As part of its continuing commitment to maximize public awareness of the community projects it is involved with, the Lake City Development Corporation has launched a monthly newsletter. This online publication will highlight various LCDC projects, include comments from stakeholders and interested citizens, and offer photos and facts that help define our mission to promote economic vitality. The LCDC will post a link to the newsletter on our website at lcdc.org and on our Facebook page. A link to the Facebook page can be found on our website. Within the newsletter, there is a link for citizens to sign up and be included on the mailing list to receive the newsletter via email/Keith Erickson, Lake City Development Corp. And: 1st newsletter here.

DFO: I've always thought that one of the problems with LCDC is that it didn't do a good job of publicizing all the good things it has done for the community. Rather, it allowed the naysayers to pick them apart and gain political clout.

Question: What do you think of the first LCDC newsletter?

The transformation of midtown continues with the proposed 2012 construction of a mix-use retail and housing development along the Coeur d'Alene corridor. The Housing Company, developer of the proposed project, will provide an update to midtown stakeholders and the general public March 14 at 6 p.m. at the American Legion, 754 N. 4th Street, across from the site. In its continuing midtown revitalization efforts, the Lake City Development Corporation plans to partner with the Idaho Housing and Finance Association and The Housing Company for the mix-use development to promote the business environment in the sector and facilitate development of new workforce housing. The proposed project will include 9,000-square-feet of commercial space on the street level and 45 workforce residential rental units on three floors above/Keith Erickson for Lake City Development Corp.

Question: Do you support ongoing efforts to redevelopment Coeur d'Alene's Midtown area?

When the board of Coeur d'Alene's urban renewal agency meets this afternoon, a big step in creating McEuen Park should be taken. Lake City Development Corp. has been asked by the City Council to be a major funding arm for improvements to McEuen Field. In one of the most divisive, hotly debated civic issues in recent years, the council recently voted to move ahead with plans to improve the park without inviting citizens to participate in a nonbinding advisory vote. … We respectfully remind city officials, the LCDC board and citizens that the urban renewal agency was created 15 years ago for the specific purpose of generating dollars to renovate McEuen Field. Despite simmering recent sentiments suggesting that LCDC dollars would be an inappropriate investment for the park, local history is replete with evidence that it constitutes the very most appropriate investment for the park/Mike Patrick, Coeur d'Alene Press. More here. (Kathy Plonka SR file photo: Eleven-year-old Erika Boifeuillet (cq), left, Lauren Trueblood, 11, center and Alex Boifeuillet, 13, battle for the Frisbee at McEuen Field in August 2011)

Question: Do you agree with the Coeur d'Alene Press that improvements to McEuen Field is a perfect place to put LCDC money?

The city of Coeur d'Alene's Parks Department is expected to request financial support Wednesday from Lake City Development Corp. for the McEuen Park redevelopment project. Parks Director Doug Eastwood and Team McEuen are scheduled to make a presentation on the downtown park project and request financial support before the urban renewal agency at 4 p.m. in the Community Room of the Coeur d'Alene Public Library, LCDC director Tony Berns said. The urban renewal agency has long been identified as a likely financial supporter for the project, though a formal request has yet to come. In June, the agency borrowed $16.75 million, $11.7 million of which it could use to fund projects inside the Lake District, the boundary in which McEuen Field sits/Tom Hasslinger, Coeur d'Alene Press. More here. (SR file photo: Kathy Plonka)

Question: Do you see anything wrong with LCDC pumping up to $11.7 million into McEuen Field upgrades?

Item: Urban renewal options: Incoming city council members ponder what to do with Lake City Development Corp/Tom Hasslinger, Coeur d'Alene Press

More Info: Steve Adams says he could explore one legal avenue to shut down the city’s urban renewal board. The city council-elect, set to take his seat in January, said in interviews he could make a motion to disband Lake City Development Corp., the city’s urban renewal agency, and have the council fill its shoes — a legally possible route. While urban renewal law allows cities to take over their urban renewal boards, Adams said he realizes the motion doesn’t have much of a chance of getting off the ground, at least not in the immediate future. … Yet Dan Gookin, the other council-elect who campaigned on urban renewal oversight, called disbanding the board a “doomsday” option.

Question: Do you think the state's urban renewal law is unconstitutional, as Adams does?

