Posted on Sunday, 6/07/2009 - 11:20 a.m. PDT — by Downtown Guy
It will be interesting to see what comes out of this lawsuit against A. F. Evans. The Perfomance and Payment Bond was a requirement of the Development Agreement with the City of Pittsburg. I was required before any monies were to come from the City or the Redevelopment Agency.
Who in the City authorized the disbursement of funds to Evans knowing full well that the Perfomance and Payment bond were not it place? Whoever did should be sued for misapropriation of funds or maybe even colusion and fraud.
The City has a responsibility to monitor all funds used and disbursed by the Redevelopment Agency. Who in the City or the Agency monitored the use of these furnd? Evindently no one according to the lawsuit.
The article states that on June 19th that the second ammendment of the Development Agreement was passed by the City Council wiht the requirement fot the Performance and Payment bonds still intact. Three days later the "City" authorized the "Guarantee" to replace the bond requirement. Who in the City authorized this out side of the public hearing process? This is either a fraud committed by a person or a Brown Act violation beacause it did not occur during the public hearing three days prior.
I feel that the public has a right to know what is really happening with our money.
Joined: Mar 2008
Current Posts: 166
Madam Mayor,
I just wanted to further explain myself, as I believe you didn't listen to the point I was trying to make.
My point was/is that there is all of this money for marketing and promotions almost half million dollars projected for 2009-2010.
My questions stands.
Is there any oversight to that money spent?
Is there an analysis based in current data that supports that spending?
Is there a Marketing & Promotion Strategy in place?
I have not seeing a marketing and promotion strategy, with specific steps to accomplish our City of Pittsburg's Marketing and Promotional spending.
Yes, as a Marketing and Advertising Strategist I agree we must spend money to make money. But there needs to be a reasoning behind it.
I can't see Tax Payers spending half a million dollars in something we have no clue how is working, or if it is working at all.
How much does Paul F. gets paid? Where does that money come from? I just heard (here say) that he gets over $62,000. I mean that is not right...
Creating positions to push money around is not right, it's not right for all of our communities who depend on you to make correct decisions.
Sorry this might upset you, but I am not there to make friends. I am there to speak up for what I see to be a problem and offer a solution, based on my experience.
By the way. Great job in seeking roughly $11 million in damages from parties involved in developing Vidrio, our unfinished city's three-block centerpiece downtown project. That makes me and my constituents feel represented.
Remember we re all in this TOGETHER.
Sincerely yours,
Daniel A Lopez
Joined: Mar 2008
Current Posts: 166
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Joined: Mar 2008
Current Posts: 166
What's missing here is OVERSIGHT.
Why are we looking at Vidrio now, we should have a system in place to ensure our investments get the best return.
Brewery requiring more and more money, lack of correct planning/oversight. Now we are getting ready to invest in more projects such as the Domusproject.
Are we ready to sign another blank check to the Redevelopment Agency to carry on with the same broken system? Who is going to make sure these projects don't have the same risks?
Year after year City of Pittsburg and it's Redevelopment Agency project large amounts of money for "Marketing and Promotions" with no analysis based in todays market data.
The real question one must ask is WHY OUR DEBT IS LARGER AND LARGER?
I would like to see examples of projects bringing money back to our communities. I don't mean the process of pushing money around, similar to the newly created "Arts and Community Foundation", yet another tool for the City of Pittsburg, not it's community.