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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Siegfried: [QB] No, we can't go back and say "for the public good" instead of "for the public use". They mean completely different things. "Public good" means society benefits from it. "Public use" means society can use it. They do not mean the same thing. A hotel and conference center, an office park, a research center, these things are not for the public use. A highway, a rail line, a utility easement, these are things for the public use. And no one's proven at all that any of these land grab for private economic development is going to pay off at all. How many stadiums have been built in the past several years on promises of economic riches and urban revitalization? How many have fulfilled their promises? Look at Houston. We were promised redevelopment and economic revivals on the eastern side of downtown thanks to Toyota Center, Enron Field, Hilton of the Americas Hotel, and other crackpot schemes. That side of town is still a wasteland, and no we have yet another large hotel that barely make 50% occupancy. The promises are empty. Private developers and municipal governments can do the hula all night long to their economic forecasts, and they have absolutely no way of knowing whether or not they'll hit success or wind up with a boondoggle. Caught in the middle between developers and city official seeing dollars signs are these having their homes snatched away from them for developments that they won't have access to. Look at Freepot with the article I linked above. The city has very few businesses in its jurisdiction that it can tax; these two companies make up a good amount of that tax revenue. Now Freeport is essentially kicking them out to build a marina for luxury yacht owners who may not have a need for yet another berthing place along the Texas gulf coast and pray to God that the hotels and restaurants come in and that they'll score big with use. If they succeed, good for them. If they don't, Freeport no only has a tax revenue shortfall after yanking the land out of two large companies, but it has an $8 million dollar marina sitting unused and more business failures in anything that decides to try and capitalize on the marina's promised benefits. Considering the reputation that Texas cities have for spurring economic development, this is likely going to be a disaster. [/QB][/QUOTE]
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