Legoland interested in development seeking tax breaks at Glen Carbon

thank god they didn't choose columbia Illinois! can you imagine all the traffic getting on and off the highway and really never getting to town..uhh forget the millions in taxes and additional revenue they would bring in over the next 20 years, we'd rather try and stay Pettycoat Junction as long as we can.

"The investors — who include John Costello, the son of U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Ill.— want the state to essentially forgive all sales taxes there so the revenue could pay off bonds to build it."
Hmmmm, sales tax revenue would be nice, wouldn't it?

Read the whole story wrote:

"The investors — who include John Costello, the son of U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Ill.— want the state to essentially forgive all sales taxes there so the revenue could pay off bonds to build it."
Hmmmm, sales tax revenue would be nice, wouldn't it?

and the pedophiles would have a nice plase to target your children at, sorry thats WATERLOO.

Star bonds are TIF on steroids. The abuse of some TIF districts, not all, are bad enough without taking sales tax to line some pockets.

i really think any family member of an elected official should not be allowed to recieve tax incentives or stimulus money no matter what.
kind of like family members of employees not being allowed to win sweepstakes.

would the elected officials really act in OUR best interest given a fellow party members son is requesting thier help?? I reallllllllly doubt it!

bidnessman wrote:

thank god they didn't choose columbia Illinois! can you imagine all the traffic getting on and off the highway and really never getting to town..uhh forget the millions in taxes and additional revenue they would bring in over the next 20 years, we'd rather try and stay Pettycoat Junction as long as we can.

Hey bidnessman why don't you move to Destin or Branson if you like revenue so much.

duhhhh... ameoba guess you don't have a clue as to what's required to balance the residential building going on in Columbia or you love higher and higher taxes, it's one or the other.

and thanks, i have a home in Destin and love it there as well.

Hey bidnessman, Did you realize Legoland was proposed by Grewe to go into Columbia Crossings? You should read the (now legally invalid) Master Development Agreement Mayor Hutchinson supported. It committed Columbia to rebating all the property, sales, and utility taxes back to the developer FOR THE NEXT 25 YEARS! Legoland wasn't going to help your taxes one penny, it could only hurt.

hey get your facts straight you need to get your facts straight.

I thought the courts shelved the case, so at this point it has NOT been ruled invalid at all levels, your first lie. Further, the agreement DOES NOT allocate 100% of all the above mentioned taxes back to Grewe for 25 years, that is simply false, your second lie. The # 3 lie is it will not help my tax bill, it certainly would by bringing in the additional taxes you seem to believe would go 100% to grewe, remember that was lie #1, it would also add to sales to other businesses like downtown restaurants, might even bring in additional businesses to DT who will pay additional taxes and think about all the work it would provide to the local townspeople.
I expect that once the specific agreements to each one of the PROPOSED master agreement pieces was worked out Columbia would have faired well and it would have met the master plan for the community with a good long term plan, now i suspect we'll end up with a hodge podge of industrial users. especially given we've lost the highway access the agreement would have provided onto 255.
I think it was precisly these types of lies that got Alderman Unnerstall trounced in the last election as people like me took the time to review the documents and realized if crafted correctly in it's final form, this development could have been very good for the long term health of the community, instead we got lie to and stuck with a potential legal mess WE taxpayers have to pay for.

bidnessman wrote:

hey get your facts straight you need to get your facts straight.
I thought the courts shelved the case, so at this point it has NOT been ruled invalid at all levels, your first lie. Further, the agreement DOES NOT allocate 100% of all the above mentioned taxes back to Grewe for 25 years, that is simply false, your second lie. The # 3 lie is it will not help my tax bill, it certainly would by bringing in the additional taxes you seem to believe would go 100% to grewe, remember that was lie #1, it would also add to sales to other businesses like downtown restaurants, might even bring in additional businesses to DT who will pay additional taxes and think about all the work it would provide to the local townspeople.
I expect that once the specific agreements to each one of the PROPOSED master agreement pieces was worked out Columbia would have faired well and it would have met the master plan for the community with a good long term plan, now i suspect we'll end up with a hodge podge of industrial users. especially given we've lost the highway access the agreement would have provided onto 255.
I think it was precisly these types of lies that got Alderman Unnerstall trounced in the last election as people like me took the time to review the documents and realized if crafted correctly in it's final form, this development could have been very good for the long term health of the community, instead we got lie to and stuck with a potential legal mess WE taxpayers have to pay for.

