Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Brain Drain Boondoggle: Cleveland Waterfront

(Blog reference Chris Briem at Null Space) Need the public to pony up $500 million to pave the way for your pet development project? Just explain how it will plug the brain drain:

Port board member John Carney said the consultants seemed to be "on the right track."

A vibrant waterfront "is what can keep young people here," said Carney, who has developed several properties downtown.

And we all know how successful Carney was with his other properties ...

3 comments:

Stephen Gross said...

Remember: 500 million is just the starting point. Once they add all the various riders necessary For political support you'll end up with close to a billion bucks. Remember the last failed convention center attempt?

Jim Russell said...

I think you have a good idea about how much brain drain hysteria can cost.

Stephen Gross said...

The crazy thing is that developing the waterfront is an excellent idea. It's such a good idea in fact that many commented across the blogosphere are very excited about it. However many people are also equally cynical about Clevelands ability to really make a project like this happen. Campbell failed to do so in her one and only term in office. Frustration with government failure is the chief reason this measure will probably never come to pass. Then again since the frustration is based on a very real and accurate perception of past government ineptitude it seems reasonable to me.