Wayne Township Relief vs. Harrison Square Park Funding

Rick Stevenson Applauds, Applauds to Wayne Township Trustee Rick Stevenson for pointing out the lack of funding in the Wayne Township budget needed to serve the community. According to Amanda Icone's article in the journal-gazette.

Stevenson requested a million dollars for Wayne Township budget. The Republican led Allen County Commissioners denied the request while the Allen County Council agreed to provide the funding. Of course this is a temporary loan from the county.

Township Trustee Rick Stevenson asked the county commissioners last week to borrow the money to cover costs through the spring, but the commissioners denied the request. He went before the council Thursday hoping for an advance on its tax distribution.

The media has given lots of ink and air time to young folks having meetings about what they need to have fun in downtown Fort Wayne. They don't have a clue that jobs and people are leaving, because of the high increases in taxes throughout the city. Many families remain in the city and work. Many of these families fall short of meeting their basis needs because of the low wages in the core of the city. These families are not carrying around pictures of a baseball park, they are carrying around the grit needed to make life better for their children. These families are the ones paying the price for( stealing a line from Cyndi Lauper) girls (boys)who just want to have fun. These family have little to no disposable income in taking care of their families.

A voice of reason came from Allen County Council Person Darren Vogt in the article,

But Councilman Darren Vogt, R-3rd, was concerned that the higher interest rate from an outside lender would increase the township’s tax rates. That could adversely affect taxpayers and send more people to the township seeking poor relief, he said.

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Several speakers at the Harrison Square Park meeting held at the Allen County Main Library stated that 50,000 folks had left the core of the city. Dan Carmody
Dan Carmody Downtown Improvement District spoke about the exodus of more than 50,000 folks from the city. 50,000. This number suggest that folks are leaving Fort Wayne. This out migration is not only people but includes loss revenue. The tax burden of growing the current population was placed on those who were left behind in the central city. The tax shift to the suburb contributed to the gutting and negligent of downtown.

Today, the city and county need to reach into the pockets of those who prospered from leaving the city, and capture some funds to restore downtown. The restoration of downtown includes the Harrison Square Park. Instead of impact fees to capture the revenue needed to finance the downtown redevelopment, the wager is that projects within the Harrison Square Park with provide some of the necessary funding.

Not only that, young professionals returning home from college are bored with the cookie cutter life style of the suburbia. These young go-getters are seeking a more creative fun social life in the less inhibited urban core. However, these urban dwellers want homeowners rather than seeking a lifestyle of renters. This myth is that the young will build a new tax base in purchasing housing.

These potential homeowners are different than the old stuck in the mud Leave it to Beaver generation, a husband, wife and children. These young generation are seeking shared housing among friends. Friends who they can work with, hang out at their favorite restaurant or bar with. These young folks are seeking a downtown where they can live work and play in a bigger playground one that does not have the incestuous feel of their smaller communities.

Unfortunately this new younger generation bring in certain type of bias. They want to remove the old dwellers and create their newer cookie cutter community inside the urban core. These folks young folks don't have a clue, but show their true colors. It is the city's poor funding, the police department, schools, and other units. Each of these department demand more from this shrinking community. Take a look at that reassessment again. And the rest of the story has not been told, that these young professionals are unable to afford home ownership of the condos being proposed by Hardball Capital.