Laubach feels Middletown is....

Mike- all valid points to be answered by Council and the city leaders. Will any of them respond.....no. Will any of them take you or anyone else on this forum seriously.....no. Do they care what we think (or anyone outside the loop for that matter).....no. Are we wasting our time trying to communicate with them.... yes. They are determined to do it their way to appease the small faction of "influential" people in this town. Been that way for a long time. I was hoping things would be different with our new candidates on board. Started out ok, with Josh and A.J. and Ms. Scott-Jones asking questions and challenging the status quo, but now........perhaps the resistance has gone away. How about it councilmembers- are you still in the hunt or have you been silenced?

Josh, you appear to frequent this forum enough to keep up with the general theme here on this matter. I'm wondering what difference it makes whether we send you an E-Mail or communicate with you on this forum. Why do you find it necessary to insist that we E-Mail you? What is the difference?

We are all somewhat confused as to YOUR decision (not necessarily what your constituency wants) to vote to approve this deal. Do the majority of the people in the 3rd Ward want this to go through or is this what you want without getting a pulse from the people? Do you really believe that using taxpayer money to fund a private venture, knowing the previous history of deals like this, is a good thing for the city? What will be your response if this doesn't pan out like you and the rest of council are expecting? How will you explain your decision to the people if Verdin fails to honor his committment or the artists don't show up in numbers and the building is, once again, empty, with all the monies spent to set it up for him? Aren't you taking a big chance with the taxpayer's money? We know your viewpoint on the matter but am interested to hear how you arrived at your conclusion. If you three vote for this and this goes down in flames, be prepared for the verbal onslaught to follow. You know as well as I, it will not be delicately worded, should this fail.

Is it just me or does each post by Josh Laubach get more and more disgusting? Who the hell does he think he is? He will never get another vote from me.

And quit lying Josh, we know you don't just stroll along this board once in a while. Get real. Nobody needs to contact you directly in order for you to know the will of the people. You're just using a BS excuse because you don't have the balls to say NO to Judy & Sam!

Jlaubach wrote: MUSA, I made last night’s comments for a reason. Given the situation, I feel it’s the best option to support this project do to the success of other Pendelton projects in other areas similiar to our downtown. We desperately need a presence of business and activity downtown. I believe without positive activity the downtown will further decline and attract more criminal activity. This situation is not desirable for Middletown and it cannot be left as is if there is any desire to stabilize and revive our city. I meant what I said and it’s my displeasure to hear the grief it may have caused some. As I stated last night, I have been conflicted about the project simply for the fact that it involves the spending of public money. However, I am no more pleased to have a piece of property sitting on the city's hands which sits vacant (which was purchased before my time). The Over-the-Rhine project is very impressive. In addition, the owner has also purchased historic property in vicinity of the center (A 19th century church to name one) and turned them into very successful ventures in previously abandoned areas. Indications are the same will be done here. I am sorry to hear the loss of support from some of you. I live my life to try and do what I feel is the best and most principled thing. You can’t be all things to all people all the time. Sometimes no matter what you do half of the folks are going to love it and half are going to hate it. However, that is beside the point. I have to do what I think is best given the situation and circumstances given to me. If it were up to me, many things in government would be very different. I believe in the economic and governing principles laid out by Thomas Jefferson, Adam Smith and John Locke.  But I can only control so much with one vote on Middletown City Council. I must accept the constraints and conditions of previous council decisions, state and federal law and other matters that create the world we live in 2010. I would hope that folks on this site are intellectually honest enough to see that I am a puppet for no one, not on this site, not in the city building and not in the “heavy hitter” class. I cannot nor have I ever proclaimed to do things to make everybody happy. Again, if my words caused a loss of support, I am disheartened by that. However, I must act on what I feel is best for Middletown. Sincerely, Josh Laubach

Many of us are still behind you one hundred percent Mr. Laubach! 

Vet....Just happened to spot that from the top of the parking garage when I was taking pix of the Sorg demo & others before the garage demo began. I had no clue before this that the John Ross Store had been in this location. I was going to bring it up a few months ago and forgot about the pix. These posts just happened to jog my feeble mind!

I sure don't remember that, and I remember Noah saying that it looked like rain!!!

Thank you to SWOhio for proving my point, and to Spider for re-stating my case so eloquently!!!

First, let me agree that I have nothing against the Moormans. I’m sure that they are fine folks.

The point is, a past council made a $300,000 interest-free, forgivable loan of the taxpayers’ money and gave them a building with the anticipation that their “artsy” business would spur economic growth downtown. It has not done so!!!

Now, five years later, another council is on the verge of doing a very similar thing, again with taxpayers’ money, on even worse terms for the taxpayer, for the same reasons, with even less chance for a favorable outcome for the taxpayers, and no one is willing to look back at this deal!