I agree with you 100% but when did we lose the 255 access? I thought it was still in the works.

Line the pocket, you make a good point that elected officials and their familes should not benefit from tax dollars. We had a discussion going on another thread about the levees until it was determined that the guy hell bent on getting federal money for the levees owns commercial land protected by the levees. And he's on the levee board. So for years he was taxing his neighbors for his benefit and is now looking for federal money to further increase the value of his assets.

His main argument for spending $480 million of other people's money to fix levees from Columbia to Alton was, you guessed it, the economic benefit to the area. "We have to build levees/legoland at any cost because of the economic benefit."

Always follow the money.

Hey bidnessman, first, I hope you are not a Columbia businessman. I refuse to believe Columbia businessmen are as arrogant as you. If you are a Columbia businessman, that might explain the trouble attracting new businesses that you complain about.

OK, that said, I understand why you are saying what you're saying. This is what was being said by Hutchinson, Niemetz, Ebersohl, Roessler, Langhans, Phelps, and a lot of people unfortunately bought in. It shouldn't have even been up for debate, it's in black and white in the Master Development Agreement. You can call me a liar all you want, believe what you want to believe, but no one with an open mind and the ability to read can argue with what's in black and white. I paraphrase, but look it up, the MDA in Para 3.1 says "The City ... shall reasonably cooperate with the Master Developer in good faith in order to obtain ALL Economic Incentives, Government Entitlements,... presently available or available in the future to assist the Master Developer to reimburse ALL Qualified Project Costs." ALL economic incentives, ALL project costs. And that's a 25 year committment. The City Council gave away the farm when they rubber stamped this agreement that Grewe drafted up. It was so bad a federal judge ruled it legally invalid. Why do you think Grewe sued? Instead of negotiating something more reasonable, he knew he had the deal of a lifetime, a $250M winning lottery ticket thanks to Columbia taxpayers, so he was bound and determined to keep it.

Your final arguement that downtown business would have prospered with Columbia Crossing - well who knows for sure/who can predict the future - but your prediction flies in the face of every other small town main street that has died when Wal-Mart moved in. I think this would've been far worse, it was much bigger and would have shuttered Main Street and Marketplace as well (and these businesses do generate taxes, not keep them!)

Finally, what have you got against Petticoat Junction? Seems like a find place to raise a family, the 3 girls did well there. Although I prefer Hooterville myself.

wow, your off base, re read the agreement and get a legal opinion as your wrong get your facts first. ALL costs and qualifying are two completly different numbers. like i said, to argue this you need legal advise in many areas.

sorry.

Leveewaste,your retarded.

Leveewaste,you are a liar and a coward. To accuse me of only acting in my interest is insuling and as I said,cowardly.My developement days are far behind me. The Government put me out of that business years ago. My dedication to the levees have nothing to do with the 30 acres of property that I own. This is my home you idiot. 5th generation. I was talked into this position on the levee board. It is an elected position and those that elect me are more than happy with our progress considering the election results. For the wages of $1000/year,you can bet it isn't for the money. As far as you are concerned,I ask anyone here to breeze through the '4 contractors hired thread' and try to count all of leveewastes misquotes,lies and just plain stupidity concerning these levees. All he is concerned about is his money going to help Americans...and he wants to keep it all to himself. Just a greedy little man.

such a horrible greedy little man. how dare anyone want to keep thier money all to themselves?

I see that they are going to share the star bond thing with any community within 10 miles of the site. I wonder how many communities that will suffer from this handout will be involved in any of the benefits. Ten miles isn't that far.

10 miles takes you past DT st. louis and past west county, it's a bigger area than most would think.

Like I said before, anyone who wishes Legoland would have located here just needs to read the Master Development Agreement Mayor Hutchinson, Niemietz, Ebersohl et al rubber stamped for Grewe. It's the most one-sided deal you'll ever read and it's all there in black and white.

I have and the deal will be in the secondary agreeement that have yet to be negotiated. Columbia MAY have gotten a big winner with this development but instead we got a big legal bill.