SunCal Pie

So SunCal is ready for questions about the Tax Increment Development Districts they want.   Answers are likely to frame  just how smart SunCal and their growth can be. 

From the Albuquerque Journal's Dan McKay comes a clear explanation of TIDD's and announcement that SunCal has opened an "information center" in the downtown Hyatt.  That's only a little ironic.  Where else are they going to provide information about SunCal?  Interstate 40 at 118th Street?

The heart of the matter:

Opponents say the districts could shortchange the rest of the city by allowing tax revenue to be diverted. Businesses and economic activity, for example, could move from the older parts of town into the tax districts, leaving local governments with less tax revenue.

Supporters, on the other hand, say the districts help promote "smart growth, mixed-use communities" rather than typical sprawl. They say the developer is reimbursed only after the cost of municipal services in the area is met.

OK, I get it.  Smart growth sprawl, rather than typical sprawl.

Prepare for some talk about pies.  (Mmmmm pie.)  Pie-talk frequently accompanies talk of the economy and I've heard it several times about TIDD's.  It says we must make the pie "grow bigger." 

Who grows pies?   A baking analogy for land development is a strange choice for a supporter.  You can't mix an old pie in with the new ingredients.  And raw land on the fringe is only one ingredient, like flour.   Water is in the mix along with a whole lot of other things too, including energy for baking.  Sprawl leaves a lot of half-baked pies laying around in the form of underutilized and funked-up property. 

I prefer a circus analogy.  (Always.)  Equating new land development on the Westside with economic development is a magic act or confidence game played behind the tent.

    "This is an open process, a public process," said Will Steadman, president of SunCal's New Mexico division. "There are a lot of folks with questions."

::Step right up!::

(photo + edit 1/4/08 pie by Flying Star, not SunCal)

Comments

[Maggie]

"That's only a little ironic. Where else are they going to provide information about SunCal? Interstate 40 at 118th Street?"

Hee hee hee...

Step right up, indeed! Great post.

[Stanisback]

Too bad the people of New Mexico did not oppose Suncal like the people of Anaheim did?