Beau Verre has been a success, but it has been successful for no one but the Moormans. And that is fine as long as they live up to all of the terms of the agreement and are good corporate citizens, but it has NOT spurred economic development in the area. In that regard, the experiment using the taxpayers’ funds has been proven to be ill-conceived!!! Which part of this picture is so difficult to understand??? Why should we expect a different result if we try the same experiment over again (with even worse terms for the taxpayers)???

Would Robinette or Kohler or Gilleland or Landen or any member of city council, using their own money, make a $200,000 loan to Verdin having only the Ross building as collateral??? NO!! So how, in good conscience, can they make a 100 times worse loan using the people’s money???

And all of those mentioned have taken an oath that they are violating in either recommending or allowing this to proceed!!!

Beau Verre is a quality business, owned by hard-working local business people. They would be successful wherever they were located. Even though the city(taxpayer money) bent over backwards to make them the centerpiece in a downtown gamble. A risky offer for both, but almost too good to refuse. Beau Verre  has created a true showplace, and success story.

Bill – BVR was not a new business.  It was an existing, successful Middletown business.  The city was working to retain this business. 

swohio75, I don't want to pick on BV or have anything against them.  But the point most of us are making is that the city should not be in the business of giving out large sums of money for new businesses, regardless of how much $$ the owner is putting in themselves.  What makes PAC worse than BV is that it sounds like the owner is putting in a minimal amount of their own money, if any, which is unlike the BV story you just mentioned.

The John Ross store was located in the Beau Verre location many years before it moved to northeast corner of Central and Broad:

Mike_Presta wrote: [QUOTE=Kelly] For that matter, can anyone explain why BeauVerre was "a great thing" for Middletown??? Or why they were worth the hundreds of thousands of tapayers' dollars that were "invested"??  Can anyone tell us what we got in return for our money??

The seems to be a little confusion on the whole Beau Verre Riordan deal and the nature of their business.

Beau Verre Riordan is not someone’s hobby.  Nor is it some sort of downtown experiment by the city.  It’s a business.  A business that chose to be in the downtown area.  While it may have started as a hobby for Jay and Linda Moorman, it’s now their livelihood.  And while it may offer opportunities for others to further their stained glass hobby or interest, BVR has paying customers who purchase a product.   In order to produce this product, BVR must HIRE and PAY skilled professionals an income.  Income that is taxable by the city of Middletown.

Here’s some history on the BVR

BV was located on the east-side of Middletown for many years in the KittyHawk area.  It was started and continues to be owned by Middletonians.

BV purchased Riordan Studios out of Cincinnati.  Riordan was the oldest operating stained glass studio in the United States.  With this purchase, BVR outgrew their existing location and needed to expand operations.

Like any business, BVR considered expansion options, including a new building on the east end of Middletown.

But Jay and Linda had a vision for a renovated building in Middletown’s downtown that could lead to the eventual spark in redevelopment.  And they worked with the city on a deal that would allow them to do so.

The city of Middletown owned a building in the former mall area at Central and Broad that many people will recall as the John Ross Store and later G.C. Murphy’s.  I don’t’ know at what point the city acquired the property or how much they paid for it.  It could have been part of the mall’s original construction.

During the planning process for the downtown mall’s removal, there was debate on whether or not to demolish this building due to the fact the storefront’s replacement cost was more than the building’s value, and the city didn’t have to acquire the property.  The decision was made, I believe, not to demolish because the corner was deemed crucial to downtown Middletown’s redevelopment.  A hurdle to the property’s redevelopment was the amount of asbestos.

BVR’s worked out a deal with the city consisted of the following:

-          BVR purchased the building for $1

-          BVR agreed to spend $30,000 on trim around the top of the building that needs substantial repair work. Anything above that was to be paid for by the city in a $30,000 grant.

-          The city of Middletown provided BVR with an 15-year interest-free loan with no payments for the first five years

-          The amount of the loan was $300,000 with $10,000 job credits off the principal of that loan for every job that adds at least $20,000 to the company's payroll.

-          BVR had hoped, as part of this expansion, to create 30 new jobs 

This was not some sort of free-be handout.  BVR will celebrate 5 years at their downtown location this fall/winter, so repayment of the loan should begin shortly, the amount depending on the number of jobs created.  Even if the loan is forgiven based on JOB CREATION, I can tell you the Jay and Linda’s personal investment in the building far exceeds the original loan amount—and may be up to twice the amount of the loan.

 Here’s an old article from The Enquirer that discusses the deal:

 http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2003/10/23/loc_middowntown23.html

You can be sure had Jay and Linda decided to expand BVR on the east-end, they surely would have sought tax incentives for that location as well.  I wonder if there would be as much criticism if this is the route they had chosen.