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Today's Poll!Hotelier charges ‘denial of due process’
Monday, April 2, 2012
The City Council may take action tonight on adopting a plan of intent for the Meadows by the Club annexation, but not all involved are pleased with the proposal.
Last week, the city held a public hearing on the annexation proposal, which involves an area of 158.2 acres in the Apache Flats area, including 27 housing units and two hotels. Included in the area are the Hampton Inn, Comfort Suites, J.C. Mattress Factory, a quarry, a turtle farm and the Meadows by the Club subdivision. If the proposal succeeds, the area would join the city’s 4th Ward and plans are to have the issue on the August ballot.
But some commercial businesses have expressed opposition to the measure, saying they have no desire to operate within city limits.
Vivek Puri, of the Puri Law Firm and representative for the Hampton Inn and Comfort Suites, said the proposal is a “denial of due process” for the businesses that do not get to vote on the matter.
“What they’ve done is basically gone after the properties for the sheer possibility of the tax revenues that it would collect by having a lodging tax instituted,” he said. “We’re not a participatory person in the process.”
Marry Me
Comments
JCLifer 1 year, 1 month ago
Not very business-friendly attitude by the city. Would kind of be neat to see Puri level both of the hotels and rebuild them in Columbia...
RTWise 1 year, 1 month ago
You have hit the nail on the head. Jefferson City is not business-friendly. Other cities the size of Jefferson City are able to bring in industrial operations, manufacturing and tourism businesses. With some of the businesses already here, you would think the city could entice some of the suppliers to locate in Jefferson City and offer jobs and bring dollars into the economy, but they just want to wish for something to happen and take credit for it. If the city would put as much effort into developing new industry/business for the area as it does on raising taxes and spending money to annex businesses that don't want to be annexed they might bring in some new blood to Jefferson City.
tonto_goldberg 1 year, 1 month ago
If he moved those hotels, he would have to compete with the Columbia hoteliers who have their own set of problems.
You miss the main point, though. All this legal-sounding due-process talk is a con. There is only one reason he built them where they are, and it is about the money. He got the Jefferson City business without Jefferson City taxes. He knew there was a real risk of annexation when he built there, but now he's whining like it was a surprise.
TraceyT 1 year, 1 month ago
No, technically he got the Jefferson City Area business without Jefferson City taxes, and he did this by locating, wait for it.... in the Jefferson City Area. If he wanted the benefits of being conveniently located right next to the downtown activities of Jefferson City and the higher amount of traffic, he would have located in downtown Jefferson City. I expect that the City Council will be passing new laws soon that require all people driving in or through Jefferson City to drive past the newly acquired hotels to eliminate the aforementioned benefits the current city hotels have, since their only true goal is to level the field.
malmo 1 year, 1 month ago
Brilliant!.......
spelchek 1 year, 1 month ago
Competition can be such an annoyance. If you can't beat em, force em. Apparently city leaders are paying zero attention to it's citizens sentiments towards government expansion of power.
RTWise 1 year, 1 month ago
You would think that eventually the City leaders would realize that tax, tax, tax and annex, annex and annex is not the way the citizens of Jefferson City want to be governed.
If the two hotels are annexed that is going to drop somewhere between $100,000 and $200,000 into the coffers of the JC Visitors and Convention Bureau. You know the psuedo-government agency that isn't required to follow it's contractual obligations of reporting where and how it uses the money that is funnelled from Jefferson City City Council.
I think it is time for the Council to wake up and smell the coffee, people are fed up with the tax and spend, and if we don't have enough revenue we will just annex a couple of businesses who will gain nothing by being annexed.
$100,000 - $200,000 is a huge amount of money to me, but our current city administrator says the tax isn't enough to make a difference. I guess when you can spend other peoples money without consequence, that isn't much money. But to turn it over to a group who isn't even accountable what they do with the money would be a joke if it wasn't so very sad.
hudson 1 year, 1 month ago
MORE GOVERMENT , MORE TAXES ! MORE TAXES , MORE GOVERMSNT ! IT NEVER ENDS !
Gotigers 1 year, 1 month ago
What I find appaling is that the businesses directly beside him (between the hotels and the current city boundaries are NOT going to be annex'd.
