Wareham: Bad Corporate Neighbor Gets Big Favors From City Hall
Opinion
Whenever it comes time for City Hall to dole out the corporate welfare, Wareham Development is always there at the front of the line but Wareham isn't very appreciative of the taxpayers generosity and when it comes time to reciprocate with some civic mindedness, they've shown a notable lack of neighborliness. The current Horton Street bike boulevard debacle is only the latest in a long history of selfish Wareham public policy advocacy. It seems Wareham is looking out only for their interests, their loud public relations lamentations notwithstanding.
After Wareham's development projects received millions in taxpayer funded subsidies (including the shoddily built leaking and black mold ridden Terraces condos) and after they they received numerous zoning regulation pardons from City Hall and after they received a City Hall backed hostile eminent domain real estate taking from a rival developer, now Wareham says they will not tolerate a bicycle boulevard on Horton Street. Wareham is worried that cars generated by their developments will be slowed down by bicycles on the street so they're insisting that the bikes be shunted over in a zigzag to an area behind their buildings near the rail road tracks.
Wareham has long enjoyed the support of the city council majority whenever it has asked for special favors from City Hall and the support until now has been reciprocal; the same council member friends have for years been receiving generous donations for their re-election campaigns by Wareham.
While the Tattler has long been critical of the cozy relationship between Wareham and their council majority benefactors, this turn against the Horton Street Bike Boulevard by Wareham is beyond the pale. Obviously, Wareham expects the same kid glove treatment it has always received and no doubt it expects the council to rule against the bike boulevard regardless of it's $200,000 taxpayer funded study.
We will insist that the unanimous wishes of the bike/pedestrian committee and the vast majority of Emeryville citizens be honored by the city council and to Wareham we say shame on you for this latest example of bad neighborliness.
For more on this story please read the Tattler story of April 5th and search "Wareham" in the Tattler search engine.
Isn't Wareham one of the groups asking for lower property tax, so that they do not have to pay to support schools and needed programs? Why on earth would they care about people on bikes? It's all about the profits and buying their way to success.
ReplyDeleteAnimals at the trough of life!
Yes, indeed Wareham is asking to pay less. Please read the Tattler story of February 27th entitled "Emeryville's Assessed Valuation Percentage Dropping" for the whole story on this.
ReplyDeleteWareham: The more you learn about them, the more you hate them.
ReplyDelete