for neighborhoods not paying into an assessment district?— March 7, 2014 7:58 a.m.
Off limits to media, mayor's bash draws crowd of lobbyists
Did Gloria Allred, Tom Story, and Allen Jones receive special honors? It's only a matter of months before their email trails can be (*legally?*, if you buy that an Council admin order can legally supersede FOIA) destroyed.— March 5, 2014 7:34 a.m.
All Things BBQ: Smitty's Taste of the Bayou
Salty cornbread! Makes me super happy! Going to give this a try. Thanks for keepin' on keepin' on in the search for bbq and fixings.— February 27, 2014 6:14 p.m.