Why? Talk about cherry picking. What is it going to take for people to wake up and smell the coffee
RTWise 1 year, 1 month ago
It is the cherry picking that bothers me the most. If the city council really was interested in expanding the city and adding businesses to the city, they would be taking the 16 or 17 businesses that touch the area being annexed.
Planned annexation is going to happen, but it isn't fair to use the government to do your dirty work. I agree the hotels were built here for a reason, but is it the job of the city council to enforce selective and forced annexation to level the playing field between for-profit businesses?
If the city in all of its wisdom had come down the North side of Country Club Drive and annexed the businesses from Rainbow to Business 50 West I would be hard pressed to argue that planned annexation was being attempted. But to target two businesses in the area and pull JC Mattress Factory in because they need the frontage to get to the hotels, is government interference at its worst.
My belief is that if the city were to attempt to annex the businesses that are on the North side of Hwy 50, they would have to annex homes, that they have attempted to annex before and failed and they are afraid that they would be voted down.
melbrooks 1 year, 1 month ago
The complaints on this forum are unending--and repetitive.
Today is election day, and only a single ward--Ward 5--has a contested election. If you believe you have better ideas, perhaps the solution is to actually run for office rather than expressing constant unhappiness on a newspaper forum.
If the council is as poorly constituted as those here claim, there would be people tripping over each other to run.
RTWise 1 year, 1 month ago
I vote, therefore I can state my opinion.
spelchek 1 year, 1 month ago
Your complaining about our complaining doesn't address the forced annexation issue we're complaining about.
asb 1 year, 1 month ago
Unending and repetitive . . . yes, and often scarey, but essential. We're extremely fortunate to have folks with the energy to read all or part of an article, puzzle it into their world view, and then cut loose with yet another shot of grump. It's hard work! Some are just born to it. And grumps draw counter-grumps like bees to pollen. Articulate, reasoned and novel contributions are always welcome, but grump comes pre chewed and already flavored. The thing is, seriously, forums, whether traditional soapbox or new fangled social media and posting forums, are like the news they deal with; good news and joyfull posts just serve no purpose. It's our monkey warning process. You'll never see a bluejay sit on a branch, puff up, and yell "we're cool here!" What kind of humanity would have a place for Graceful saying "man the diversity of political opinion and approach in the great USA gives me a warm fuzzy feeling." Or, Lifer saying "contrats to all the local leaders and officials, yer doin' a great job." There would be nobody reading them. This is a place to grump, and counter-grump. Thanks for grumping about the grumping, yer doin' a great job . . .
spelchek 1 year, 1 month ago
"And grumps draw counter-grumps like bees to pollen." -- pseudonyms are powerful things
asb 1 year, 1 month ago
That is a simile, a pseudonym is like our forum IDs.
spelchek 1 year, 1 month ago
Pseudonyms are the vehicle that drive the grumps (simile).
Sequoia 1 year, 1 month ago
That's actually a metaphor.
spelchek 1 year, 1 month ago
OH NO!!! ENGLISH MAJORS!!!!!!
melbrooks 1 year, 1 month ago
Asb, I can’t say I share your opinion. If things are so bad locally, why not act on that conviction and run for office? I see the same individuals here with a constant drumbeat, metronomes of negativity. Yet, only one race city council race is contested. This article is about a proposed annexation. How many commentators here have taken the time to dig a little deeper beyond the knee-jerk reactions of “greed and more taxes” and “this is the logical progression of the city’s growth”? How many have called their councilman to visit about details or even attended a council meeting? Instead, most of comments on these forums are filled with snark and echo the shrill (and shallow) level of discourse heard on cable news.
I tire of the sense of curmudgeonly entitlement, the lack of mutual respect, the constant undercurrent of anger—and a corresponding lack of commitment to put time and energy into being willing to risk offering leadership. I see little value in “grumping”, mixed in with a few platitude-based solutions.
I guess some feed on it.
Sequoia 1 year, 1 month ago
Ummm, is this your first time on the internet? Nobody anywhere on the interent knows what they're talking about or wants to get out of their chair. That's whey they're on the internet. That's why the world is run by "elites" (or, to be precise, their 22-year-old unpaid interns).
melbrooks 1 year, 1 month ago
No, not my first rodeo. Just an attempt to raise the level of discourse.
viktorkowski 1 year, 1 month ago
"I see little value in “grumping”, mixed in with a few platitude-based solutions."
