The Difference a Few Years Make - The Case of Reynolds and Brown

Anyone who recently has driven on East Stockton Blvd. just south of Elk Grove Blvd. has undoubtedly seen Elk Grove's version of a Christo running fence. Unfortunately the partially wrapped fence is not the work of the Bulgarian-French artists famous for wrapping objects, rather it is a fence wrap pitching the sale of a so-called blighted lot that was supposed to house a hotel.

Those in Elk Grove long enough will remember the odd shaped lot was at one time a CalTrans maintenance facility site. Although it was supposed to be a hotel, today it lies vacant as yet another symbol of the credit crisis of 2008.

The approved development was not remarkable in any respect other than its odd location and size, but Bay Area developer Reynolds and Brown was notable in that it was at the leading-edge, in a manner of speaking, of Elk Grove's recent propensity to awarding incentives.

In August, 2008 the Elk Grove City Council awarded a long-term incentive to Reynolds and Brown. Specifically, the developer was to get approximately $5.1 million in kickbacks over 15 years based on refunds of projected transient occupancy taxes.

Of course we all know that right about that time the world wide credit crisis blew up and with it the start of the Great Recession. Development in Elk Grove came to a standstill.

So now Reynolds and Brown is trying to unload the property. Well at least the city didn't have to shell out several more millions of taxpayers dollars on this incentive.

But going back to the August, 27, 2008 meeting there was one person who offered a suggestion to the city council and that was then city council candidate Katherine Maestas. During her comments, Maestas noted that since the city will be kicking back millions of dollars to the developers, have they considered including a "living wage" provision to make sure that the taxpayer subsidized development was looking out for workers.

Of course no such discussion took place that night and the council approved the incentive as it was suggested to them by Reynolds and Brown. Score another one for the developers.

Now that the city has become quite proficient at doling out taxpayer monies to well-heeled businesses like the  many auto dealers who have benefited from Elk Grove's largess, before any more incentives are given out, maybe the city council ought to be looking out for the people who are going to be working at these places.

As for winners in the Reynolds and Brown incentive scheme, council member Sophia Scherman came out fairly well - she received $6,000 in campaign donations from the developer in 2008. Not a bad take for a project that ended up in death shroud.