There was a time, not long ago, when we the taxpayers of the Edmonds School District were told of a magical scheme straight from the lips of Nick Brossoit. We were told that if we passed the construction bond for the new Lynnwood High School (after it failed twice before) the District would use the proceeds from the long-term ground lease of the current Lynnwood High School to fund a lengthy list of other projects. Well, it sounded good at the time... to a few of you, at least.Now that Cypress Equities is "rethinking" their development and delaying the launch of any real revenue-generating project, one thing is for certain - the trough is empty and the cows are coming home to be milked.
As for Marla's claim that Cypress Equities is "still very interested in developing the site", she is clearly detached from the realities of our economic circumstances. Give me a break. Many of us in our 30s are "still very interested in" retiring, it just won't be happening anytime soon.
I have also been informed that Cypress Equities is just keeping their foot in the door. At the moment, they have no real plan to move forward with the current project and would never back out entirely, in case the economy improves in the next few years. What sense would there be to leave the project when they already have a number of available exit opportunities built into the ground lease? Why would they give up their seat in the first chair when it costs them nothing to sit there? There is no expiration date. There is no meter running. Why not maintain the illusion to your investors that you have yet another iron in the fire? Never mind that the fire is just orange paint.
Just how much money has been spent so far on consultants and lawyers to prepare the ground lease? What about the cost of converting the property from public use? What other magical sources of funds are available to renovate the ESC for Scriber Lake High School or develop the contaminated site for the new administration center? And where is all the money from the Old ESC site and the Maintenance and Transportation site?
The board may be dazzled by the illusion of intelligence in district management, but it is all quite relative, I assure you. Five imbeciles and an idiot are easily out-witted by a moron.
8 comments:
So, basically Gary Nobles and Nick Brossoit Built a new school for Mrs. Nobles.
Ok, I can deal with that.
My question is what about all the asbestos at SLH and home school? sorry kids you might get cancer.
Nick, nothing like a bull tongue! but you got upper teeth.
Land value will continue to increase over the long haul despite our recent economy decline. I believe the lease opportunities are plain good use of land resources that are no longer needed. Future long term lease funding is return on investment. Perhaps a cell tower located on the site could bring in immediate income and offset some of the discontent.
So this turned out poorly, but, Mark, what should the school board have done with the Lynnwood High property--or with the bond to build the new Lynnwood High? In other words, how can this type of problem be prevented in the future when there are new people on the school board?
This is what we get when we have an unqualified person running Business Services and a bunch of do-nothings on the School Board. This isn't Monopoly play-money they are wasting; its our money. I can't believe they hold their heads high in the community. More over, I can't believe we let them continue to piddle away our hard earned money.
I walked the current LHS site several times with companies seeking to install cell phone towers. Of course, current technology doesn't require much more than a small fenced area at the base of an existing pole. They were paying about $25K a year without even flinching.
It would have been better to have a board that could read the CFP and see that enrollment was moving downward. Oddly, the same guy that was tracking student enrollment was also watching the real estate market and preparing for economic hardship.
CEO's at the district have no clue about time and money, example do you ever see them walking around saying good things about people?
My parents' home in Shoreline has lost nearly 1/3 of its market value. I don't expect that it will see the same value it had in 2007 (considering inflation/deflation factors) within my lifetime.
People with money (read: Cypress) are ecstatic about this recession because they can wait things out and get the best, lowest price for property. They aren't worrying about laying off people, because they don't manufacture anything. They simply come along and pick up the prized pieces.
If there are no "walk away" penalties for them, and another piece of property looks like a better deal, they'll walk. It's just business, folks. Capitalism. They won't be the ones holding the bag at the end of the day.
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