Not quite, Cordish?

The new Waterside

Not quite?
How long is it going to take The Cordish Companies to do what they said they were going to do?

The developer, The Cordish Companies of Baltimore, will spend the next six months fleshing out plans for the renovations and the programming. During that time, the company will nail down what it believes will work best with Norfolk’s culture.(Virginian-Pilot, August 31, 2013)

Isn’t that what this Baltimore-based developer of Vegas style projects studied and analyzed in their proposal they submitted to city officials?

Wasn’t that part of the reason city officials chose Cordish – because they delivered something city officials wanted better than other proposals, including one from Harvey Lindsay? 

Now the company “will spend the next six months fleshing out plans for the renovations and programming.”

In those six months (which costs money), the “company will nail down what it believes will work best with Norfolk’s culture.”

What do we, the community in Norfolk, believe will work best for Norfolk’s culture?

Not Cordish. 

Something’s terribly wrong with this scenario.

Who’s driving this development? Cordish? Or the Norfolk community? Or city officials under pressure to revive the ailing festival marketplace? 

It seems like Cordish is in charge and the rest of us are just following like sheep. Were we not asked what to do with Waterside, a venue that once had life but has slowly deteriorated into another dilapidated structure supported by tax dollars?

Agreed, the city tried to revive the aging venue. But it failed. So what do we do? Ask for RFPs, throw in some money and watch the sharks circle.

One shark bit – and is still biting, tearing away every chunk of public dollar the city has to offer.

This in a city where money is always an issue or seems an issue at every city council meeting and in every conversation. Give tax breaks to seniors. Take away tax breaks from seniors.
The list is endless, it seems. 
And so on and so forth.

But here’s the real kicker.

The contract is short on guarantees for the city, allows Cordish to sell the lease after sinking a minimum of $5 million into the building, and does nothing to stop the company from creating competing projects in Hampton Roads, City Council member Andy Protogyrou said in The Pilot article.

All good points.

But this?

“I’m flattered that they would come into our city and want to make this happen,” City Councilman Barclay C. Winn said while casting his vote Tuesday, The Pilot article said. 

No, Mr. Winn, Cordish should be flattered that the city is giving them so much  attention.

And money. And no guarantees. And no performance targets. 

Yes, we should be flattered. 

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