Talk about a difference of opinion. One councilor is under some kind of delusional spell and one is so angry they could spit nails. You can figure it out.

First Neitzert puts on his best sombrero and gets to dancing;

But Neitzert would not have voted differently on the project even if he knew then what he knows now.

“The optics though – they are undeniably awful because of the perception and the ties of various individuals to both the project – if even fleetingly – and the entity involved in the terrible tragedy that occurred.” The terrible tragedy Neitzert mentions is, of course, the downtown building collapse. Hultgren was remodeling the old Copper Lounge building before it came down in a pile of rubble, killing a young construction worker.

It’s not just bad OPTICS it’s a bad DEAL. We should have not gone into business with these crooked clowns;

Neitzert says Council can’t really reverse its decision on the mixed- used parking ramp because the bonds have been sold and construction is ongoing.

Not so sure about that. He is basically trying to spin that the ‘train has left the station’. Actual construction HAS not started. The bonds could be put on hold and the a new RFP could be presented. As far as I see it, this is a breach of contract and gives the city the right to request a court order to stop construction. At the very least they could even nicely ask the construction company to HALT operations until they figure out the legality of the situation;

“Its just too bad this issue is hanging over this otherwise impressive project and will at least for the foreseeable future cast a cloud of controversy and doubt over it.”

There was NEVER anything ‘Impressive’ about this project. It was overpriced and underutilized. Even without the basket of snakes involved with the development, it’s NOT that good of a deal for the taxpayers.

Stehly sets it straight;

“This thing is being built on deceit and deception, in my opinion,” Stehly said. “It’s not what our citizens want from us as Council members or from City government.”

“This project has the second penny tied to it,” Stehly said. “This project is immensely expensive for a parking ramp. This project is going to raise fees for any person who is parking in a City-owned parking lot. It’s been problematic from the get-go.”

Like I said above, it wasn’t a good project to begin with, now add the deception and the already poor luster on this turd is beginning to fade even more. The city needs to put at least a temporary hold on it. The bonds will be fine in the bank collecting interest.

It’s hardly worth re-publishing, but according to the Argus, some councilors were unaware that Legacy was so closely tied to Hultgren construction.

Give me a F’ing Break!

It was blatantly obvious that they were two in the same when we saw the haggling over the LLC’s and the asbestos removal. Ignorance is NO excuse. Several in the public knew about the relationship between Legacy and Hultgren, and I find it extremely hard to believe that people on the council, people in the planning department and the mayor didn’t know the relationship was extremely cozy.

IMO, the lying is breach of contract and I would stop construction immediately. I would have it rebid to build a stand alone parking ramp (that we can actually use and has more spaces) and if someone with their OWN money wants to develop next to it and lease space (parking and land) so be it, but moving forward NOW after this has come to light is almost criminal towards the taxpayers. Doing nothing is unacceptable!

The good folks over at the Argus Leader got the paperwork proving Legacy had over a 50% ownership in Hultgren Construction. Good Job.

I figured all along that was the case. I mean really, the writing was on the wall. 1) Aaron could not have financed this business by himself 2) A development company having it’s own construction company it could manipulate and break rules for them is a smart business move, unethical, but smart.

The public warned the city council before approving the Downtown parking ramp that this was likely the case, but they had this O’Shucks attitude that Norm Drake from Legacy was just stuck in a bad business situation while moving LLC’s around like it was a Chinese checkers board. Give me a break!

The sad part is there is probably little the city council can do now after signing the paperwork and breaking ground, they are stuck with their very, very, very, bad decision. To say they have mud on their faces is an understatement. They are chin deep in the hoopla, and it’s going to be entertaining to watch them spin this.

This was a bad deal for the taxpayers and it’s too bad we can’t pool our money and get a big city attorney to sue the city for misappropriation of bonds. Sadly, it would only cost us even more.

It’s hard to pinpoint if this is just government corruption or worse – blatant ignorance but when I watch our city council do things like this, I wonder why I even bother making a stink about it. It’s almost like we enjoy bad local government.

I guess we saw the writing on the wall (no pun intended). Hultgren Construction is filing for bankruptcy after insurance companies paid out millions in claims. The sad part about this is that the insurance companies should have paid the victims first, which has included a myriad of people and businesses.

Of course all of this hinges on whether or not the insurance companies and victims can also pin this on Legacy Development. In a perfect justice world, since the insurance companies decided to pay off damaged property instead of victims first, if more money can be garnered from Legacy, the lion’s share should go to the victims first.

Secondly, if Legacy is found liable, what will that mean for them? They have millions tied up in projects across the city and region, including a dubious Public/Private partnership with the city. Could this also bankrupt them?

At the end of the day, NO ONE is a winner. Someone is dead, others have suffered emotionally, physically and financially and even others have had their businesses uprooted.

As I said to a friend the other day, “It amazes me that some of the players in this tragedy still show their face in this town. It’s despicable and disgusting!”

While Legacy maintains that Ketchum will not be involved with the DT Mixed Use PPP Parking Ramp, moving forward, what does his 2-Year conflict of interest agreement mean?

I have been asking different city officials this question, and awaiting some responses.

The way I see it, since Ketchum will be VP of Operations for Legacy that essentially means he will be directly or indirectly involved with ALL of their projects (even the DT parking ramp). Moving forward, could this mean for the next two years Legacy as a development company can’t be involved with city projects such as;

Street Vacations

TIF’s

Façade Programs

Public Private Partnerships

Infrastructure upgrades

Special Rezones

Of course Legacy will probably try to play some fancy tricks with LLC’s, as they have done in the past. If I were the city planning department/mayor’s office I would send a letter immediately to Legacy informing them of the two-year moratorium while Ketchum works for them. And trust me, if the city chooses to ignore the conflict rules, the media and others will be quick to remind them, because we already got hoodwinked on the asbestos dumping, the building collapse and the parking ramp.

Legacy doesn’t get another by, not this time.