Tt post jun 9, 2016 - b

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It wrote itself, mainly Wednesday night. Most of the content is from Wednesday's Blade story and years-gone-by that's easily recalled from a database. Copy-and-paste. In 2016, a Marina District post snaps together like Legos.

I've been following the Marina District news for more than a few months. My first Marina District-related post occurred in January 2003.

Sounds like this whole project is going nowhere fast.

That was written thirteen months before Facebook began. It seems that the Marina District development has stalled.

Speaking of history, I assume that everyone remembers the Marina District plan, called "Esplanade at River East."

Here's the October 2003 Toledo Talk thread about it. Who forgets that?

The Marina District, which the Douglas proposal calls "Esplanade at River East," would be built on the east bank of the Maumee River between the Martin Luther King, Jr., and I-280 bridges.

The Douglas proposal would include 1,100 housing units; the arena; neighborhood retail stores; a marina; a commercial/entertainment center, and a 16-foot-wide riverfront walkway, or esplanade, dotted with restaurants.

The 8,100 to 10,000-seat arena would cost $63.9 million and could be done in two years, according to AMC/Hunt Group’s proposal.

Mr. Ford denied he was influenced by Mr. Douglas’ $7,050 contribution to his 2001 mayoral campaign.

Toledo politics are great.

MsArcher's June 9, 2016 comment above:

“In talking to the mayor the last six months, maybe a year ago, we became very concerned about the Marina District, what was going to happen to it, where it was going to go, so we began a series of discussions with Dashing Pacific,” Mr. Oostra said.

In some circles this would be called quid pro quo and highly illegal. In Toledo, it's business as usually.

Of all the ideas, a park is obviously the easiest one to implement, which means it's likely to happen. 128 acres or even 69 acres as a park. I never saw that happening. This is a little shocking.

I'm unsure about the theory that a Marina District park will positively impact other areas of East Toledo. It's easy to be cynical after being pounded by so many artist drawings of proposed developments over the years.

I'm interested in the political shenanigans, if any, behind all of this. History shows that something could be slightly off. I could be wrong. After all, PH2 is known for running a transparent administration.

Alleged facts:

• Little development has occurred with the Marina District land since 2000.
• A non-profit will spend millions buying land from a mysterious, disinterested tax-paying entity.
• That land will be sold to another non-profit that will mysteriously find the resources to buy and manage the land.
• This downtown riverfront property will no longer be taxable.
• That same property may require us to pay more taxes to support it.

I wonder if PH2 will try to convince us again to increase the temporary income tax.

In my opinion, it's acceptable to be a little disappointed about this latest plan for the Marina District. This so-called prime riverfront property was suppose to be developed by investors to increase Toledo's tax revenue.

A couple of the goals from 2005:

To make the Marina District the center point for the revitalization of the core city which would include keeping young people in Toledo and the return of residents to downtown living.

To make the Marina District Toledo's premier neighborhood and a destination site for not just Toledo's "Upper East Side" but for our whole community.

I reckon that a park can do that.

From the June 8, 2016 Blade story :

The history of the Marina District stretches back to 1997, when the city started assembling the land from private hands.

The city spent $43 million to acquire and clean up the land beginning in the late 1990s.

Of the $43 million spent on the site, $19 million came directly from the city of Toledo.

The city spent $5.21 million to buy and demolish the old Sports Arena and $8 million more to build a mile-long road, Riverside Drive, with sewers and lighting.

Oh, man.

This is why I advocate not paying attention anymore. This crap can make a person ill. It's healthier to be ignorant.

I understand trying to be positive and looking forward and quality of life and all that, but how can we ignore the numbers? What about the millions of dollars lost?

How much catalysting will need to occur along Front and Main in order to break even?

And how can we not be skeptical when the city pitches its next pie-in-the-sky, taxpayer-funded operation that will transform the city?

This is similar to the Erie Street Market. It's one long-term, money-losing operation after another.

It's obscene to ignore the numbers and these failures and look blindly toward the future like nothing has happened, especially when this same political thinking says we have no money to repair roads, and we need more taxes.

I wish Liz Holland and her group (the Westgate owners) would have invested in some of the Marina District land, but she is obviously too smart to entertain the thought.

My May 2013 comment about the Marina District:

Ask why unsolicited developers from around the U.S. are not beating down Toledo government's doors with conceptual plans on how to build something along the water. If it was a worthwhile project, Toledo would not have to seek or beg for developers and investors. The developers and investors would approach Toledo.

I can understand the lack of outside interest in the old Southwyck mall property. But I don't understand the lack of interest from developers, regarding Toledo's downtown waterfront property.

Apparently, the Marina District property was never meant to be a modern form of urban density with commercial, residential, retail, entertainment, and public space all jammed together like one would expect in the downtown area of a city.

It's better to develop the soybean fields outside Toledo and convert Toledo's vacant lots into parks. That's what losing 100,000 residents over 40 years gets you.

June 10, 2016 Blade story

“There is no other demand for that property today,” Mr. Reichle said. “With all due respect to all those people who spent time and money that it could be developed, there is a reason it has not been developed and it had to do with demand and the economics of doing a development of that scale [in Toledo] ..."

Simply amazing. Over 13 years of following the Marina District news, attending meetings, dissecting plans, and hoping that one of the fantasies would be real, and it's going to end up a park. Wow. This is why I don't read fiction anymore. Real life is more interesting.

I'm guessing that in the summer of 2017, we will see another drawing of another plan for the Marina District. This will be the Metroparks plan. At that time, maybe we will learn when the park will actually open, the size, and how it will be funded. The primary for Toledo's mayoral election will be held in September 2017.

Everything is political.