Tt post jun 9, 2016 - b

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It wrote itself, mainly Wednesday night. This ain't Twitter, brother.

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 is snapped 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 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 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.

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. Come on.

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 (Westgate owners) would have invested in some of the Marina District land, but she must be too smart to entertain the thought.

I'm guessing that in the summer or fall 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.