According to records obtained by IdahoReporter.com, the Lake City Development Corporation (LCDC), Coeur d’Alene’s urban renewal agency, is bringing in more than $14,000 each month in rental income from residential and commercial properties it owns. One LCDC official says the practice is common, but an area state lawmaker (state Rep. Kathy Sims, R-CdA, of course) wants the agency to sell the properties immediately. Tony Berns, LCDC director, wrote in a letter to IdahoReporter.com that his agency is holding onto the properties because it has strategic plans for the land on which the houses and businesses sit. “As practiced across the country, one of the key tenets of urban renewal/redevelopment is the acquisition of and assemblage of real estate located in key strategic areas identified for future public/private redevelopment purposes,” Berns wrote/Dustin Hurst, Idaho Reporter. More here. (Idaho Reporter photo: LCDC owns several rental properties along Park Drive, near NIC)

Question: Are you surprised that Rep. Sims is bedeviling LCDC re: earning rental income from residential & commercial properties it owns? Seems to me that the agency is acting responsibly.

Well, of course, the City owned the Library all along. That’s not the issue. The issue is, once again, the reactive approach by highly-paid city staff to a long-standing issue during an election campaign. It’s becoming predictable. In today’s Press, an article states that the City owns the Library. For whatever reason, the County Assessor has listed the Library as an asset of the LCDC. It’s been listed that way since the Library was constructed over four years ago. City Administrator Wendy Gabirel took it upon herself to “correct” the situation. According to the article, she directed Finance Director Troy Tymesen to contact the County and have them re-classify the Library as a City asset. Having the county make that adjustment is okay because the City does own the Library, but I have a question: Why did it take one of the City’s highest paid officials so long to recognize such an obvious mistake?/Dan Gookin, Dan Gookin Campaign Blog. More here.

Question: What to you think of the point Dan Gookin makes here?

One of the dividing lines for candidates in this election is the LCDC. There are lots of details, but the big issue is whether the LCDC raises your property taxes. Based my understanding of the law and six years research into the topic, the answer is an unqualified yes. The status-quo crowd says that the LCDC is “property tax neutral.” And then they stop talking, as if those three words are some sort of mental novocaine. Ask yourself: Does saying something is “property tax neutral” really answer the question of whether or not urban renewal raises your property taxes? The phrase “property tax neutral” is attributed to Alan Dornfest/Dan Gookin. More from Gookin campaign blog here.

Question: Seems to me that someone needs to put a dollar figure re: just how much “extra” we're paying in taxes for LCDC. Also, for that amount, are we getting enough bang for the buck (library, Riverstone, education corridor, etc.). Finally, how much extra revenue are we going to get for the sponsored projects when LCDC reaches its end. Anyone?

On Friday, I published a comment re: an amateurish cartoon published in the Coeur d'Alene Press, sliming LCDC, city elected officials, and possibly the originator of the popular Mudgy & Millie children's book series, Susan Nipp. Seems a letter writer in today's Coeur d'Alene Press had the same reaction. You can read Kathleen Peterson's comments here.

Question: What do you think of the cartoon by “The Patriot 2011”? And/or: Is a fifth-grader a better artist that “The Patriot 2011”?

Item: Lake City board should have $11.7 million pot: Many public projects seeking agency funding/Alison Boggs, SR

More Info: The city of Coeur d’Alene’s urban renewal agency should have $11.7 million over the next 10 years to invest in public projects within its Lake District, according to a financial consultant’s report Wednesday. That means the board of the Lake City Development Corp. could have some tough decisions to make in coming weeks because the value of projects looking to the urban renewal agency for funding dwarfs that sum by many millions.

Question: Should most of the available LCDC money be invested in McEuen Field upgrades?

Item: LCDC to set funding limit: Board to decide how much to spend on McEuen/Tom Hasslinger, Coeur d'Alene Press

More Info: On Wednesday, Lake City Development Corp. will know how much money it could borrow to help fund the McEuen Field redevelopment project. While the urban renewal agency won't pinpoint during its monthly meeting the precise amount it could be willing to pay for the project, it will find out how much revenue its Lake District could generate before closing in 2021.

Question: Would you be more likely to support an overhaul of McEuen Field, if most of the money was provided through borrowing and direct grants from the Lake City Development Corp.?

Eagle Eye: For anyone that has paid attention, I think it has been pretty well stated that the charge that Team McEuen was given was to design what they felt was the best case scenario for the park. I think they have done that. Just because it is Team McEuen's best case scenario doesnt mean it is what a majority of the public want, hence the open meetings where people are given a chance to give input. So far, I think the process has been open and informative. I think that public input will steer what will become the final product. As stated, one of the biggest factors for what the park will become is the final cost. I have stated before that it is my opinion that this project is why LCDC was formed. If I were the one calling the shots, I would forecast revenues for LCDC from now until LCDC ends. I would subtract current obligations and get a number. From that number I would commit an amount to totally fund McEuen Park. Any left over funds I would commit to the Ed Corridor. That would conclude LCDC.

