March 14, 2012

Konnie Lukes-- KUDOS KUDOS!!!!!

Telegram today:   here is part of the story

Councilor-at-Large Konstantina B. Lukes last night lambasted the use of public funding for “affordable housing” being built in the city that cost more per unit than her own house while developers invest very little of their own money.   She singled out the ongoing 13-unit 5 May St. rehabilitation project, but also criticized the completed Hadley Building at 651 Main St.
Citing figures supplied by the city administration, Mrs. Lukes said the developer of 5 May St. spent only $10,000 of his own private equity for a project that leveraged $3 million in public funds. The public funding per affordable housing unit there is $237,692, according to city figures.  “This is a waste and it is far in excess of what a private developer would set aside,” Mrs. Lukes said.
She also noted that the $21.7 million in public funding for the 40 affordable apartments in the 45-unit Hadley building resulted in a cost of about $543,000 per affordable housing unit.   “That is inexcusable,” Mrs. Lukes said, “because that's a waste of taxpayer money whether it comes out of our pocket or the state.”
Referring to the long struggle to develop it, Mrs. Lukes said, “a private developer could not do the Hadley Building and yet we pumped all sorts of money to save that building. Maybe we should have let it get knocked down and have a McDonald's there.”

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

The private sector didn't seem to be too eager to step up to the plate on either the Hadley or 5 May properties. They would probably still be sitting there as rotting empty shells. Where are all of the private sector proposals?

Bill Randell said...

There was a private sector proposla for the Burwick Building but it was rejceted by the Planning Board or was it Zoning

Beer Drinker & Hellraiser said...

Anonymous:

Absolute rubbish, you have no idea if there were any private investor's looking at either property.

The property at 5 May is an absolutey gorgeous piece of architecture.

Bill Randell said...

5 may street is an aboslute gorgeous piece of architecture that is most likely going to house SMOC patients.

The hadley had a commercial development proposal on the table that included a McDonald's and a gas station I think 4 or 5 years ago but it was rejected by one of the City boards.

Jahn said...

Bill, yore write, but that was Moore like the mid to late 90's.

BTW, the only real players in the Worc Low Income housing industry (Worc's largest growth business) are those who are plugged into Mc Govern or Murray , b/c with an abundance of of Low income housing, comes an abundance of morons, drunks, dopers, stoners, SSi types, EBT types, and oterh assortred human debris that vote 110% Dumbo-cratic :)

T Minus 35 minutes till Sean time :)

Anonymous said...

While we're at it, anyone notice the building to right in the picture? A prior project (with huge sewer redo costs) and crazy per unit costs paid by the taxpayer. Might as while site these "trophies" together.