A lot of the article is factual, but too much of it is talking to people and uncritically reporting only what was said. Which includes falsehoods. Not everyone is or was on the bandwaggon. Certainly, I have said, it was bad, very bad, but do not make it worse by caving in to the bank and others now. That is, "faint praise" and I am not alone, that way. There were skeptics all along. The infamous "Would you like nice shoppes and restaurants," voting item, where 60% of voters said, "sure" and 40% saw the deception in it and anticipated the humongo housing mess, and voted "no" is as mischaracterized in Ms. Sakry's writing as ever, anywhere, and she declined, for reasons known only to her and her editors, to present the actual question text that voters voted on. In my view, that is not credible reporting of facts - it is reporting opinion, in the guise of fact. Decide for yourself whether you trust the article, excerpted here:
[...]
While some may criticize the city for not checking out Nedegaard’s financial situation, there was nothing the city could do, according to former Ramsey City Administrator Jim Norman.
Nedegaard assembled the land and owned it. The city didn’t have a choice in selecting a developer, Norman said.
“We wanted to do the project and he owned the land,” he said.
The city’s options were to condemn the land or go ahead with Nedegaard with a letter of credit to protect the city, said Norman.
Although the city consultants did a study before the project started that indicated Nedegaard may not survive financially, it is not unusual for projects to have two to three owners before completion, he said.
The first indication the city received that Nedegaard was in financial straits was when contractors started putting liens on RTC property in fall 2006.
[...]
“The town center is more than bricks and mortar, it’s about the vision. And it’s important to maintain the vision,” said Trudgeon.
When the urban center idea came in up in a comprehensive plan meeting with planning consultants in 1998, the council rejected it, said Norman.
The idea of a transit-oriented, mixed-use development resurfaced later in the year and was seen in better light by the council fighting for a Northstar Commuter Rail station site, which it later lost to Anoka in 2000.
The idea, with the vision of delivering walkability, transit oriented connections, mixed use, amenities and services to residents, also caught on with residents.
Sixty-one percent of Ramsey residents voted yes in a non-binding 2001 referendum on whether residents supported the Ramsey Town Center project.
Ramsey residents formed Citizens for Ramsey Town Center Design and collected 1,600 signatures to support the town center in 2001.
Everyone is disappointed by RTC’s status, said Trudgeon.
“Everyone embraced the vision expecting there would be more there,” he said.
“We had expected it to be further along.”
Although he gets a lot of questions about when RTC is coming, Trudgeon said he hasn’t heard anything about abandoning the plan.
Tammy Sakry is at tammy.sakry@ecm-inc.com
That bolded text - why was that information suppressed? Where was it ever presented, even by allusion, on the City of Ramsey website? What set of minutes? What full agenda?
Did every sitting councilmember know of that consulting opinion? If so, Ms. Sakry, report it. If not, who was privy to the information, who, sitting on council at the time was not? Any real nose for news would be sniffing out that question. Or it seems so to me. Did Ms. Sakry ask Ms. Kurak about what she knew that way, and when did she know it? Doubtful, but if so, the answer never made it into print.
I recall Mike Mulroney was supposed to check out the guy, and show up at a meeting and report. And he was a no-show. I recall that.
What's the story? If there was a report saying the guy was not the right guy; why was that story suppressed?
That, Ms. Sakry, would be news. News to report. News that would be of interest to the taxpayers. News to have reported back when there was the big putsch to move City Hall - who back then was saying the "consultants" had said this and that? NEWS. Not that complex a thing to comprehend.
The email address went with the write-up. Contact the reporter, if you have concerns.