Riverfront Concerns

Sorry that I have been off the blogs for a while. I have been pretty occupied with work and school so there is little time to spend typing about stuff with little or no impact.

A few weeks ago Akcess development backed out of the Riverfront project and attempted to hand the reigns to the Dumke group. I understand why they did that. Akcess was on the hook and would be held responsible for the development of that property. They signed an agreement with the city to have a certain dollar value on that property by the end of the year. They knew that they could not get it done so they looked for someone that could take over and relieve them of the responsibility. Makes perfect sense.

Here is the interesting part... What if there is another interested party? Shouldn't the city explore other options? During a subsequent RDA meeting, Mr. Esslinger mentioned that he was contacted by another interested party and requested that the decision to hand the project over to another developer be delayed in order to give this person a chance to come forward. We later found out that it is the owner of the Sweetwater development between Main St and Oregon on the south side of the river. He was out of town the week of the RDA meeting so he called Mr. Esslinger to speak on his behalf and give him the chance to talk with the RDA himself.

Now we move ahead a week. Mr. Lindemann has withdrawn his proposal with the city. It seems that he has met with the Dumke group and may work with them on developing the property. Sounds like a good idea, right? Maybe not.

My question is this... Why doesn't the city put out and RFP for this project? It has gone through 2 developers without one and now appears to be on a 3rd. Does anything seem off the mark on this or is it just me? I am not an attorney but I cannot imagine that this is normal operating procedure for a community to favor developers with public owned property. Maybe I'm off base but it may be worth asking the questions anyway.

On another related note, it seems that once again the matter is turned personal for another local blogger. She has focused on the fact that Mr. Esslinger stepped forward at an RDA meeting to give Jason Lindemann an opportunity that he would not have had. When will it end? When will she finally let it go and just get on with life? This should not be personal.

Just a thought.
KM