It was probably Mark Brazaitis. Facts, economics and others things that would normally be used to make decisions are inconveniences for him and a few other council members.
Haymaker Forest in Morgantown
- Thread starter rog1187
- Start date
Brazaitis is completely behind this. He is desperate to keep the land adjacent to his house from being developed and stated such since he moved here from Michigan a few years ago. Plus its a crony deal with the land owner to pay way over market value with other members of city council getting kick backs in various forms. Morgantown has ended up with a bunch of carpet baggers in charge who will turn us into Huntington. Our existing infrastructure is crumbling and were are going to spend 5 mill on "greenspace"???
If anything, let the property get developed then annex it into the City. B&O on construction plus property taxes for school system are sorely needed. Manage the runoff just like all other developments. Plus the City needs more housing and more residents. Seems like a no-brainer to the working folk around here.
If anything, let the property get developed then annex it into the City. B&O on construction plus property taxes for school system are sorely needed. Manage the runoff just like all other developments. Plus the City needs more housing and more residents. Seems like a no-brainer to the working folk around here.
This was my exact message to council. The stormwater may take some development space away but make a developer do it right and make it a tax plus for the city.
Majority of housing stock in Morgantown is older and needs upgrading. For those of us that love that character and the challenge of big remodels, its well worth moving into those houses. But outside of WVU students, the city is aging and really needs younger folks living here. They want newer places. A well planned development would be such a boon and help revitalize the greater Morgantown economy. Plus, White Park is already great green space with recreation areas that are in sore need of upgrading. The ice rink could really use some work as could the ball fields. An indoor facility for basketball and volleyball would be awesome.
Buying this land is beyond ridiculous and corrupt. I hope the lawsuit filed on Friday gets some traction to stop this travesty.
Well....it shut them all up. All the council are now saying they cannot comment due to the suit.
This was from last week, but this guy...wow, talk about arrogance and contempt for anyone with an opposing viewpoint
I asked him about 20 questions that I expect answers to at the meeting Tuesday and gave him a lesson in greenspace (stormwater) and told him if he didn't answer the questions at the meeting I would share his exchange with me on some media sites. I politely pointed out his ignorance a few times simply because of his arrogance knowing the reaction I would get from him. He got short.
The injunction hearing is tomorrow afternoon @ 2:30. Depending upon the outcome of that hearing, the city council meeting tomorrow night could be a lively affair.
Did you see Brazaitis comment today on Facebook?
He is from NYC where people pay 10 million for an apartment so he doeant understand why paying 5.2 million for a property that appraises at 2.5 million is a big deal. Especially since the land is magical.
I have managed to avoid spacebook after all these years, so I missed it. But I'm not surprised - he supports it at any price.
48 speakers in a packed city hall tonight. 44 speakers against and 4 idiots supported it. Council postponed the issue instead of voting up or down. It was clear that some minds were swayed tonight. The first reading passed 5-1 and tonight the vot was 5-1 to postpone. The only vote to move ahead and vote tonight was Brazaitis.
Yeah. Watched and listened to most of it. The 4 supporters were clueless envirowhackos who think that maybe there are endangered species there or Indiana bats so it is a good idea to make sure it is never developed. I guess the 20 minutes to look it up was too much work but who needs facts? One girl said if they develop it there will be more mosquitoes. She also explained that trees keep sediment from running into streams and if there were more trees Morgantown would not have to build a new resevior. I hope nobody finds out the secret is trees or my days doing sediment control plans are done.
Most the people against it were against the price.
More importantly, did you listen to the council members' discussions prior to the vote? Some hand wringing about Facebook...
Oh yeah. Wendell also said if people are too poor to pay they should march into Target or Kroger and ask for a raise and be willing to strike. Not sure why he called for a union shop to strike but that was funny. He also said WAJR was not a friend of the city which is comical because the reason everyone was up in arms was Brazaitis and him on Morgantown AM bragging about spending whatever it takes.
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This guy quoted on Metronews kind of sums up my thoughts:
The whole combination of things just seems a little absurd to me.
1. The rush to buy the place without knowing how much it's actually worth. Well as it turns out $5.2 million was about $2.7 million too much.
2. Not knowing how to pay for it. I think one of the council members was quoted as saying he's an idea guy. He ran it by the finance people (or whoever the city has) and they said they could figure out a way to pay for it, so that's good enough for him. I mean, there are a lot of things I'd like to have that I *could* pay for, but that doesn't mean that it's a good or fiscally responsible idea. Seems to me knowing the exact way they're going to pay the bills is a pretty important piece of the puzzle. And even if they do figure out how to pay for it, it's probably worth asking if that's the best use of city funds.
3. No real idea what they're going to do with the property once they buy it. Put in trails? Make it another arboretum? Something else? Just seemed like they were going to buy the place and figure it out later.
The whole combination of things just seems a little absurd to me.
1. The rush to buy the place without knowing how much it's actually worth. Well as it turns out $5.2 million was about $2.7 million too much.
2. Not knowing how to pay for it. I think one of the council members was quoted as saying he's an idea guy. He ran it by the finance people (or whoever the city has) and they said they could figure out a way to pay for it, so that's good enough for him. I mean, there are a lot of things I'd like to have that I *could* pay for, but that doesn't mean that it's a good or fiscally responsible idea. Seems to me knowing the exact way they're going to pay the bills is a pretty important piece of the puzzle. And even if they do figure out how to pay for it, it's probably worth asking if that's the best use of city funds.
3. No real idea what they're going to do with the property once they buy it. Put in trails? Make it another arboretum? Something else? Just seemed like they were going to buy the place and figure it out later.
Mileground Road coming toward Morgantown is an absolute embarrassment. For a road that serves as one of the gateways into Morgantown, it's probably in worse shape than roads in Kabul.
It's amazing how fucky the city limits are. It looks like the Mileground from the bottom of Easton hill up to Airport road is within Morgantown city limits, but the rest of it is outside.
The rush was due to Brazaitis trying to sneak this by before the public got wind of it. His only interest is keeping the woods behind his house from being developed. He cares nothing about greenspace. As for the over payment, if you knew who owns the property and the "agents" involved who would be getting a commission, it would be clear. The entire thing is slimy beyond belief and hope this kills it.
Don't mean to necro a thread, but @dave and @rog1187 and others in the area thought you might like to see the Deputy Mayor is still raging - though it is about other stuff.
https://www.dominionpost.com/2018/0...icizes-boparc-at-organizations-board-meeting/
https://www.dominionpost.com/2018/0...icizes-boparc-at-organizations-board-meeting/
Oh yeah I'm see his rants...he's not making many friends with how he's handling this. I don't live "in' Morgantown so I guess I shouldn't care...but I can't help not follow it.
The Tony Christini quoted in that article is an envirowhacko activist. He/She is clueless. They were bitching about the bridge at Marilla park because it is a low lying bridge that overtops when decker creek rises. Called it poor planning. I explained the situation and difficulty in building a different typu of bridge there that would ultimately flood people all the way back to Preston County. Just clueless in general. Brazitas is a fool who is throwing a tantrum because he didnt get the Haymaker Forest so he is calling out WVU and boparc as if this is their fault.
Journalistic pet peeve:
Who reported it? When did they report it? More importantly, is it actually true?
Well someone at BOPARC screwed up when the levies were being voted on. That was a good chance to get things taken care of (i.e. baseball fields, skating rink, etc.).