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It's been a few days since I read this original post (quoted below)...and I am surprised there have been no thoughts, comments, factual information, concerns, or anything raised here on this issue...
Anybody out there???
Nance Ceccarelli
1031 Showalter Road
Moscow ID 83843
njc@moscow.com
Bill London wrote:
Moscow's Urban Renewal Agency (URA), which was created to finance
the Alturas Technology Park with our tax money, is now considering a
request from Shelley Bennett to finance a conference-sized hotel at the
Sweet Avenue intersection with Highway 95 (in the original "blighted
zone") with even more of our tax money.
On Monday, April 16, Mayor Comstock appointed James Gress as a URA
commissioner. Gress is a Moscow land developer, as I understand it,
responsible for the Quail Run subdivisions and the 51-acre development
opposite Moscow Building Supply that now stands denuded and empty.
If you travel through Quail Run, you will notice an abundance of
Bennett Realty signs. Gress and Bennett are partners/associates in
development.
Why did Comstock appoint Gress to the URA commission? As a
commissioner, Gress will be deciding on spending our tax money to
finance a major development sought by his associate, Shelley Bennett.
To me, that looks like Comstock is trying to stack the deck in favor
of Bennett's proposal. Any decision from that commission may not be
improper, but it will have the appearance of impropriety.
The URA has a history of spending our money unwisely, operating
without public oversight, and doing what benefits local developers. The
URA's partially-completed Alturas Park is a monument to that folly.
If the URA is ever going to regain public trust, the commissioners
must operate without a hint of impropriety or favoritism. How will that
be possible now with Gress on that board?
BL