__________UPDATE___________
Nothing in the reporting was found about millions of public dollars put at risk to make the thing happen. It appears that in St. Louis Park politics is that private sector profit seekers take their own risks. I did a word search of the Strib report. The word "TIF" was absent, the word "subsidy" was also absent. I went back and checked more. The word "consultant" was absent, as was the term "development team." It would be illuminating to see how things are done, in detail, in St. Louis Park.
__________FURTHER UPDATE___________
I got an email, helpful -- snarky and judgmental, but helpful -
You know better than to think TIF was NOT used in Saint Louis Park. In fact it was used for damn near every new apartment development. These people cannot help themselves.
"The City has used its tax increment financing authority in many of these projects in order to meet specific community and economic development objectives."
http://www.stlouispark.org/webfiles/file/finance/2011_ annual_report_cafr.pdf
_________BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE___________
I have not read it yet, but the link was emailed, "The Case Against Tax Increment Financing;" published by the Cato Institute. One can make a case against the Cato Institute, but keeping an open mind, readers might enjoy the analysis.
____________AND MORE____________
As something of a TIF skeptic, after getting that link, I did a
google = tax increment financing abuses minnesota
Try it. Or something similar.
First hit was a Lexis summary, then the original online, Minnesota Law Review item; NOTE, Note: Tax Increment Financing: Public Use or Private Abuse?, 90 Minn. L. Rev. 213 (Nov. 2005). Compare that review of the Walser litigation with the generic argument from Cato Institute. Then explore other things that web search, via the above Google or related search terms in Google or Bing, can yield. Maybe the mystery of TIF will lessen.
I am still wading through the reading, but it is an educational experience. Planners and legislators and town/county officials should have a look.
As an experiment, I did a parallel
bing = walser best-buy tif hra tax increment
Try either. This
blekko = tif tax-increment-financing
So little time, so much to know ...
And if you read enough, you may miss the local show in a town or other locale near you.
More.
More.