Posted on 03/04/2008 8:05:21 AM PST by GoldwaterInstitute
Problematic Parking: Phoenix proposes to pay dearly for an unlikely “public good”
Patrick Gibbons, Goldwater Institute, March 04, 2008
Arizona’s constitution prohibits corporate subsidies by outlawing “any donation or grant, by subsidy or otherwise, to any individual, association or corporation.” Despite this, last year the City of Phoenix awarded a $97.4 million “incentive” to Klutznick Company, the developers of the CityNorth mall in north Phoenix.
To stay within the bounds of the constitution and past Arizona Supreme Court decisions, the City has to prove it is buying a public good at an equal market value to the monetary incentive.
In exchange for the $97.4 million dollars, the City of Phoenix will have a 45-year exclusive lease on 200 carpool parking spaces in a parking garage at the CityNorth mall. So the “public good,” argues the City’s lawyer Timothy Berg, is that the 200 carpool spaces will reduce traffic congestion and air pollution.
How about market value? “Deal Breaker: A Critique of the CityNorth Subsidy,” a report by the Goldwater Institute’s Dr. Byron Schlomach, concludes that the City of Phoenix will pay approximately $10,822 per parking space, per year, to lease the 200 spaces at CityNorth. By comparison, the average market rate for a year’s lease of a parking space in Phoenix is $684.
Arizona State University recently estimated that a new parking garage on their campus would cost $14,000 per space to construct. For that price, Phoenix could build and own 6,950 parking spaces for the same amount it paid to rent 200 at CityNorth.
This deal isn’t about the public good. It’s a subsidy that very clearly violates Arizona’s constitution.
Patrick Gibbons is a marketing and communications associate at the Goldwater Institute.
Well, being a Phoenix resident, the problem is the stupid public transportation. If they had built a light rail along the freeways, perhaps this idea would prove beneficial. But NO, we got screwed again by gov’t officials who rammed down our taxpayer throats this BOGUS light rail that goes down Central Avenue for what 5 miles and then out Washington and Jefferson Eastbound for COllege students at ASU to travel to events downtown! I can’t hardly talk about this project without wanting to run and barf!
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