brownfield designations ---gaming the system?

[Bob Hersh <bhersh@cpeo.org>]

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"Cashing in on brownfields"
Expanding border will benefit some, but others see red over "blight."
By Noelle C. Haner
Staff Writer, Orlando Business Journal
May 14, 2004

ORLANDO -- Downtown Orlando doesn't look like a brownfield. 
But Orlando wants to give just that designation to the entire district
covered by the city's Community Redevelopment Agency. 

The next Orlando City Council meeting will bring it one step closer. A
hearing will be held to incorporate The Pizzuti Cos.' City Center
property into the current brownfield overlay area, dubbed the Downtown
Economic Enhancement District. 

The move could pump hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax incentives
and refunds into downtown development area. 

However, the move and others like it around the state have raised the
ire of brownfield advocates. 

Many see the practice as an abuse to the system, especially if the
designation is being made primarily as a way to leverage state economic
development dollars. 

"It's a trend that is very worrisome," says Michael Goldstein, chairman
of the Florida Brownfields Association. "It's an issue I'm going to
raise later this year through the association." 

*****
for the entire story see,
http://orlando.bizjournals.com/orlando/stories/2004/05/17/story1.html

Bob Hersh
Brownfields Program Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight (CPEO)
1101 Connecticut Ave., NW  Suite 1000
Washington, DC  20036

Tel:     202.452.8043
Fax:    202.452.8095
email:  bhersh@cpeo.org
url:      www.cpeo.org
 

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