Question: What do you think of Eagle Eye's idea of making McEuen Field the focal point of LCDC funding beyond the urban agency's current obligations?

Item: LCDC may fund private homes: Public money could reduce price for working families/Tom Hasslinger, Coeur d’Alene Press

More Info: By partnering with Idaho Housing and Finance Association, Housing and Urban Development and Coeur d’Alene’s urban renewal agency, Lake City Development Corp., NIHC wants to close that gap and put working families in revitalized neighborhoods. LCDC’s role would be to grant an annual allotment to IHFA, which could then allocate it to housing stabilization programs run by nonprofits like NIHC.

Question: What do you think of this proposal to help fund homes, to bring working families to the revitalized downtown business area?

Item: LCDC details $9 million in Education Corridor work/Tom Hasslinger, Coeur d’Alene Press

More Info: Building out the education corridor’s infrastructure around the North Idaho College campus could cost around $9 million, engineers calculate. That price would bring in ample enhancements: One mile of expanded streets — namely a built-out Hubbard Street, Mullan Road and College Drive - bike lanes, traffic-calming roundabouts and two new signals, and a mile and a half of connecting bicycle paths to the Centennial Trial.

Question: Is the cost and planned improvements reasonable?

COEUR d’ALENE - Lake City Development Corp. is helping college students feel relief. With a roughly $25,000 john, not tuition.

The board has agreed to fund a new bathroom for Lewis-Clark State College and Boise State University students taking classes in the two portable classrooms on the portion of the North Idaho College campus known as the former DeArmond Mill site.

So before the bad weather sets in, those knowledge-hungry pupils won’t have to trek as far - or miss as much of the lecture - when they have to interrupt their studies to go.

No hall pass required. Tom Hasslinger, Cda Press, Full story.

Thoughts?

LCDC exec Tony Berns tells Hucks Online that the $2M budgeted for next year by the agency for the Education Corridor ($1.5M) and McEuen Field upgrade ($500,000) is a guesstimate. The values “may be amended once the planning efforts for both initiatives are completed later this calendar year.” Also, he said, LCDC may look to borrow funds “to partner on both initiatives,” If the two planning efforts come in with big price tags. Bottom line, he said, “it is still too early to know how much the two projects will cost to complete, and thus too early for LCDC to clearly define its financial partnership role in each.” (No Coeur d’Alene Press reporters were fired in the making of this post.)

Question: Do you support LCDC’s financial involvement in McEuen Field/Education Corridor upgrades?

Item: LCDC prioritizes fiscal year: McEuen Field, education corridor tops urban renewal list for short term/Tom Hasslinger

More Info: Lake City Development Corp. prioritized its fiscal year 2011 planning list on Thursday during its annual Strategic Planning Review session, keeping the Education Corridor and McEuen Field projects at the top of next year’s goals - just as both had been the year before. This time around, however, breaking ground on both projects - not designing or studying them - is the goal.

Question: Should the revitalization of McEuen Field and beginning of Education Corridor construction be the two top priorities for the urban renewal agency?

At the OpenCDA.com “Open Session” post today, Dan Gookin points out that he watched the Lake City Development Corp meeting last night. And was particularly interested in the discussion about online records. Seems LCDC members were pretty concerned about individuals altering the records. “What the LCDC does is ridiculous enough,” posts Gookin. “No one needs to alter their records.” If someone at LCDC has proof that records have been altered, continues Gookin, then they should let the public know about it — and name names. You can read the entire comment here.

Question: Have you ever wished you could go back an expunge something you’ve written online, at HucksOnline or elsewhere? Have you ever done so?

A Hayden man was one of the people who contacted Sen. Mike Jorgenson about concerns regarding Lake City Development Corp. Reid Harlocker, 52, a business manager in Hayden, told Jorgenson last year he felt the state should investigate Coeur d’Alene’s urban renewal board to determine whether any perceived conflicts of interest existed/Tom Hasslinger, Coeur d’Alene Press. More here.

Question: In an editorial Friday, Brand X attacked Nipp for seeking to find out who sicced the AG’s office on him. Generally, Press editorials are toothless. Do you think newspaper owner Duane Hagadone has a vendetta against the former LCDC chairman?