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Last Friday I contacted the LAIC through their website to ask when copies of the full housing study would be available. I received a very prompt reply from Kari Blom, the LAIC administrative assistant:
Thank you for contacting this office regarding your request. A hard copy should be available after our March committee meeting. The estimated cost per copy is anticipated to be between $250-350. [Kari Blom, e-mail, 2008.02.22]
$250-$350? My fancy-schmancy DSU textbooks don't even cost that much.
Naturally, I replied:
Given that this study was funded in part with tax dollars (unless I'm mistaken -- please correct me if necessary), will members of the public have the opportunity to check out copies of the report free of charge? Will the information in the report be considered proprietary material, or will media outlets be able to distribute information from it? [CAH, e-mail, 2008.02.22]
No reply yet. Maybe Ms. Blom is on vacation. I'll keep watching my inbox. In the meantime, maybe you, gentle and enlightened readers, could provide some answers:
- Is the housing study a confidential and/or proprietary document for the eyes of only a few?
- Can a quasi-public entity charge any fee for a study it commissions about public matters?
- Why would copies of this study by Community Partners Research cost so much when other agencies have posted similar CPR studies on the Web, for free for everyone to read?
Certainly a copy of the document could be provided to the Public Library so taxpayers can read it. LAIC receives its funding from the City and a trickle from the County funding, and I would guess some of the money for the study came from the Governor's Office of Economic Development. Sure, it should be publicly available, but probably not random copies that people can keep unless they want to pay the cost of preparation if it is a thick document. I'd say make a copy available at the Public Library and Mundt Library.
ReplyDeleteCorey, I agree $350 is a lot of money to pay for a study on housing. But I would be willing to contribute $10 towards a copy for you to review and post on the Madville Times. If there were 34 more people in the county like me the study would become public knowledge like it should be. Derrick
ReplyDeleteCount me in for a 10 spot.
ReplyDeleteAt their briefing on the 20th they said it was to offset the cost of the study, but I suspect they don't want everyone to see that the numbers don't support the "affordable housing" TIF. I do think the city engineer will get a copy and he will let you take a look at it.
ReplyDeleteHey, I appreciate the thought, Derrick and Anon! But hang onto your cash for the moment: you've already paid your fair share through your sales tax dollars and donations to the Forward Madison campaign. You're entitled to see this study that you've already paid for, especially if that study is going to be used to shape policy for your town.
ReplyDeleteI hope city engineer Chad Comes or whoever else gets a copy will give me a call as soon as the study hits their desk. I'll come over and make myself for comfortable for a nice long read....
Randy Schaefer's "affordable housing" TIF District will move forward if he can secure financing. There's no way it could stand on its own without the City putting in $203,000 in street, water, sewer and other costs that doesn't have to be paid back by Schaefer. You couldn't even recoup that amount from the sale of lots because it is proposed right next to a creek in a flood plain in the lowest part of Madison.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you can argue that "every" town needs affordable housing, but if the City is financially involved, other developers should be able to have fair and equal access to tax-funded development costs.
I hope the study is public somehow. The idea of putting a copy in the libraries makes sense so all taxpayers have a chance to read it if they wish.
People who have seen the report say that it shows a deficiency of $3 per hour in Madison compared to wages in Brookings, Watertown and Huron and a $7 per hour deficiency compared to Sioux Falls. You take $7 an hour times 2080 hours worked in a year and you're talking a ton of cash, over $14,000 difference. Affordable housing probably means apartment houses with a cost under $500 a month to match wages.
ReplyDeleteThe previous comment seems most important. Madison needs better employment so people have a reason to stay in town. The city gave $240,000 last year to the LAIC and has given them part of the industrial park and vacant land. Are we wrong to expect real job growth related to that?
ReplyDelete