EDA chief: About $1 million spent on Carousel Mall security

JUST ANOTHER S N A F U !!!
EDA/ RDA are going to be the next government for our fair city, dictating how the money loaned to the city, should be spent and the city owing it back some day, will abide by it's rules and stipulations.
LoMo housing in high end developments
High density housing, low rent apartments, return to the forefront,
( HOLCOMB DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN!)
McNeeley is banking on Emil's piggy Bank, but it requires some not so tasty guidelines in development.
3 COPS= $1MILLION AND ONLY $60,000 IN RETURN= BRILLIANT BUSINESS METHODOLOGY : NOT!
And no body asked, Emil had to volunteer the information!
Who is in charge at the City Zoo Finances???
Mc Neeley, I hope you have a better business head than the whackos prior to you and can show some direction to the "council of the LOST!"
DOES ANY ONE REALIZE, EDA IS THERE TO WASTE/SPEND MONEY, NOT MAKE MONEY FOR THE CITY??? OF COURSE THE CITY IS PRETTY GOOD AT WASTING MONEY TOO!
S N A F U

If ANYBODY can fix it, Emil can! He has a good head on his shoulders, yet never wants to be in the spotlight. Maybe HE should consider running for Mayor?

Lipstick on a pig. When this mall was built in the early 70's, I said it would be a waste of city funds. Sure enough, I was right. We all stopped going there because we didn't feel safe, not with all the gang kids standing in the shadows, and the "security guards" doing nothing to move them along. No wonder the theater across the street failed as well. Who would want to shop next to a bus stop full of homeless people? But San Bernardino, being visionary, had a plan to fix the mall. They renamed it, from "Central City Mall" to "Carousel Mall". A city official actually told me "No gang would want to call themselves 'The Carousel Gang'" And, over the past 20 years, the mall died a slow, painful death. Why are we paying one cent to preserve this fiasco? Let's cut our losses, tear it down, and create an urban park. At least that's something we could all use and enjoy...again providing we felt safe there. When was the last time you felt like talking your family for a walk around Seccombe Lake?

only three cops....better go look in the few shops that are there ....in their office and out at the patrol units that are there....probably more like 5 or 6 cops there all the time...hiding so they can collect their check undetected......or asleep.....LOL

It's ridiculous that we have to pay about 1 million to secure a place where no one even cares to go to shop. I believe it's time for the Mall to come down and save ourselves $338,000 projected for the 2009-2010 budget year. The math doesn't add up, we are getting $60,000 from sale tax annually and spending more than that on security. I totally agree with Rich. We need to know how our money is being spend and teach the city council how to do basic math. Many workers were recently released from their jobs because the City said there were enough funds for them - then how come we still have future plans of paying $338,000 this year. As a present for our dear politicians lets give them calculators!

Readers, until the leadership and management of the City changes, we can moan and grown all we want and nothing will ever change. We have had four years of the Morris/Morris Team and little to show for it. OK, we have had Operation Phoenix of which is a classic example of politics in SB. We were treated with the game of who was accountable/responsible (or it is called hot potato) resulting in supervisors going to jail, pending law suites (who's status is yet to be known) and the departure of the P/D Chief, City Mgr, Asst City Mgr, and a Department Head all under the same Mayor. Additionally, there are more failed and boarded up commerical businesses downtown than there are open. SB will only improve when the citizens or voters wake up and realize those in office today will only give is the status quo for tomorrow if left unchanged. Additionally, there are a few Council menbers who were in office when the Mormons arrived. These same voters must address the overall tenure of these elected officials. Until that is done, there is little if any hope for SB to regain pride in itself and function responsibility and be lead by a interested unselfish team that they claim to be today.

I'm glad someone finally discovered that the City is taking a bath on this taxpayer-funded benefit negotiated three mall owners ago. If we had a real city attorney all this time we would have taken the mall to court and voided that contract since the mall is not providing their part of the bargain in sales tax and traffic downtown. But the city attorney is too busy rooting out all the local corruption. Yeah, right.
And who pays for the 3,000 janitors who run their carts around all day finding specs of dust to pick up?
The current mall owners invested millions of dollars in downtown when nobody else would. They want to remodel the mall, making it an outdoor place for young families to shop with fountains and plazas. Why not negotiate with them and get their commitment to invest in remodeling the mall to reasonable standards set by the EDA? A government center will not help and will not substitute for retail redevelopment downtown. Talk about the next snafu in the making...

i guess being across the street is just too far,for some if not all of the elected city officials to go to see the condition of the building that their predecessors agreed to live up to...granted the new ownership has tried,but it looks like the city will try everything in their power to run the area into the ground ,to pave the way for their dream building...arent there any supervisors over seeing the city staff at that building?...shouldnt they be held accountable for the number of people needed to maintain a building with low foot traffic...at the very least staffing levels and enrgy usage could be handled very easily...or is it more of the you scratch my back i'll scratch yours mentality amongst those city and EDA departments...