This letter by John Shoaff appeared in the Journal-Gazette on Thursday, October 25
To the Editor,
It is of course a little disappointing not to be endorsed by the Journal-Gazette, but it is seriously disappointing to have my views misleadingly characterized and my commitment to due and legal process questioned.
The editor compared my views to those of Matt Kelty and Tom Smith, and by inference created the impression that I would not keep agreements made with the Harrison Square developers. Had I been asked directly, I would have said that I believe, like Messer’s. Smith and Kelty or any responsible public official, that proper agreements must be kept, and if in fact Harrison Square goes forward, we must all work to make it succeed.
I was not asked if I believed agreements should be broken; rather I was asked a hypothetical question about what I might do if confronted with an effort by a new council to stop the project. This opened up a range of possibilities which I tried to anticipate, despite saying at the time that I was surprised that the editor kept suggesting that the project might fail to go forward. I stated that I thought this unlikely, and was prepared to look forward to other projects which must follow.
However, the editor could be correct. It is the case that certain “agreements” that have appeared to be final have apparently developed last minute glitches. For example, the hotel agreement, seemingly final some time ago, has recently developed a potential “deal breaker” in the developer’s insistence on an expensive overhead walkway. The agreement with hardball, Inc. refuses to deal with the possibility of cost overruns. (In response to questions from the council table, the developer’s representatives insisted that cost overruns could not possibly occur!)
A failure to resolve these difficulties or others as yet unforeseen could lead other public officials to question the project, and if their concerns were legitimate and significant, I would stand by them.
The most serious misimpression created by the editorial was the inference that what “I don’t worry about” is the breaking of agreements. I would worry very much about breaking agreements, and I would not support any such action. It was the editor’s assumption – not mine – that the cause of failure would be broken agreements; but as we can see, there could be other causes.
What I said “I don’t worry about” is the impact on other developers if the Harrison Square project should not materialize, and I said it because I have so much confidence in the enormous potential of downtown Fort Wayne, and I have the confidence that other developers can see it. As I said in the interview: the real signal that the Harrison Square negotiations send to other developers is actually very positive: it is that Fort Wayne is ready to make very generous (some would say too generous) deals with adventurous developers.
- - John Shoaff