Northeast News
July 13, 2016

Last week, Councilman Jermaine Reed pulled his ordinance from floor debate at Thursday’s City Council meeting after serious questions surfaced about the funding apparatus that would funnel $27-million public dollars into the 18th and Vine Jazz District. That’s $27 million on top of the over $100-million that’s been dumped there over the last seventeen years with little or no accountability on how or where it was spent.

This critically thinking news dog thinks Reed’s ordinance ought to be pulled for good until there’s a formal written plan that guides this level of spending. Let’s be clear here, Reed pulled this from committee to stifle any further public comment on where and how this money will be spent. Dang, there’s that nagging transparency thing again. Councilman Reed has said that there’s all sorts of private investment ready to sign on the dotted line for the project, but he fails repeatedly to offer any specifics on who those companies or organizations are. He also has said publicly that a number of private companies are ready to sign leases in the 18th and Vine District. Fourteen is the figure offered on a local radio station last week, but again, Reed can’t offer any specifics on who they are or how many jobs they’ll bring to the district. Liar’s poker folks: we’re playing Liar’s poker here. Councilman Reed is hoping that the numbers on the dollar bill he’s playing with are better than the ones the critics of his sham of an ordinance are holding.

In short, Reed is betting with house (taxpayer) money that this abomination of an ordinance will pass despite the fact the district still has no formal written plan to guide this level of spending for the development and marketing of the museums in the district, and he can offer no specifics on the private sector contribution to this project. $100 million of public monies over 18 years is quite enough.