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Is the project REALLY dead, or is this just another one of the many times that the Drama Queen, Dale High, has played the media and the public? Less than 24 hours after announcing the project was doomed, amazingly it may soon be released from intensive care!
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July 27, 2006
Click Here - to hear the video yourself! Across the nation, sporting events and public meetings were cancelled out of respect for those that had died. The nation had bated breath waiting to see the outcome of those buried in the rubble. While the nation grieved, Dale High went to the podium and used the bombing of the World Trade Center as an example, : “I am painfully aware of how hard it is to design, conceptualize and create something for the good of the community and how easily it is destroyed. “ What was so important that the Convention Center Authority HAD to have a meeting on that day? In July, the Penn Square Partners had picked “Interstate Hotels” to manage their hotel and said that the public convention center authority MUST select “Interstate” or the PSP were backing out the project. This “common management” would give ZERO check and balances between the so called “private hotel” and the “public convention center”. What would stop the shifting of supplies, manpower and other resources from the publicly paid for to the “private side” hotel? NOTHING – and besides, the convention is suppose to have a deficit! One convention center board member likened it to having a “gun to their head”! The board gave in to Dale High’s demands and gave him EVERY thing he wanted. What happened in January of 2005? The windows of the Watt & Shand building tell it all:
Fast forward to the first quarter of 2005. Now the Penn Square Partners wanted to get out of paying taxes for the next 20 years. If they didn’t get what they wanted, the project was dead - or so they said! When High didn't get his way he threatened to end the project and like a child showed his displeasure by scraping the Convention Center logo off the windows! The School District of Lancaster wasn’t on board – and for good reason. When High blackmailed the authority in 2001, the Lancaster School Board had officially backed Interstate and asked the authority to back the “common management” ! Why did the School Board insert themselves in the decision of the convention center authority in 2001? High’s employee, Nevin Cooley, promised that the “private hotel” would give the school district $400,000 a year in taxes! The School even had an official boycott of the hoteliers involved! Now High was telling that same elected body that instead of giving them $400,000 a year, they would have to “forgive” the three riches families in Lancaster from paying their taxes for 20 years!
Dale High In front of the school board Click Here - Part Two (probably the best is in the begining of the clip!) After lamenting that, “I have been portrayed as a pig feeding at the public trough.”, High quoted his mother saying that he wouldn’t “dignify that with a response” Forgetting the broken promise, High says this about the school district giving him the tax break: “If seven years of responding to our community requests and demands ends up with the rug pulled out from under us at this late date, I admittedly will be sorely disappointed of course. But make no mistake about it, it will also have a chilling effect on the future of development in downtown Lancaster. Does anyone in this room tonight believe that any private investor will be standing in this room tomorrow or next year if this project doesn’t go forward?" High ends his begging and threatening with a quote from Thaddeus Stevens. (This was an ironic use of a Thaddeus Stevens’ quote considering that the convention center authority at one point was going to destroy Stevens’ home!) The quote in context, was calling for the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson! “If we fail in this great duty now, when we have the power, we shall deserve and receive the execration of history and of all future ages.” The School board courageously stood up to the bullying and public pressure and rejected High's bid to avoid taxes. Did the project end as threatened? No.
The Latest Move by the Penn Square Partners What about the latest manuver on the part of High, Fulton Bank and Lancaster Newspapers? Soon after opening up the ONLY bid on the project, the Penn Square Partners had their PR guy
The ensuing headlines from Penn Square Partner Lancaster Newspaper mirrored the press release.: Intell - Bids doom center plans Penn Square Partners says $20 million gap 'too great' WGAL picked it up as well with this headline on their site: “Convention Center Future Very Bleak, Backers Say” But wait - what did the Penn Square Partners? When did they know it? Just ten days before the bid opening that supposedly shocked the PSP into abandoning the project, the Partners were in Lancaster County Common Court with a laundry list of demands. Click Here - and go to page 20 to see the SIX demands that the partners wanted. ! While the judge gave a TEMPORARY order for one of the demands, the other 5 demands were ignored or not addressed by the judge. Furthermore, the media NEVER published that the judge also required the Penn Square Partners to put up $100,000 bond! But what did the headlines from Penn Square Partner, Lancaster Newspaper read? Monday, July 24, 2006, the Lancaster New Era said this about the ruling, “Judge saves center funds”. Tuesday July 26, 2006 the Intell’s headline was more direct, “Ruling rejects commissioners”. Why did the Penn Square Partners sue the County of Lancaster when they KNEW the bids were going to come in over budget? In the process, the PSP, along with the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Lancaster and the Lancaster County Convention Center Authority, ran up hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees - most of it billed to the taxpayers! According to the statement issued by the Penn Square Partners after the bid came back : In the past several weeks (our emphasis) , The Convention Center Authority, The Redevelopment Authority and Penn Square Partners have met with City and State officials (our emphasis) to discuss how we might work together to fill a potential budget gap and to complete this project for the benefit of our entire community. Click Here - to read complete statement on PSP website. So while the county taxpayers were playing out a drama in the courtroom of the "fate" of the project, the Penn Square Partners were meeting with various elected officials, because they had already come to the conclusion that there was not enough money to do the project. Is the project REALLY dead, or is this just another one of the many times that the Drama Queen, Dale High, has played the media and the public? Less than 24 hours after announcing the project was doomed, amazingly it may soon be released from intensive care! Today (July 27, 2006) the headlines are completely different. The Lancaster New Era declares ” PROJECT NOT DEAD” . WGAL says, “Convention Center Not Dead Yet, Mayor Says” Why doesn't the 4th Estate call the Penn Square Partners on their blackmailing bluff? Why don't they ask the Penn Square Partners, IF they have been meeting with the politicians over the last several weeks, why would today's meeting be any different? Why don't they ask the Penn Square Partners - why did they sued the county when they KNEW the bid was way too much? On July 13, 2006, High, as the "master developer" of the project, announced that the bid deadline for the project was extended from July 19 to July 26. What reason was given for extending the deadline? None were given. What would the court have done if the bids had come in during the trial? Considering that the court only ruled on July 25, 2006 that was not only possible but it would have happened. Since High was the ONLY bidder on the project, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see there are many more questions that should be asked and answered. How will we know when the Drama Queen - Dale High really means the project is dead? 5thEstate.com: the media's watch dog! © Copyright 2000-2006 by The 5thEstate.com. Permission granted to use, provided credit is given to 5thEstate.com. All Rights reserved. |
Dale High strolled to the podium to address the convention center authority. The date was September 12, 2001, and it’s one of only a few times when “the man behind the curtain” has not only shown his face in public but actually spoke! Thanks to 5thEstate.com's time machine - we captured it for you!
