Quote:
Originally Posted by steveosnyder
If you noticed in my very next post I stated that they weren't good reasons; I stated that this is why the majority of Winnipeg is against it. I then stated exactly what you are saying here, that suburban development patterns have been subsidized since the inception of zoning codes in all their glory.
I also gave my reason for not liking it: more subsidies are not the answer; making up for subsidizing the suburbs by subsidizing downtown will create huge expenses that the civic government can't afford. A better answer would be to charge more for suburban development.
But I agree with Rypinion -- this will not happen with the current council and, more than likely, in my lifetime.
What we need is a council that isn't funded by developers.
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Well, a dynamic downtown is not a bad idea, but not at the expense of Winnipeg's almost bankrupt infrastructure budget. Not at the expense of taxpayers already taxed to death, paying investors and speculators.
There should be no incentive from public towards private investment anywhere in the city, for the simple reason that we can't afford it. Maybe the late development in Detroit has more demonstrating facts supporting the reason why city hall should stay away from unnecessary spending. The Exchange condominiums will sell without subsidies, if priced right.
In 1995 Toronto downtown, a 2,875 sf. penthouse was purchased for $544,900.00 which was sold last month for $3,750,000.00 for a realized private profit of over 3 million dollars. Is called risk/reward ratio and it's the result of a free market.
Is ridiculous how the city hall rejected 543 Elmhurst Road development where the developer was committed to pay for all infrastructure, without any public incentives, without the city spending a dime for a development that would've had created enough public revenue to maintain the entire area. Is ridiculous how the city hall rejected that development only because was opposed by a few residents apparently developers themselves, competing with the applying developer. Where is the Competition Act? Where is the Competition Bureau?