5views.com

And there’s the pitch…

Project Destiny, now known as the Tacoma Partnership, unveiled their sales pitch to Russell Investments Group to keep them in Tacoma. How much will it cost taxpayers? $140 million. That’s right. $140,000,000. Just to keep one company from moving down the road a pace or two, probably close enough that most of their employees might commute instead of move.

Those making the pitch included Congressman Norm Dicks, City Manager Eric Anderson and Bruce Kendall, CEO of the Economic Development Board of Tacoma. And I’m sure they had the blessing of the City Council as well.

Did it work? They don’t know. And they don’t know when they’ll know.

But let’s be honest. That money isn’t about influencing one company. It’s about keeping a political pipe-dream alive. A pipe-dream that has has been failing since it was first dreamed up. A pipe-dream that has shaped downtown Tacoma into what it is today: an Economic Empowerment Zone.

Has the city or the ‘Tacoma Partnership’ explored other places to spend that money to see if they could do more good for the downtown economy or for the city as a whole? Have they considered using that money to cover their expenses while they drop they city’s B&O tax? No? I didn’t think so.
Looking more closely at the offer, first, here are my compliments:

• Some of the money will be spent on other companies besides Russell. But not much.
• More parking space would be built near the Dome. I’m told the current garage is filling up (or is it filled up already, I’ve heard conflicting reports).

Criticisms (quotes from the TNT article):

• “Prized not just for its size, Russell is coveted for its high-paid work force, the cachet such a renowned international player brings to the downtown, and its civic and philanthropic involvement.” They left out that it’s also prized by politicians who have been taking it for granted for years, but now when they fear a Gary Locke/Boeing fiasco, suddenly they’re throwing tax dollars at them to get them to stay.
• “The Tacoma Partnership on Monday proposed establishing a several-block zone downtown, called an International Financial Services Area, to focus a proposed collection of improvements, including new landscaping, storm drain updates and more public art. The city would build satellite parking near the Tacoma Dome.” So which is it, and Economic Empowerment Zone or a financial district. Somehow I don’t see a financial district as being a worthwhile place to spend federal and state dollars intended to help the poor. And these liberals criticize Republicans for giving corporate welfare to the rich. What hypocrisy.
• “City funding would total $65 million, in addition to $54 million from the state and $24 million in federal funding.” $65 million from a city that keeps coming back to us for more money for schools, emergency services, parks, etc., etc., etc. That makes sense. Threaten the poor and middle class with defunding their emergency services and give the money to an investment company. Take $54 million in taxes from residents of this state and instead of building roads to save them time and money in traffic (not to mention cutting down on pollution), and use the money to line the pockets of investors, most of whom probably don’t even live around here. Then there’s $24 million from the federal government who can’t get their earmark spending under control regardless of how many times they promise to do so.
• “It’s our best strategy for developing downtown in a way that fulfills that dream of a vibrant business environment, connected to residential, hotels and restaurants,” Anderson said. Who is the ‘our’ he speaks of? Whose ‘dream’ is this? It’s not mine. If we explained it to the public and gave some alternative strategies then took a poll, how many people would say they approve of it? How about if we included the actual costs of the other ‘investments’ that were supposed to make this dream come true, like $84 million for the Link-to-nothing Light Rail, another $80+ million for the Convention Center that duplicates the services of other venues like the Dome and numerous hotels and other local businesses, or the many museums that draw on taxpayer funds. Now it’s $140 million to keep this failed dream alive? We’re just sending good money after bad, and the bottom line is really that it’s about saving a few politicians from the total disgrace they deserve.
• “City business and occupation taxes would be eliminated citywide for certain companies doing international business. And companies meeting certain criteria that build a headquarters in the downtown’s federal empowerment zone would not pay sales tax on construction of a new building.” How about eliminating the local B&O tax altogether? Can you imagine how much this could help the small businesses that provide more jobs than Russell does? I wonder how many struggling small businesses could keep their doors open and keep writing payroll checks if they didn’t have to cut the city in on every dollar they take in?
• “This is something we would do with or without Russell,” Anderson said. So why didn’t you do it before? A little afraid of losing your careers in politics? Suddenly afraid of becoming a local Gary Locke?
• “About $1 million is dedicated to a new staff position at the Economic Development Board to recruit businesses to the International Financial Services Area.” $1 million for one position? Tell me that’s for at least a decade and a half.

When will it end? When will these politicians leave our wallets alone?

Needless to say, I’m against this proposal. If the numbers had been significantly lower I would have been in favor of it. But this is too high a price to pay when alternatives have not yet been explored.

Update: Citizens Against Government Waste has ranked Norm Dicks 10th (out of 473 congress members) in pork-barrel spending.

Earmarks are projects that lawmakers insert into federal spending bills with little or no congressional oversight.

Usually they reflect the priorities of individual lawmakers, even if relevant federal agencies conclude that the projects are unnecessary.

So I guess we know why he supports this ridiculous price tag for keeping Russell in downtown Tacoma. He doesn’t seem to understand that the money belongs to the taxpayers, not to his cronies and rich investors.

“Time and time again, I’ve seen where the earmark process has been used and abused for personal and political gain. Congress needs real earmark reform,” [Cathy McMorris Rodgers, 5th District] said in a statement.

Update: There was an opinion piece in the TNT that shills for this ridiculous plan, calling it ‘ambitious but achievable’.

The goal: creating a downtown business environment that would not only allow Russell Investments to grow and prosper but also attract more companies like Russell – financial services companies that not only pay well but also add intellectual and social heft to a community.

You would think that someone at TNT would be circumspect enough to realize that they’ve been banking on this plan for decades and it hasn’t happened.  The only difference is that now they’re literally throwing millions of dollars directly at their plan hoping it will change things.  Until now they’ve thrown money at it indirectly, for things like the Convention Center and Link-to-nothing Light Rail which were supposed to ‘grow and prosper’ the downtown business environment.

Up until now I’ve left TNT alone in this blog.  That may change.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008 at 8:15 pm and is filed under Business, Campaign 2008, FeedTacoma.com, Tacoma Contradictions, Tacoma Economy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.