Public Gets a Chance to Weigh In
The Portsmouth City Council will hold a public hearing on the McIntyre Morass. This hearing will be a part of the January 9 City Council meeting. It will consider the adoption of a supplemental appropriation for additional funding related to the redevelopment of the Thomas J. McIntyre federal building.
This, now, after months of McIntyre federal building-related developments including the April Settlement Agreement that pays Redgate Kane $2 million for unspecified and un-invoiced expenses and, more recently, the revelation of the astronomical cost estimates to complete the project.
According to the City Council agenda, this supplemental appropriation of $150,000 is to cover the cost of hiring consultants to negotiate the design, division of expected revenue returns, division of capital contributions and other pending items “at a cost of $50,000 per party per month”, per the January 9, 2023, City Council packet.
There are so many questions, where to begin? Here’s a start.
What has City management been doing behind closed doors during the past nine months and why have taxpayers been left in the dark? Who are these consultants and why are they needed? How much of taxpayer’s hard-earned dollars already have been spent on this project? How much more will be needed, including funds earmarked for all of these experts? When will the project be completed, if ever? And what is the timeline from here? When does this insanity stop?
Even the city’s biggest apologist of McIntyre’s current iteration, Gerald Duffy, founder of pro developer Progress Portsmouth, agrees that it is off the tracks. This from someone who has politicized the entire project! In his recent Portsmouth Herald column, he admits that the McIntyre redevelopment project has “morphed into a sinkhole for the taxpayer dollars.” For once, we agree with him. Today’s McIntyre IS a sinkhole for taxpayers’ dollars.
See also part one of this series: https://portsmouthpulse.com/2022/12/15/mcintyre-morass/
