BlogWood: MT Archives

Civitas comes calling

Ed Turcnachik promised he wouldn’t need any public funds to complete his Plan to Take Over the World. He lied.

Tax breaks, government grants and waived fees were tacked on Friday to the growing wish list of a company trying to replace public housing with upscale development.

Civitas representatives have said for weeks that they would not seek city tax money for their plan to bring new homes and businesses to 157 acres between downtown and Ybor City.

But a draft proposal sent Friday to the city called for tax breaks, tax credits and tax exemptions, as well as for city help in getting state tax money. That's in addition to city financing for roadwork, water lines and other infrastructure improvements, which the company previously requested.

They also want the city to build them a lake. Yes. A lake.

If developer Ed Turanchik gets his way, the city's low-income housing funds will first go to his project in Central Park before other Tampa neighborhoods see the money. ......

(Thursday) was the first time Turanchik had mentioned using city housing funds and getting tax breaks to develop an upscale, 157-acre neighborhood downtown.

Turanchik called the draft "points for discussion," but he wants the City Council to vote on a deal by Jan. 15.
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A development group led by Turanchik needs approval from the city and Tampa Housing Authority to build its project in Tampa's Central Park neighborhood. They want to demolish low-income housing projects in the area and replace them with an urban, upscale neighborhood where people rich and poor might coexist.
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Turanchik asked for more than he's sought previously:

He wants the city to obtain taxpayer funds from a state agency, the Florida Community Trust, to pay for public parks in his project.

He wants the city to help him get enterprise-zone grants to build a manufacturing factory in east Tampa.

He wants the city to waive all impact and permit fees.

He wants an exemption from paying certain local sales taxes.

He wants the city to apply for tax funds to help build a lake in his project, which would hold stormwater.

Turanchik's proposal says the city would help his company "to the extent applicable." What that means still needs to be worked out, he said.

He said he simply wants to avail himself of assistance the government typically gives developers.

He said the city would normally seek state tax funds to buy new parks. The parks he wants, which would likely be used by Central Park residents, would also be open to anyone.

Under Turanchik's proposal, the city would pay a private homeowners association to maintain the park to current city standards.

Turanchik called his request to waive impact fees "very standard" in economic development deals.

"I don't see a lot of surprises in here," he said.

The draft agreement also makes it clear how Turanchik would like the city to use its low-income housing dollars to finance his project.

Turanchik wants the money to help build the kind of upscale housing projects in Central Park that government can't normally afford.
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Turanchik wants to partner with the Tampa Housing Authority to build "magnificent" housing complexes unlike anything else in the city.
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Turanchik said the city should naturally use its low-income dollars for projects such as this. That's what the money was intended for, he said.

Notice the part about the park? It’s kinda hard to miss, since I put it in bold type. This will not be a public park. Civitas, the owner of the park, will have the right to kick anyone out for any reason. Just like some malls kick people out for wearing the wrong clothing. So, these rich white men want the city to pay to build and maintain their new park and lake and then Civitas will pay for the goon squads to patrol the area looking for backward baseball cap and anti-war t-shirt wearing “trespassers”.

Turanchik wants upscale housing? We need basic housing right now for the hundreds of families that are on the street or living in over-priced “budget” motels. $150 per week, no cooking facilities, no security, often no heat, strict rules regarding visitors, CASH ONLY IN ADVANCE.

These are hard working people who are caught in a heartless economy. To get out of their cars and hotel rooms and into a real apartment requires lump sums of cash that are impossible to come up with while keeping up with current expenses. Landlords demand “deposits” equal to 3 months rent. I was a renter for many years, and I’d say I only managed to get deposits back from about 1 out of 5 landlords. They always find a way to keep your money, legally or not, and since the landlord invariably has vastly more resources at his disposal than a tenant, there is simply no recourse.

Anyway, even a dirt-cheap apartment costs $1,500.00 or so to move into. Electricity and water both require cash deposits, unless you have very good credit. Add cleaning supplies, curtains, light bulbs, space heaters, and all the other little miscellany of living, and we’re up to about $2000.00. Cash. Try to raise that while working in a labor pool and spending over fifty percent of your income on simple shelter and frittering away the rest on overpriced and unhealthy pre-packaged food products that you’ve heated in the microwave at the 7-11.

I could go on for days about the predators that descend on poor neighborhoods to legally steal from residents who are trapped with little or no transportation options and no credit. The over-priced grocery stores with expired meats, the pawn shops and payday loan services which make loans with interest rates in the mid hundreds, and the furniture rental places where you can rent-to-buy a $300 TV for only $20 per month. For 60 months.

My point is that life is hard and expensive when you’re poor. Basic necessities cost more. It is very easy for a family with 2 full-time wage earners to find themselves on the street. We need cheap, basic housing right now. Low income housing dollars should be used to help people with low incomes. They should not be used to enrich for-profit companies founded by people who swear that the best way to help the poor is to move them out of sight.