The old All Star Dodge dealership in Banning looked to be just another ghost of business past in a town hit hard by a sour economy. But that didn't keep the city's redevelopment agency from paying top dollar for it — and then some. Without an independent appraisal, agency board members, who double as the City Council, shelled out $1.2 million for the vacant property in July 2009. It still sits empty. "Everything about that deal stinks," said Philipp Goebels, editor of The Banning Informer website, which devotes much of its attention to the city's "redevelopment disasters." A Riverside County...