I'll let you know upfront this is not a attack on you. just want to point out a few things. you suggest that anyone who has a better idea for something should not sit at home and grump about it online but run for some office. If everyone did this it would be a terrible waste of resources. In the data world we call what people do here as "crowdsourcing". It allows a number of people (who tend to be more vocal behind the internet) to come up with suggestions or ideas to solve problems. Instead of everyone running for office on a single platform they can come to social media websites and many ideas are thrown out for some little heads in the sky to examine. It actually works
melbrooks 1 year, 1 month ago
No offense taken.
According to my understanding of this relatively recent phenomena, crowdsourcing is the floating of an problem and asking a large number of people to offer knowledge-based solutions in hopes that the "crowd" will bring forward ideas and the quality of content and those ideas generated will be better. An example is Google's Lunar X prize.
Crowdsourcing works when the problem is specifically defined and the solutions proposed are vetted on verified criteria. In my opinion, both of those (specificity and verification) are lacking in this instance. I can see some parallels, but to call these forums crowdsourcing is probably pushing the definition. Of course, that's just my admittedly fairly newbie opinion.
viktorkowski 1 year, 1 month ago
its morphed. I know of several government agencies now using it on some popular social media websites. question is posed. people respond and the data is analyzed and from this suggestions are made. nothing really formal about it and without users ever knowing that data is being gathered. I personally refer to it as hive intelligence but have been corrected by several of our engineers for using this term.
spelchek 1 year, 1 month ago
"How many commentators here have taken the time to dig a little deeper beyond the knee-jerk reactions of “greed and more taxes” and “this is the logical progression of the city’s growth”?"
--
Perhaps this is an indicator of a poor sales pitch by the city. Has the city laid out the benefits of this forced annexation? Who benefits? What is the additional revenue needed for? I've neither heard or read benefits of this proposal (besides the unwanted tax subsidized convention center).
--
"filled with snark and echo the shrill (and shallow) level of discourse heard on cable news."
This tells me you're probably a liberal, unless you're saying Fox is the civil "cable news" and the rest are "shrill". I'm going with liberal because most liberals like to stifle free speech or the constitution in general when it doesn't fit their agenda. I understand we're arm chair politicians, but what venue should we air our grievances if not on a news paper FORUM? Man if we'd all just shut up and get in line, huh?
tonto_goldberg 1 year, 1 month ago
That's very well stated.
I am guessing that the city is obligated to push for this annexation because of the other hotels that didn't want to pay a hotel tax either, but they wanted a (spitting in disgust) convention center. So is a deal a deal; or am I expecting too much from politicians and businessmen?
JC27 1 year, 1 month ago
Ok, only one hotelier wants a (also spitting in disgust) convention center. The entire industry less the one individual (who has an agreement to build the hotel attached to the conference center) told the city that it was a horrible idea.
Mel, the idea that in order to have an opinion you must run for office is ridiculous. I just want to be left alone. Every now and again the city does something so senseless that it requires me to waste my valuable time trying to prevent it. On this annexation issue, I talked to every single city council person and not one of them provided anywhere near an acceptable answer to the question "Why do we need to do this". Two canned answers from them every time: 1. Those people will benefit from this. (If those people would benefit from annexation into the city then they would be knocking on the city hall door at 7am screaming "Let us in". But there is not benefit.) The second response from council members was "If we aren't expanding our boundaries then our city will die." Really? So in order for the United States to grow we must expand our boundaries? A land locked city cannot grow? What need do we have for that land? Do we not have hundreds of vacant commercial building, commercial lots, and thousands of acres of undeveloped land? Growing our city by expanding our boundaries is a bit like trying to grow your family by adding rooms onto your house. This is all about money, and since it is all about money I'd prefer that they just come out and say that rather pretending like we "need" the land or that the annexed will "benefit". I find these threads to be valuable insight on how residents are feeling. If you don't like it, don't read it. Pretty simple.
Sequoia 1 year, 1 month ago
It's all about propety tax base. The urge to annex is a function of how tax dollars are divided up between federal, state and local. Cities depend on property taxes. That's the crux of the problem.
