This week, I wrote about the Riverfront Development Corporation and the current funding shortfall with its Beale Street Landing project.
The RDC needs about $9 million to finish the project. The Wharton administration is talking about allocating about $1 million in the upcoming fiscal year’s budget, which would keep the project moving, but puts the final piece of the project — the park — in jeopardy.
Basically, I think it would be a mistake to leave the project unfinished. We’ve put millions of dollars into the project already; to not finish it would make that money go to waste. … And I think it would leave a very visible reminder of local government’s failings, both financially and procedurally.
But if people think one of those failings is the creation and the operation of the RDC, the city can do something about that. It can bring the riverside parks back in-house.
I hope the RDC can find private money to finish the Beale Street Landing. If they can, it would prove to citizens that the RDC model works. But looking at the financial statements, I wonder how likely that is.
After the jump, I’ve posted the RDC’s financial highlights from 2003 on in one handy-dandy place so you can see for yourself.
