I don't need to inform 5thEstate.com's intelligent readers but I LIKE to remind them periodically that the Penn Square Partners are just a legal creation of High Steel, Fulton Bank and Lancaster Newspapers. The legal creation allows them to funnel any and all profits to themselves while completely shielding them from ANY financial liability!

Ron Harper Jr, Editor@5thEstate.com

Penn Square Partners Blackmail Again
PSP Spend tax dollars on Hamilton Club Lunches, Liquor License, PR...

March 2, 2005

Recently the Penn Square Partners (PSP) have been pitching a plan that will relieve them of tax obligations for the next two decades. In exchange, the School District of Lancaster and the City of Lancaster will get to be "partners" of sorts with PSP. Essentially, the public will get money AFTER the PSP's make 12 percent profit! How honest have the PSP been throughout this 5+ year deal? Have the PSP shown themselves to be good stewards with the public money they have spent so far? 5thEstate.com examines these issues in context and from an historical perspective. Trust us when we say that you will only read this in 5thEstate.com. That's why we have provided our story on the Fleecing of Taxpayers in PDF form . Print them out and give them to your non-computer friends! That's the only way the public will know!

How Honest has PSP been with the Public?
So the PSP have to make 12% profit before the taxpayers get a dime?! Does that mean that PSP will open up their books so the public can see how the figures are working out?
According to a local hotelier, a Lancaster County hotel can expect to make 5% profit if their hotel is filled 60% of the time. (This is called Occupancy Rate. It's really not rocket science to figure it out. How many rooms does a hotel have and how many rooms are rented? Divide the second number by the first number and you have the occupancy rate)

Occupancy Profit

60% 5%

80% 7-10%

90% 12%

To get the 12% profit, a normal Lancaster County hotel would have to have 90% occupancy! Now of course, the PSP claim they are building a hotel like none other and their rooms will rent for a higher price. That is yet to be seen.

Let's look at a previous crisis that was going to derail this project if it didn't go PSP's way. Do you remember where you were on September 12, 2001? With thousands dead,all public meetings and activities canceled - with people still trapped in rubble - the PSP and the Convention Center Authority met to agree on "common management" between the hotel and the convention center. This is the agreement that essentially gave the PSP complete control over the "public's" convention center with no watchdog provisions in the contract whatsoever! Nothing in any of the agreement allows the public to audit the arrangement in any manner. Nothing in the agreement allows the public to know and be assured that OUR resources and OUR personnel are not being used by this "private" body for their private gain. Everything is hidden from the public's view!

Consider that the PSP has extorted more money from the public each time one of these "crises" comes up. In the case of the "common management" issue, the PSP said that unless the authority gave up oversight by hiring a separate manager, they would abandon the project. In August of 2001, Nevin Cooley, according to the 8/21 Intell, said that the School District of Lancaster could receive up to $400,000! The school board was dazzled and voted to recommend the common management to the convention center authority. Will the school board be dazzled again?

PSP as Good Stewards of Public Funds?
Here is part of what the PSP presented last February:

"…not a single cent of revenue"? They must have forgotten about the $1.4 million dollars that the Authority gave them as of 2/11/04. They must have forgotten about the $52,500 per MONTH that the authority has given them EVERY month since then! (click to see part of authority's check book) The PSP must have forgotten about the $7+ Million dollars they had been given by Pennsylvania Taxpayers!)

The sickening part about this story is that - not only have they spent millions of the public's money - they have declared that this money was a sacrifice on their part! 5thEstate.com thought we'd check how the PSP spends when they are spending OUR money. It must be said again: You won't find this in your local paper except by one of the hacks defending it in one of their columns!

The PSP have billed the taxpayers for their liquor license, their school and city taxes, all maintenance, their Public Relations, the interest on their loans and YES even for wining and dining at the Hamilton Club!

Lancaster Newspaper's Dirty Sercret:

Do you remember the FULL PAGE ad that was in the Lancaster Newspaper that told the hoteliers to drop the lawsuit? The ad said in part:
"While there is overwhelming community support for the proposed County Convention Center, there have also been questions concerning the hotel room tax intended to help bring it about. (...) We hope the businesses listed above will consider those facts and join together with us in helping to implement this vital project. Now that the legal questions have so clearly been answered, it is time for all of us to put to rest the issues which have divided us and channel our energies and resources towards strengthening Lancaster County's economy. In short, it's time to move on. And move on together.
The "open letter" was addressed to the 11 hoteliers who courageously fought the PSP unfair competition. The BIG lie? At the bottom, the ad said that it was paid for by The Lancaster Alliance and the Economic Development Company of Lancaster. Both organizations are 501 (c) 3 and are federally-recognized non-profits!

Do you know who actually spent the $3,000 for the ad? The Pennsylvania Taxpayers that's who! 5thEstate.com, using the Pennsylvania Act 100 of 2002, obtained all of the following documentation from the City of Lancaster Redevelopment Authority.
(This is the authority that once had 8 city police called out because 5thEstate.com editor wanted to its rights under the state's Sunshine Act! - click to open a new window and read that story) So the PSP used this "non-profit" to give a $3,000 "donation" who in turn gave one of the partners - the newspaper - $3,000 to pretend like there is a ground-swell of public support AGAINST the hoteliers and FOR their project!
To add insult to injury, the PSP turns this bill in for taxpayers to pay!

But that's not all! On at least two separate occasions, the taxpayers paid for their wining and dining at the private, exclusive Hamilton Club! PSP took county commissioner (at the time), Paul Thibault, and Convention Center Authority chairman, Jim Pickard, out on taxpayer's dime! So the PSP are using taxpayer's dollars to "help" the city, are spending tax dollars at a private club that most of Lancaster couldn't get into except by washing dishes in the kitchen! )

That's not a ll!
The following documentation shows that the Pennsylvania taxpayers paid for the $10,000 Marriot franchise fee, the PSP liquor license, the PSP's school and city taxes, maintenance, their Public Relations and get this - the interest on their loan for the Watt & Shand building! Additionally, the High is taking money out for "development" fees on top of the $52,500 per MONTH they are getting from the Convention Center authority.

So much for sacrifice! 5thEstate.com - the real news that NO ONE else will tell you!

Bottom-Line: PSP Will NEVER make enough for taxpayers to ever get the "in lieu" of taxes!