Only In America (Pittsburgh Park) Still At It

I wondered if anybody would notice I misspelt Pittsburgh. ;)

If the Commonwealth has any sense at all, they won't invest actual money in this "enterprise", because nearly all the long-term (i.e. post-construction) jobs are low-wage service sector jobs.

For example, it's pretty easy for an automaker to get Michigan to give a tax abatement for a new production plant. Pfizer recently got the first-ever tax abatement granted by the City of Ann Arbor for expanding their pharmaceutical R&D offices here. But, those jobs pay between moderately well and very well, and help build on the economic base of the region.

On the other hand, the casinos built in downtown Detroit got nothing more from the state than permission to do so, and have to pay the state and city additional taxes for the priviledge. Of course, the casinos are not exactly complaining.

Tekno: as a graduate of Carnegie Mellon, I noticed too. The story I've heard: pgh is the only postal "burgh" that is a "burgh" rather than a "burg". There was some movement afoot by USPS to "standardize" all burgs, but Pittsburgh got an exception. *** Edited 9/21/2005 1:03:15 PM UTC by Brian Noble***

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Lord Gonchar said:
If it never goes faster than 5mph, it would only have to be 4400 feet long.

It'll be the world's longest Fiesta Express!

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Oh, an uber-crappy coaster. So, that's how they can guarantee that the wait time for this coaster is never longer than 10 minutes!!!

Ha! See, we're on to their scheme! :)

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Brian Noble said:
If the Commonwealth has any sense at all, they won't invest actual money in this "enterprise", because nearly all the long-term (i.e. post-construction) jobs are low-wage service sector jobs.quote]

That's a mighty big "If," Brian. A few years ago, the state bent over backwards and threw in the kitchen sink when Cabela's announced it was building a store in eastern PA. Tax breaks of all kinds, rebuilding a nearby interchange, somehow they even started construction before they had all the necessary approvals. This with the promise of 6 million visitors (annually who would also "support" local businesses, since this was their only store on the east coast) and several hundred jobs.

I can see politicians who don't know the difference between a roller coaster and a roll-o-plane jumping on the bandwagon just to be able to say they created 2400 jobs.

What you need to do is check with the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) or the Governor's Action Team to see if these people have made any contacts there. They'll be the ones to grease the wheels with the approval process.

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blangjr,
thanks to our 'eminently' wise Supreme court, that now applies everywhere for projects that are deemed 'for the public good.' This is being defined rather loosely.

My town is using the threat of condemning (brand new) homes to build a 500' tall communications tower on a hill at the entrance to my neighborhood. Since it will improve 911 service on cell phones, it's 'for the public good' even though it violates numerous codes that they otherwise enforce. The city says 'Well, if the homeowners don't like it we'll just condemn the properties and do it anyway."

BTW, the company that is doing the project in Connecticut that led to this ruling is now charging back rent to all of the homeowners affected, saying 'if you hadn't fought this in court we would've condemned on you years ago, so you now owe us hundreds of thousands of dollars in rent.'

Nice, huh?

According to what was in our papers around the time of the decision, the SC ruling doesn't (and cannot) overrule any existing state laws pertaining to eminent domain. In other words, it was a narrow ruling pertaining to this one particular case, and doesn't give anyone carte blanche to go out and take land. PA apparently has quite detailed laws in place, whereas CT didn't.

BTW, eminent domain can only be exercised by a government entity, not a private company. Eminent domain has always existed-- it's mentioned in the Constitution. The SC ruling only stated that economic development or benefit could be considered a "public good" in addition to the other definitions that previously existed. And landowners must be fairly compensated whenever eminent domain is exercised.

Wasn't it like 6 landowners out of 90-some who refused to sell? I think if I agreed to sell, but the deal wasn't going through because someone else decided to hold out, I might be pissed too.

TD, I don't see how Pfizer could be charging homeowners "back rent" if they weren't their landlords (if they already owned the property, they would just not renew the lease). And like I said before, Pfizer as a private company can't condemn or take a property, only the local municipality can do that. If the city exercised eminent domain, they owned the property, then turned around and sold it to Pfizer. The city probably made a profit on the sale as well. The former landowners shouldn't owe anybody any money. In fact, they should have been compensated for their properties-- and the length of time they "held up" the project shouldn't result in the compensation being less.

RGB: Much to my amazement, there have been several hotels and other service-sector businesses that have sprung up next to the Cabela's on US-23 in Michigan. I don't think they got tax abatements, and the interchange already existed, but that stretch of road was redone.

Then again, it needed to be. And it still isn't as nice as the segment of US-23 in Ohio.

RGB,
It's not Pfizer, it's the "New London Development Corporation" that's doing the condemning and the demanding of back rent.
For some it's as much as $300,000

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20050919-115848-5849r.htm

wow. Just wow. THe city condemned the property for Eminent domain, then when the legal battle started, the money to purchase the property went into escrow until the resolution by the USSC earlier this year.

Now the town want to collect rent on the use of the properties in the meanwhile...so now the town is doing that in hopes of getting the land and their money back too. ouch.

But it looks like the governor of the state is stepping in and trying to get the NLDC to reconsider\change its' plans...

How about that good ol US of A "Freedom" thing, huh?

I work at Joes crab shack near the Pittsburgh Airport and today a gentleman brought in a "brochure" for the park.. with all of its plans on it the same as were already posted...

Did you punch him in the face for being a douchebag?

Or say "No thanks, we already use Charmin."

Sheesh! They're really hitting up just about every business in the area telling them how great this is going to be.

Unbelievable.

As long as they're staying away from Wheeling.

I am surprised they haven't started promoting their *park* in Charleston, Clint, let alone Wheeling.

Scary.

-Tina

"Uhhh... could I just have the free dollar?"