Mayor Bergson must have been drunk again.

Ok it is time for this mayor be done. I can't believe there is not more of an out cry for this guy to leave office. If this contunies we will start to see the billboards that say will the last one out please turn off the lights again.

This mayor seem to not relieze a good thing when he see's it.


Bergson rejected ramp offer from SMDC
BY SCOTT THISTLE
NEWS TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
An offer that could have released the city from its obligation to build a parking ramp for an expansion of St. Mary's/Duluth Clinic's campus on the eastern edge of downtown should have been taken more seriously by the mayor, At Large City Councilor Jim Stauber said.
In an Aug. 8, 2005, letter of intent to Duluth Mayor Herb Bergson, SMDC President Peter Person outlined a 20-step offer to amend a development agreement between the city and the health system.
The offer would have allowed the health system to take over construction and acquire ownership of ramp, according a copy of the letter obtained by the News Tribune.
It also may have freed the city from the ongoing costs associated with the ramp, Stauber said.
Payment on city-backed bonds for the ramp are estimated to cost taxpayers $300,000 a year. The city also will face about $180,000 in annual operation costs for the ramp.
While these costs far exceed the city's subsidy to the Great Lakes Aquarium, few seem concerned about it, Stauber said.
"We've been saying all along, 'Let's get St. Mary's to the table. Let's get St. Mary's to the table,' " Stauber said. "Little did we know they were already at the table."
Among other things, the deal offered by SMDC included a requirement that First Street from Third Avenue East to Eighth Avenue East be converted from one-way to two-way traffic. The deal also would have given SMDC the $3.97 million DEDA was raising to help finance the ramp's construction.
At the least, Bergson should have made a counter-offer, Stauber said. The mayor also should have informed the City Council, which serves as the Duluth Economic Development Authority, of the offer, Stauber said. In the end, DEDA would have ultimately made the decision on the ramp, Stauber said.
Neal Hessen, an attorney who represents SMDC on the project, confirmed the offer was made but said he wasn't at liberty to discuss the details.
He said that SMDC would have been open to a counter-offer had one been made. "SMDC is a very good corporate citizen and is always willing to help the city," Hessen said.
But Julio Almanza, the city's interim chief administrative officer, said the deal wasn't doable for a number of reasons. It would have created a private parking ramp instead of a public one. That would have jeopardized public money, including state grants, being sought to pay for the ramp construction. The proposal was reviewed by a number of city staffers, including the city attorney's office and DEDA's executive director. All concluded the offer wasn't in the best financial interests of the city at time, Almanza said.
"The deal was not viewed as a positive one for the city because, basically, at the end of it all the city would have been left with no assets," Almanza said.
Beyond that, the city also has an agreement with Sherman Associates, developer of a nearby hotel and condominiums, to provide it spaces in the ramp.
The agreements with SMDC and Sherman also require the city to extend its skywalk system from the ramp on Third Avenue East to the existing skywalk, which ends on the west side of Lake Avenue. How the city will pay for that expansion, which could cost up to $15 million, is unknown, said Stauber.
"Financially, the city has become extremely strapped, and for us to continue to make pie-in-the-sky offers is misleading," Stauber said.
He supports, at least in concept, a new ordinance being drafted by 3rd District City Councilor Russ Stewart, which would require the city to limit how much it can spend on any development agreement. The ordinance also would require the city to show where that money would come from.

Councilor Stauber said that it seems many people have not shown a huge consern over the parking ramp cost. He must not have seen this blog or almost on the range blob a few month ago when this issue was in the paper almost daily. I think there are more and hope there are more people consernd about then councilor Stauber thinks there are.