Today is Sunday; it’s the day Mr. Skipper spreads the tablecloth over the buffet and sets it with the good silver.
Early on, I must dine upon John’s first course (the opening paragraph) where he serves up the word “transparency”. In this case it is half-baked and not very tasty. Let us never ignore, the Mayor has always favored “closed” door meetings. Case in point was the Prestage carnival, in which the public had no say at all, the deal was brokered and promised to then-Governor Branstad by Eric – he told Terry he had 6 council members in the bag, too lobotomized to object. Of course, Eric was wrong, as he almost always is. These Barons of Pigs didn’t just get off the bus and stroll over to the council meeting…. there had to be – and there was, believe me – reconnaissance done well before their first introduction to our community. These people gathered behind solid oak doors and there was no transparency present. Eric then led us to the Gates of Hell and we narrowly escaped.
STOP RIGHT HERE.
Look… these are the same people wearing the same clothes… the same lies tumbling out of their pieholes along with a strong stench of alcohol are again present in this downtown money pit to nowhere, we now stand on the precipice of ruin once more.
Today, John wants you to familiarize you with the council packet… you can read it online, he informs you. Whoppde-Do! You can read it, you can memorize it, you can chop it up and eat it like fresh bloody veal… but it will not change one thing… not one. Three hundred years ago when I was in my first year of Aluminum Siding University one of our early lessons was a course called Subterfuge 101. As we gathered in the living room with the home owner (that’s you) we would say; “A lot been said here tonight, so now let’s put ink on paper and see what it all means.” That is when the contract form comes out. Or in this case the ballot. We would go over the contract point by point… much like these recent seminars put on by the city where they would try to explain various aspects of the program. But they didn’t tell you that it was all smoke and mirrors.
Totally meaningless fodder, numbers from thin air, dollars from you the taxpayer straight to the man with three names on the East Coast and Minnesota’s Harold Hill hotelier.
Now late in this meal, John presents a new dish to his guests; its called THE TRUTH! While this entree is new on his menu, it comes with a warning… it’s hard to swallow. This is a bit of fresh air, suddenly the dining room windows are open and the heavy musk of lies and deceit are competing with the truth… and you should know, the truth always comes out ahead. Begin reading John Skipper’s column with the paragraph that says “After the meeting, I thought” from those words to the last word tells you get the absolute truth…. there is no viable deal here from Gatehouse… none. Not from Hyatt Hotels, not from a viable lender, this is an empty sack and the cat just got out of the bag… Skipper just jumped ship, I mean even Hickey asked a question. He only does that when The Willow bartender shouts “last call!” and he says “one more round?”. That question could have been the crack in the dam. The only one who is going to pass is you and I.
Hello!!! Vote No…… did Gateway receive a check for $150,000.00? If they did (yes, that check is CASHED, our money is spent, it’s gone forever) it’s time to call Attorney General Tom Miller for the State of Iowa. Maybe Gatehouse will turn “States Evidence” and help us indict these shysters – wouldn’t that be interesting?
Peter Children
Mason City, Iowa
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It’s called “due diligence”, this council was ….and is poised to sign a 38 million dollar deal on a property without knowing or costing that it is in default and subjected to a tax sale. Run….don’t walk and vote no.!
Pittance per say as to the theft in worth – you know little vegas to the north – mitchell is rumored to be a close second to us as the suppers are connected like butt stocks.
Pete, there is more truth than you can imagine in your approach to this topic. While you raise some great points, when we look closer into the numbers, it appears there are lines that have been crossed that border on illegal.
How is it the new mall owner who buys the mall in bankruptcy court for $1,500,000 gets the City Assessor to agree to asses it for $1,500,363? It cost 20 million dollars to build it!
The mall has 220,000 square feet of space. If the mall averaged $5.00 per square foot for rent it would bring in $1,100,000 in gross rents per year. Allowing 35% for overhead it would leave the mall owner $716,000 per year in net income.
With that kind of net income potential the assessor should have used an income approach when setting the malls assessed value for tax purposes. At the very least the assessor should have requested cash flow statements from the mall. Did they?
Why did the City Assessor set the malls taxable value so low? Something needs to be looked into here. The mall is now only paying a little under $49,000 per year now. That is way to low.
Something just don’t add up here. I think we need to seriously have the State Auditor come in here and do some investigating. I don’t like what i am learning.
Another point I would like to make is; our elected officials have been inferring that if we don’t vote for this crazy project, our property taxes will go up because the mall will go down hill and we will have to make up what they don’t pay. It can’t get any lower than it is. If they don’t pay their property taxes, I am going to buy it at a tax sale.
In my opinion it has been set artificially low in anticipation of the downtown project and the new TIF district the city will be creating. If I am correct this is wrong wrong wrong. And yes, I do think our current batch of elected officials would do this to the taxpayers. Corruption or stupidity, don’t matter, either way it’s wrong, wrong, wrong!
This needs to be investigated for sure!!!
I agree…..
Oh come on Children is absolutely right and Skipper is ridiculous, always has been.
He’s not a reporter of news…he’s s reporter of what he wants and likes and thinks.
Then he opens his mouth…..what’s in there other than shit, really he can’t talk , sounds like a jumbled mess…..what is it skipper you know.
Whatever it is time for you to hang it up along with the other criminals leaving finally!!!!!!! Please!!!!!!!!
I quit reading Skippers article a long time ago. He is so damn obvious it makes you puke.
I quit reading Skippers article a long time ago. He is so damn obvious it makes you puke.
I quit reading Skippers article a long time ago. He is so damn obvious it makes you puke. Vote NO!
Must have gone to ASU
Tempe AZ
My god you are an idiot.
What a long trip around the barn that was. Basically, you told all of us that certain people in city government are lying to the citizens just like you did to make an aluminum siding sale. But….now we are supposed to believe you, because you say so? Just because bashing Max Weaver, once got you a golden pen award from the Globe Gazette, doesn’t mean your credibility is top shelf either.
Aluminum Siding University? Impressive credentials.
What are yours.
I know LVS and he knows everything.
I don’t know everything, but I do know a hell of a lot more than you.
I don’t know everything, but I do know a hell of a lot more than you.