What's the appraised value of a glass house (post-stone tossing)?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1386049/replies?c=21
posted by GOPCapitalist:
"Somebody needs to remind the Chronicle of their own taxing situation.
http://www.houstonpress.com/issues/1999-10-14/news/insider.html
The offices and printing plant of the Houston Chronicle at 801 Texas lie smack in the middle of the booming west side of downtown, across the street from the reborn, glittering Rice Lofts and its stylish bars and eateries. Homeowners in similarly upgrading inner-city areas have learned the hard way that when tear-downs next door are replaced by spiffy new condos, the fallout is soaring property taxes.
For Houston's self-proclaimed leading information source and champion of downtown revitalization, the gentrification experience has been far less traumatic on its pocketbook.
Two years ago, the Harris County Appraisal District valued the Chronicle's block-long 12-lot property at $18.2 million. Last year, the appraised value slipped to $15.5 million, even as the surrounding blocks exploded with development. Two months ago, after the paper's agents argued their case before a three-person appraisal review board, that value was further lowered to $11.1 million, a more than 40 percent reduction over two years, which adds up to more than a quarter-million dollars in property tax savings. At the rate things are going, the Hearst-owned paper may eventually get its appraisal down to where it claims it should be: a bargain-basement $6.4 million for a prime block of downtown real estate. "
It's not unlike the chronicle to have selective memory, having lived in Houston most of my life. I too find the paper much like Pravda. Those at the chronicle "distort by report" in order to further their less than altruistic goals.
Dan did not reference the numbers or the scandal today, directly, but he did say that it opened their books to criticism.
Their taxes have declined in a booming market.
They lie about circulation as well.