This isn't a coherent post. I've been working on trial prep all weekend. So my brain is fried. This is merely a free writing exercise. . .
I have let this issue percolate far too long.
Percolate? You were commenting on this before it even had it's own thread! When the outlet mall had its own thread started, you commented in it an hour later.
I wanted to not care about it, but my gosh, so many "creative" ways people have gone to run down an investment group has just maxed me out.
Why do you care about it? You've stated that you don't go to outlet malls. You don't go to Turkey Mountain. But hot-damn, citizens using due process to influence city leaders against a foreign corporation - hell no! How dare you citizens think you have a voice in government. When "investment group" demands something from government, they better give in!
...away from congestion (like Promenade or Woodland Hills has).
Please go to Tulsa Hills sometime. That area is usually worse than 41st and Yale.
I also thought there would be jobs, a place for people to buy things perhaps less expensively, and an attraction for people throughout northeast Oklahoma to come and spend money both there and other businesses.
Jobs! JOBS! Damn it, do you hear me, JOBS! Sure, most will be minimum wage and people that work there will be eligible for welfare and food stamps, but JOBS! Of course, if the outlet mall went in anywhere else the same jobs would be provided, but jobs! Also, yeah yeah, an outlet mall would likely be a net loss to the economy as items manufactured to be crap are marked up 300% and the profits filtered out of Tulsa, but JOBS!
An outlet mall isn't special. You can get the Nike outlet crap in Branson, OKC, Little Rock, Lake of the Ozarks, Bentonville... I imagine Coach and Michael Kors have similar locations. The days of an "Outlet Mall" being a real tourist draw are long since dead. This is like Tulsa getting a Hard Rock Casino or a Jimmy Buffet... the brand has been diluted.
But to some, Tulsa just can't have that. That piece of private property is just supposed to sit in its current state I guess, not because it is in the best interest of the owners but because its in the best interest of the non-owners.
At least you seem to understand the concept of "best interest," though the term is actually "best use." It has been discussed ad naseum around here. In fact, it is largely what Tulsa Now is all about. We have "plans" and set up "zoning" to put those "plans" into action. Sometimes people want a variance on those plans - and when they do they have to request a variance, ask for public input, and then seek leave for their change. The municipality has broad discretion to deny any such change - including if the community simply doesn't support it.
That's called representative government. Couple that with smart development and we may have cities that are not massively subsidized urban sprawl, pretend "exclusive" subdivisions, and gated communities. There's a reason Tulsa continues to sprawl, continues to bring in more revenue, and continues to be broke. Sprawl is very expensive.
Which brings me to another point:
THEY WANT HANDOUTS. Infrastructure is expensive. WE are to loan them the money, interest free, on the promise that the tax money they will owe us can be used to pay for the improvements. That's like someone offering to let me stay at their house for free, if I promise to build them a house first. Oh, and when the house needs a new roof - I pay for that too.
Look - tax revenue is important. But we keep getting MORE and MORE tax revenue and we keep finding ourselves in a hole. Adding more TIF sponsored retail sprawl isn't solving the problem.
Jobs are important, at all levels. But not at the price they are asking. These jobs added anywhere do the same thing. If Simon doesn't do it, someone else will. They want the market, they want the shoppers. They want the earnings.
Is anyone in this forum looking to bring this sort of economic activity to Tulsa? If so, let us know about it. Because I would love to know if they are being put through the wringer as well by special interest groups.
If you loan me $60-70mil, interest free, I promise to to risk 0.3% of my net assets towards creating as many jobs as possible and paying as much in tax money as I can. I will write you the check for the entire investment, to put in escrow, tomorrow. Millions for giant corporations and insiders, not a penny for small businesses or the infrastructure they depend on (including education)!
And finally - the "neighbor" of this development is a public park, a YMCA, and a watershed. Those neighbors have rights. A 6 story wall would not be tolerated by any neighbor. As a neighbor of a public park, they answer to the park using community (those would be the worthless free loaders, aka taxpayers and citizens, you keep talking about). Just like "private property" owners can't run liquor stores or whorehouses wherever they please - you can't slap an outlet mall wherever you like.
Deny the mall. Buy the property. The City is a better place and the speculator gets paid (by the way, when you buy real estate for speculation, and your plan relies on getting the zoning changed and utilizing land that City maps label as parkland... you are taking a risk. Hence, why it is called land speculation).