Or that headline language is at least Tammy Sakry reporting what Council member Matt Look allegedly said.
Good luck on selling the approx. 150 acres, and getting seven million. Hell's still warm with no signs of freezing over.
Here is a clip of the Sakry - Anoka County Union report, giving the headline language in context:
Buying the land was the last option for the city, said Councilmember Matt Look.
The purchase will protect the community’s vision for the project, safeguard the parks in RTC and allow the city to recover back taxes and prevent the property from going into tax forfeiture, he said.
According to Look, the city plans to sell the property at the purchase price or better.
This is not a bailout with people’s taxes, Look said.
So, if not a "bailout," what is it? I would say a mop-up. Of a mess this council inherits from earlier flawed municipal decision making involving some flawed people.
I wonder still what the City's position would have been foreclosing the tax liens and assessment rights it held against the property. I would hope the Council and administration publicly explains in sensible words and sufficient detail why that option was considered less promising than buying the dead horse.
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See the following Crabgrass post for a more detailed excerpt of the Sakry item, or read even more about things in the original article the AC Union has posted online [the link being here].
If they will sit on it as public land unless and until a developer-architect team steps forward with the loot, then it probably is not too bad a move - in a situation where past greed and stupidity dating at least to when Pattiann Kurak was on council and running on her forecast of "nice shops and restaurants" (here, also, and note the distinctly negative response to a "community center"). Sinking more good money into a rathole would not be as wise as sitting, watching, waiting and seeking RFPs [requests for proposals] where the gamblers can look, line up, and offer to play the game. Subsidizing anyone of them, or subsidizing the Deal holdings, or further yielding to PACT school while they disdain favoring Ramsey's children for admission, would be unwise steps a council could take, an administrator could consider, and a planner could love. Let us expect the best, and watch for what ensues.
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I cannot say why this closing image comes to mind, but in proceeding, all in Ramsey City Government are encouraged to perhaps guess about it and be wary that it never becomes applicable. And, was it ever applicable in the past, under the old mayor and a prior city administrator, or with the Town Center Task Force doing its thing, or with landed interests owning a cornfield and running for and sitting on council?
