The Cleveland Heights mayor and city council do not *own* the parcels located at Lee & Meadowbrook. We The People do.
They merely serve as our Trustees (custodians) over those land assets. The same as any other taxpayer asset - cash, buildings, vehicles, investments, etc., in the possession of the City Of Cleveland Heights.
Their Fiduciary Responsibilities are no different than any other Trustee's.
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Imagine yourself as the Trustee of a family member's assets, or estate.
If you think that any complex and valuable land asset, like the 5 subject parcels at Lee & Meadowbrook, is being conveyed to another party *without* an indepentent market appraisal (or two!), you're heading for trouble. People will reasonably wonder what you're up to.
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And the idea of making it "donated land" for the benefit of a developer's private interest would make the whole idea beyond absurd.
("Donated land" comes directly from the developers' Economic Income Statment. That's the document that supports the city council's vote to "certify" the 11 year, 80% tax abatement request to the BOE. The "benefits" described are unattainable, by the way.)
This proposed Lee-Meadowbrook "partnership", and the $3,080,000 tax abatement, and the uninformed, likely, *donation* of such valuable land - without an appraisal!!! - is unthinkable.
Please, tell all six council members and all five BOE members that you don't like this taxpayer giveaway at all!
Time is of the essence, as the mayor has said repeatedly, he "wants a shovel in the ground in the fall."
'Cause every great project starts with a hole in the ground sitting there filling up with snow, water and leaves from September through to spring.