The Harbor Center building, also known as the old Osprey Restaurant, and the 7.5 acres of riverfront property it sits on will be leased to the University of Idaho for the next 198 years, if the City of CdA approves the measure this month. The price? A mere $1,000. a month. One thousand dollars and some change. Less than most of us pay for our house mortgage. 

This morning’s CdA Press has a great article by Marc Stewart about the details of the lease agreement and shows how quickly the public officials are pushing this through the system, but it’s not online.

The Press’ Sunday Editorial is also excellent on this same topic “Don’t Rush into a 198 Year Promise” http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2008/06/08/editorials/edit01.txt

The Harbor Center was purchased with a Wastewater Public Bond that we all voted to approve back before Mayor Bloem’s tenure. The reason for the Bond was for future expansion of the Wastewater treatment plant and all of us on the sewer system paid for the Bond with increased sewage rates.

Now the City wants to lease the building and land to U of I for $1.3 million dollars over a 99 year period. Why not just wrap a bow around it and say, “Merry Christmas”, U of I? Then turn to us, the tax/rate payer citizens, and say, “Pay Up!, we need to buy the DeArmond Mill site, very near the Harbor Center, for $10 million.”

Here are some comments on this subject already from other threads here on OpenCda:

Comment by Wallypog — June 8, 2008 @ 9:56 am

Dan, with all due respect. I wrote that NIC did not have the money to buy the Mill site and Mark replied that they “did” have the money. If your child tells you they have the money to buy something then you find them selling their video game system for pennies on the dollar to fund the purchase after you agreed to their plan, you were lied to. I do not want parsed, well spun answers from my representatives particularly those claiming to be “honorable”. People are very weary of the double speak.

Here’s an even sillier question. If the city has 7 acres suitable for the U of I why not just turn that land over to NIC? What does the land have to be to be acceptable for NIC? Is 135 prairie acres too large and 7 acres good enough for U of I too little or does the land have to be next door and the most expensive option? The entire scenario reeks and people should be ashamed to be trying to ram it down the paying populations collective throat.

Comment by Dan — June 8, 2008 @ 10:36 am

The City is also failing to recognize what Sid Fredrickson showed them at the last City Council Meeting: That at its largest expansion, the Wastewater Treatment plant will consume 1/2 of the Osprey’s parking lot. This is okay because the land *is* owned by the Wastewater Dept; Wastewater rate payers bought and are paying for the land. Legally, it should be separate from the rest of the City’s budget. But, no.

Regardless, after the presentation, not a word was spoken by the Mayor or Council regarding the intrusion into the Education Corridor. Nothing was mentioned regarding the U of I lease. I was shocked. But then again, it seems to be part of a larger picture that we’re not being told everything or that our elected officials are not aware of everything that’s going on. Either way, a bad sign.