YMCA whining tiresome

Squandered opportunity at the YMCA site? Really? OK. Let’s un-squander this and build your beloved 14-story condo in Riverfront Park. But darn. We won’t realize your projected $1 million in tax revenue – our troubled general fund nets $230,000. Even worse, the condo would actually be a giant 10-year monument to zero tax revenue under the multi-unit tax exemption enjoyed by urban-center condo developer/owners (hence free city services subsidized by others).

As for your fiscal analysis, never mind that you reported the original high-rise developer of the YMCA site as saying, retrospectively, that his development might have led him to bankruptcy.

Never mind that the high-rise condo developer of the similar YWCA site backed out of his deal. Never mind that banks aren’t financing these kinds of developments. Never mind that the present study shows that all potential private development options for the site fail financially.

Finally, never mind that your development suggestion permanently squanders our community’s most precious urban green space opportunity. What’s wrong with 250,000 yearly visitors to this Conservation Futures acquisition?

This is your third out-of-touch tirade about the YMCA site. If you’re going to wail about missed opportunities, suggest something that really works or, well, just stop whining.

Steve McNutt

Spokane