City's Channing site handouts defy logic

Following my recent letter to the Daily Herald, I was astonished to see the Elgin City Council further increased the subsidies to Aspen Homebuilders for the Channing Street properties and it has reduced the number of homes to be built.

The council has increased the cash incentive by $110,000 while reducing the number of homes to be built to 13.

Doubtless the builder claimed he could not make a profit on 13 and would require more cash. The additional cash incentives raises the subsidy per home from $121,875 to $158,462 per home.

The reasons cited in a recent Daily Herald article for the increase in cash were property values are lower and construction costs higher in historic districts.

I think it fair to pose the following questions: How much more is it to build in a historic area?

What items contribute to the increase in costs?

Was the granting of the incentives based on a competitive process?

How many contractors were solicited?

What alternatives were considered?

Considering the density issue and slow market, perhaps a place-holding park would be a more sensible solution.

If tax revenues are the issue, the added incentive makes the recovery period (using my assumption of $4,000 in taxes) increase from 32 years to almost 40 years.

Using the clean land as a park or play lot would allow for the investment of $1.06 million and at a rate of just 3 percent, the result after 40 years would be about $3.46 million.

Lastly, if the average selling price is $300,000, is the buyer really getting a building worth $300,000 plus the subsidy of $158,462, or $468,462?

One further curiosity, I attempted to look up Aspen Homebuilders on the Internet.

It has a site, but it shows no office address. A true virtual company?

Albert Parker

Chicago

Tired of Marxists, and bad engineers

What is with the stinkin' taxes?

We do not need any more stinkin' taxes.

People who vote for Marxist Democrats are loco.

Tell Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and Gov. Rod Blagojevich to go to Cuba or Venezuela and stay there. Is there any Marxist idea with which they haven't gone along

First, fire the over-paid jerks at the transportation departments who select the engineering companies who cannot make roads that will last 1,500 years without resurfacing.

Or who can't engineer roads that can handle large traffic volumes without traffic jams.

I even called the City of Chicago Transportation Department, asking them to build double- or triple-decker tollways above all pre-existing expressways and get user tolls from rich suburbanites who ride the upper decks.

And I also suggested they build more city-owned parking garages.

I was told, "No, people need to use public transportation."

But I think it would be a "cash cow" for Chicago.

Who knows how long we'll have to put up with such backward thinking.

Until the next election? Don't hold your breath.

Maybe I am too hard on the career government workers.

I think maybe the voters are the jerks.

Rick Voorhees

Lake in the Hills