THERE SHE GOES AGAIN

I received an outline of Mrs. Girvan’s statements made before the Rotary Club on March 19th. I did confirm this information with individuals present but I also forwarded a copy to Mrs. Girvan to allow her an opportunity to comment. I am Still awaiting a response--

Mrs. Girvan stated that four years ago she was the only candidate to support the downtown hotel & had led the way for the hotel to move forward successfully and unanimously.

Over a year before Mrs. Girvan’s election City Council made a commitment to Mr. Mitchell and his partners to provide 100 parking spaces for a downtown hotel. In March 2004, again prior to Mrs. Girvan’s election, a Marriott franchise was awarded for a downtown hotel. There was a majority on the Council supporting a downtown hotel before Mrs. Girvan election!

Upon her arrival on Council Mrs. Girvan supported every plan put forward for the hotel by the Marriott team while the Council majority worked towards a plan that fit the character of downtown. Mrs. Girvan’s participation in these discussions was limited to complaints of why we just didn’t do it the way Marriott wanted it.

The claim, “she led the way” is not the case and again does a disservice to all those who moved this project forward.

She said she doesn’t believe in giving incentives to every business that asks for them. She approved the incentives for Wegmen’s, because, “that was different because they agreed to benchmarks & limited their package to 10 years; they are also providing a meals tax.”

Who does? As per the Incentive Guidelines the applicant must meet revenue, and employment goals. In addition, the project is judged on it compatibility with the City Comprehensive Plan and, in the case of downtown, the JumpStart plan. Capital Ale and Kybecca, an established local business, “agreed to benchmarks & limited their package to 10 years,” and both provide amongst others, meals tax. Mrs. Girvan, why don’t you support them?

Mrs. Girvan went on to state that revenue generation is not the most important thing when making these decisions and many downtown shops can’t be judged by the amount of revenue they bring in; their value is intrinsic to downtown.

Again there is agreement. The character of our downtown is very important. I would point out that Mrs. Girvan’s prior statements regarding the character of downtown don’t match the sentiment expressed above. As already noted she was prepared to accept any plan Marriott put on the table for the hotel whether it fit downtown or not. She also expressed her disappointment that we spent so much money on the façade of the parking deck. She would have preferred it to be one story higher. The result would have been a prefabricated structure looming over our historic downtown.

Regarding Prost’s presentation to City Council on the Kalahari incentives package Mrs. Girvan stated that the newspaper did not accurately report the presentation because the paper said it had been very positive. She felt that not only was the consultant hesitant, but ineffective because he, “only looked at one side of the issue.” He didn’t discuss services for the project – specifically, a third fire station will have to be built to accommodate Kalahari.

I would invite anyone to view the tape of Mr. Prost’s presentations. He was quite positive. Where he hesitated was when he was asked the same questions over and over again by Mrs. Girvan and was trying to make sure she was understood what he was saying.

To say his presentation was “ineffective” because he didn’t discuss services for the project is disingenuous at best. Mrs. Girvan was well aware that Mr. Prost was not expected to look at service impacts but rather only whether the project is viable, the revenue projections plausible, and whether the incentive package was justified. His answer on all three questions was—yes.

The issue of service costs had been addressed both to the Council and the public over the past four months culminating in a televised work session (show repeatedly on public access) with department heads outlining the impacts regarding water & sewer, traffic, building services, and emergency services. And all this information, including the staff reports, is on the City web site!

Mrs. Girvan went on to state that the third fire station will cost taxpayers $11 million, or $2 million a year for operations.

Fire station #3 was in the Capital budget well before the arrival of Kalahari. It has always been planned to cover both Central Park and Celebrate VA. It is not being built solely because of Kalahari.

Mrs. Girvan should know that in addition to donating the site for the fire station the Silver Cos. are prepared to establish a Special Taxing District over parts of Celebrate VA and Central Park to pay for and help maintain the fire station. City taxpayers will not have to pay for this station.

Said Kalahari is not interested in funding a shuttle bus to downtown and that this service would cost the FRED bus system a million dollars.

Kalahari’s arrival was again not the catalyst for providing FRED service to Celebrate VA. It was understood when the tourism campus concept was put forward that there would need to be a FRED bus link to downtown. If Kalahari were to decide not to come to Fredericksburg those discussions would continue.

As part of the Memorandum of Understanding between the City and the Silver Co, approved in 2006 (pre-Kalahari), we are receiving a $25,000.00 a year payment to put towards this expense. Discussions are ongoing to arrive at a plan for the Celebrate VA project to continue to assist with service impacts on the city.

The FRED bus service plan put forward by staff is meant to service all of Celebrate VA not just Kalahari. It should also be understood that most of the Capital costs (the buses) would be covered by Federal grants. And as the case with the current FRED service operating expenses are in part covered by state and federal funding—95% the first year, approx. 60% the second and levels off at 50%. What the City is responsible for is covered by existing gas tax revenues. City taxpayers will not be shouldering this cost either.

Mrs. Girvan stated that when she first heard about the incentives package, she went “straight to Silver Companies and told them 47.5% for 20 years with no accountability is not good enough.” Said they are not contributing to our capital needs; they will not meet needs at our wastewater treatment plant.

This statement comes as a surprise to me, as well as to the Silver Co, and Todd Nelson as I understand it. Mr. Honaker as well as Mr. Nelson denies any such conversation ever took place. All I can say is that when the project was presented to the entire Council with this condition Mrs. Girvan made no such comment. Then there is the smiling picture of her in the Free Lance Star during the announcement of the project. In fact, a quick archives search of the Free Lance Star has no such comment coming from Mrs. Girvan. Strangely enough her first statements questioning the project came out at about the time she announced her candidacy for Mayor.


Another problem cited was visibility from I-95. Said Kalahari will be viewed from the road. Said went to Sandusky and saw the building there, which was huge and painted with an “African theme with primary colored slides coming out of the sides of it.” Further indicated that Kalahari plans a billboard on I-95. Asked, “Is this the image that we want for Fredericksburg?”

Is a five story prefabricated garage and cookie cutter Marriott hotel the image we want of Fredericksburg? Again, as we have moved through the review of this project this statement doesn’t surface until after the announcement of her run for Mayor.

Finally, Mrs. Girvan stated that she had hoped that we would have negotiated better, and expressed disappointment that it didn’t happen; the incentives have remained the same as when she first spoke to the Silvers.

I found this statement to be the most amazing of all. Mrs. Girvan has been involved in all the briefings on this project regarding the negotiations. She has had ample opportunity to make her position know to her colleagues and staff but has chosen not to. Instead, we learn about her concerns in memos passed out the night of Council meetings or in newsletters sent out to constituents that we get second hand! And again, this has only started around the time of her announcement that she was running for Mayor.

She is now expressing horror over the inclusion of the Expo Center in the TIF district with Kalahari. Yet when the issue was brought before the Council by staff she expressed no such outrage. Not even a mild concern.

Whether you support Kalahari or not you would have to agree this is not showing leadership. This is politics at its worst.