Tonight the Park Ridge City Council will have another opportunity to strike a blow for sane, fiscally-responsible government for the second straight week, when the Zoning Code map amendment for the Whole Foods project comes up for a second reading.

We’ve got two words of advice for our aldermen: Defer it. 

And defer it with the express and unqualified direction to the developer (Park Ridge 2004 LLC) and/or Whole Foods that the map amendment will not be taken up again until they legally commit to doing this deal in a way that is acceptable to the Council – and that, unless the developer drops its demand for any bribe money whatsoever, what is “acceptable to the Council” will not be determined until the Council drafts and thoroughly debates a complete overhaul of the ridiculous City Council Policy No. 31. 

This particular developer bought this property several years ago as a speculative investment; i.e., accepting certain risks in return for the prospects of a substantial reward from developing the property.  The original plan was for a 168-unit condo complex to be built by then-mayor Howard Frimark’s campaign contributors Bruce Adreani and his Norwood Builders, which required a zoning map amendment to change the site to R-5 multi-family residential from…wait for it…B-1 commercial, the classification the same developer now wants restored. 

The City accommodated the developer back then with that change, and even agreed to let it build 8 units more than the Code permitted for the size of the site.  As we noted in our 10.19.07 post “An EOP Riddle,” those 8 extra units would have netted the developer and/or Norwood an estimated $600,000 of extra profit, but at least it wouldn’t have come directly out of the taxpayers’ pockets. 

The market for condos cratered, however, and the developer now wants to abandon that R-5 plan in favor of this B-1 opportunity.

Frankly, we vastly prefer B-1 over R-5 because we believe Park Ridge already has become over-dense, from the standpoint of housing units, for its over-taxed infrastructure.  And we think a Whole Foods would be an excellent addition to the City’s retail base, but not at any price.

From a public policy standpoint, we believe the only “acceptable” way to do this deal is with NO subsidy/incentive/bribe to the developer or to Whole Foods.  If our community needs to bribe businesses to get them to locate and invest here, we’ve got big problems that need to be addressed directly instead of papered over with cash handouts to those businesses. 

The more important reasons for our objection to such bribery, however, is our belief in fundamental fairness and a level playing field for all retailers, as well as our opposition to this kind of corporate welfare for the well-off (Whole Foods) and/or the risk taker (Park Ridge 2004 LLC).  As we understand it, the subsidy they are demanding from Park Ridge taxpayers will enable the developer to offer the rent deal Whole Foods wants while at the same time enabling the developer to increase the profit or reduce the loss on its speculative investment – which is just another variation on the “privatizing profits while socializing losses” theme.

That’s just plain wrong and should not be tolerated, even if it means Park Ridge’s “clean” eaters will need to continue burning fossil fuel traveling to a neighboring town to buy organic.

Which makes us wonder where Park Ridge’s “99%”-ers have been hiding during this debate. 

Why aren’t those residents who profess to abhor how the federal government has bailed out Wall Street and who have replaced Dick Cheney’s photo on their dart boards with Jamie Dimon’s showing up to “Occupy 505 Butler Place” in support of the Council’s not giving in to this local bit of crap-italism by a national retail giant?  Whole Foods Market Inc., No. 273 on the Fortune 500 list, is doing so well that near the end of last year it hiked its dividend 40% and announced a $200 million share-repurchase program.   Why should Park Ridge taxpayers subsidize that kind of performance?

We realize it’s much easier to sit around railing idly against NATO, Wall Street and the “one percent” – or to park oneself in front of MSNBC or FOX and shouting “Right on!” or “#$@% you!” at Lawrence O’Donnell or Sean Hannity – than it is to regularly show up at Park Ridge City Council meetings and actually try to do something to improve local government and the community, irrespective of how one might define “improve.”

But if you don’t accept “trickle-down,” then shouldn’t you start working from the “grass-roots” up.

UPDATE:  Last night the developer and Whole Foods blinked…and agreed to do the Whole Foods project without any tax-sharing subsidy/bribe from the taxpayers.  For those keeping score, that means the City will get an extra $2 million or more that otherwise would have gone to the developer and/or Whole Foods over the 20-year term of the proposed revenue-sharing agreement.

Well done, gentlemen!  For the second week in a row this Council showed that, unlike at least two decades of its predecessors, it actually has a spine and is willing to stand up to shameless demands of private special interests looking to feed from the public trough. 

Which proves, once again, that “no” is the most powerful tool in the negotiating toolbox – and a tool that boneheaded bureaucrats and clueless politicians usually keep in the box because they lack both the brains and the…guts to use them on behalf of the taxpayers.  And in addition to winning that battle of wills, the Council also voted 5-1 (Smith dissenting) to approve the zoning map amendment from R-5 to B-1, but with the proviso that it will revert back to R-5 if the developer doesnt’ t get a building permit in 12 months and an occupancy permit in 36 months.

In addition to a big shout-out to the Council for actually walking the walk, we also want to offer a shout-out of another type to those gutless wonders and self-serving whiners who bashed the Council for risking their supply of organic lemonade.  And chief among those naysayers are certain members of the City’s Economic Development Task Force who, at their meeting last week, barbecued Ald. Sal Raspanti (4th) for actually DOING HIS JOB and standing up for the taxpayers against corporate greed.  Those EDTFers let it be known that the Council’s “no” vote on the proposed tax-sharing arrangement irresponsibly jeopardized the chances of bringing Whole Foods to Park Ridge.

How does it feel to be proved almost immediately and totally wrong, folks?  

We suggest that every one of those EDTF chowderheads who ripped on the Council for taking its hard-line position against throwing away tax dollars RESIGN from the EDTF, because they have demonstrated both their incompetence and their lack of good judgment – which, if the Council had listened to it, would have cost us taxpayers over $2 million.  The City doesn’t need that kind of “citizen input,” even if it’s free.   

To read or post comments, click on title.