Throwing Good Money After Bad....

Last week Lew Griswold called from the Fresno Bee. He wanted information on Lindsay, particularly on the microenterprise loans. When I said that was just a minor boondoggle, I surprised us both.

I told him about the citizens’ efforts to suspend the park renovation and stop Sierra View Extension, part of what I now see as a major boondoggle. The total for the faulty micro-loans was $225K; the total for the park and road will be $1.5M, six times as much, $1M of which we have to repay. But that’s still small compared to the big picture.

The big picture emerges from documents in the "Lindsay Centennial Infill Project," prepared for the state’s Infill Infrastructure Grant program in 2009. What they show is the City’s inordinate investment in two housing projects that would not have been started otherwise - and probably won’t be finished .

"Mission Estates" was the first. Originally 98 homes on 32 acres of orange grove just north of the park, the conditions on the subdivision approved by the City Council in 2005 clearly state that Sierra View Extension was to be paid for entirely by the developer, Jim Hunter. Yet in 2006 the City applied for and received a $3M USDA loan, with $1.82M committed to build that road. In 2009, the Council committed $1.82M to the road from $6.5M in ARRA funds it hoped to receive. Last year’s audit showed a $1.225M USDA loan dedicated to Sierra View Extension. Where did those other funds go? What is the true cost of that road?

The second subdivision, "Sequoia Villas" built on hospital district land, also required the developer, Prairie Pacific Investments, to pay for the internal roads, curbs, gutters and sidewalks. The MOU (memorandum of understanding) between the City and developer permitted the project to proceed without first purchasing the property. The City has invested in all the infrastructure with huge cost overruns. Only two homes have been built in Sequoia Villas. Mission Estates has none.

In the Infill grant documents, Prairie Pacific is listed as having committed $1.9M to Sequoia Villas, with another $750K committed by Santa Clara Bank. Prairie Pacific originally committed $990K for building Olive Bowl Homes, 33 units on the baseball park grounds, but that project was abandoned in favor of Sequoia Villas. APEX Alarm Management of Provo, Utah, is listed as committing $12M for Mission Estates, which was converted in March, 2010 to "Village on the Park," increasing the types and number of homes to 210. Where is that money?

I think we have to look at the Wellness Center, Aquatic Center and the soon-to-be renovated City Park as investments in those two subdivisions, too. The functions now contained in the Wellness Center could have been served in the old hospital, renovated for a fraction of the cost, but the dreamers needed something more upscale. The pool in the Aquatic Center, which was promoted as a money-maker for the City by hosting international swim meets, was mistakenly built too small for the largest events. Both buildings are lovely and make a person feel more glamorous just being in them. But if you did a cost-benefit analysis, not many people would pay the price for that good feeling.

The City of Lindsay has wasted priceless public resources on two developers’ pipe dreams, "pounding money down a rat hole," as my father used to say. If they truly want to distance themselves from the mistakes of the past, they can stop throwing good money after bad and abandon construction of Sierra View Extension. If they want to take a real leap forward in this Year of the Dragon, they can start listening to their residents’ dreams for their park instead of siren songs.