Category Archives: Crony Capitalism

Today, the Dorthea Dix land giveaway was revoked, saving the taxpayers untold millions:

.@ncsenatedems stood tall for ITB, but Senate passed bill protecting all NC taxpayers from the raw deal on Dix park #ncpol #ncga

— NCSenate Republicans (@MyNCSenate) March 26, 2013

My previous article, Dix Land Sale Gets Heated, noted that WRAL owner Jim Goodmon gave some lively testimony in favor of the lease and park plan which included what seemed to many to be a veiled threat to Chairman Apodaca. From the headline at WRAL this afternoon, it would seem Apodaca was right to feel threatened:

Senate OK’s tearing up Dix Park Lease

The state Senate on Tuesday approved voiding Raleigh’s lease of the former Dorothea Dix site, calling on the city to pay more for a smaller piece of the 325-acre parcel to create an urban park.

An amended version of Senate Bill 334 passed on a 29-21 vote. The measure now goes to the House.

Under the terms of a 99-year lease signed in December by Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane and former Gov. Beverly Perdue, the city would pay $500,000 a year – plus annual escalators – for the Dix site, allowing officials to convert it into a “destination park.”

Republican lawmakers criticized the deal, which they said didn’t provide the state with a fair return. They also said it would end up costing taxpayers money because state Department of Health and Human Services offices at the site would have to be moved.

Also:

The legislation, along with a companion bill in the House, calls for the lease to be renegotiated at a fair-market price, with the proceeds designated for mental health programs. Also, DHHS would be allowed to maintain its offices on part of the site.

The smell of media bias is thick as it spends more than half of the article reporting the plight of the proponent’s case. The NC Senate made the same observation of the headline:

Did Jim Goodmon write this headline himself? #conflictofinterest#sourgrapes RT @wral: Senate OKs tearing up Dix park lease #ncpol#ncga

— NCSenate Republicans (@MyNCSenate) March 26, 2013

The News and Observer didn’t do much better: State Senate votes to throw out Dix lease. At least ABC 11′s kept it factual and adjective free: NC Senate passes Dix bill by a vote of 29-21.

From the ABC 11 article:

The current lease gives the state up to $68 million over the next 75 years as Raleigh city boosters turn 325 acres into a regional destination park. The bill would require a lease with a higher price, fewer acres and proceeds benefiting mental health programs. The proposal now goes to the House of Representatives.

325 acres close to downtown and Perdue’s price was $68 million over 75 years. That’s right, only around half a million a year, for a ‘destination park’ that would like cost taxpayers at least that much to maintain. That’s not even taking into account the cost to develop it, which DIX306 founder and equipment mogul, Greg Poole, no likely would have gotten a piece of the action. One has a hard time believing anyone would be pushing this deal for 7 years and not be profiting from it in some way.

No matter how loud the proponents of the park complain, when you look at those numbers you cannot tell people this was a financially responsible deal for the state to be making. Continue reading →