I sorta agree with JC27. Jefferson City should be focused on increasing density by redeveloping under-utilized sites to their highest potential. Build up, not out.
Of course, this too requires government planning and investment, and we all know how well that goes over on this forum. But if you don't like annexation, well... we've got to do something.
I sympathise with the impulse to "just be left alone," but that's not realistic. We can't just stand still and pretend we don't live in a competative world where things change. And unless you live in a cabin off the grid and eat locust and wild honey, you're NOT alone.
melbrooks 1 year, 1 month ago
Or perhaps it's a lack of investigation on the part of commentators. A lot of information can be obtained by doing a little digging. jeffcitymo.org/main/MeadowsByTheCubAnnexation.html. And I’d think one would want talk to at least one city council person about it before forming an opinion.
Your assumptions regarding my position on the political spectrum are incorrect, and you’ve made them without the benefit of knowing very little about me. That’s a symptom of the problem. Instead of discussing the issues I’ve raised, you want to know what side I’m on and take me to task for supposedly wanting to stifle free speech—which I cannot do in any way, because I don’t own this website. Your “Man if we'd all just shut up and get in line, huh?” accuses me of such.
To be clear, I’m : 1)wondering aloud why there seem to be so many complaints on these forums, but so little action when it comes to running for office; 2) observing there are many here who quickly take a hard position unencumbered by due diligence; 3) Noting a general “in-your-face” attitude is not conducive to cordial, meaningful conversations.
spelchek 1 year, 1 month ago
Well stated. Perhaps the due diligence isn't warranted in my mind because it's called Forced Annexation. Once upon a time areas sought after annexation to benefit from the cities resources. If the plan is good, it should sell itself and be met with open arms. By the way, I don't think grievances equal a run for office. I vote, that's how I make my grievances legitimate.
melbrooks 1 year, 1 month ago
To be sure, a few grievances here and there don't warrant a run for office. But when I see as much dissatisfaction as I do here, I can't help but wonder.
I'm not sure I'm aware of an annexation which was welcomed by everyone in a proposed area. Some seem to want the additional services/zoning/order which comes with annexation, but others see little value in it.
Sequoia 1 year, 1 month ago
Personally, I'd much rather have most of the people on here stay right where they are: in their chair behind the keyboard. I sure don't want them as my leaders.
I guess I'm an elitist, but I don't want a government full of Regular Joes.
spelchek 1 year, 1 month ago
"I guess I'm an elitist, but I don't want a government full of Regular Joes" --
Sequoia, we are doomed; as people smart enough to solve our problems are smart enough to avoid the scrutiny of public life. We will continue to get an ivy leagued ruling class with zero connection to the middle class to govern this country (for the most part). I would like my representative to have a military and small business background. I want my president to have the same with the addition of being a former governor.
asb 1 year, 1 month ago
You're talking about the founding fathers now Grace.
asb 1 year, 1 month ago
Mel, you're absolutely right about the need for participation. I've posted more than once that these forums are a new and often effective (more than just one vote) means of influencing other citizens. Anything you can do to raise the level of discourse is welcome, but you have to recognize that most of these negative drummers would've been sitting in the same couch kicking their dogs or spouses; or just griping to themselves; the drumming is an upgrade, sigh. I agree, participation is the most effective way to get your views aired and acted on.
RobHunterJohnson 1 year, 1 month ago
Bring them into the fold! They are recieving the benefit of the city. and I like reading Gracefuls and Lifers stuff. Rob
RTWise 1 year, 1 month ago
Then we should annex the furniture store out on Hwy 54 South, they receive benefit from Jefferson City and aren't in the city? And while we're at it lets just skip over what ever businesses and homes are in the area between the current city limits and the furniture store. That is unless some business in Jefferson City feels they are getting an unfair advantage by being in the county instead of the city.
JCLifer 1 year, 1 month ago
So I am glad we all agree that this forced annexation is a good thing. Let's meet at Bones tomorrow night and celebrate!
rodinman 1 year, 1 month ago
How about the tractor supply store and the catering business along Hwy 54? Heck, might as well annex every business between JC and any other town's city limits to level the playing field. City Council, be sure to avoid homes as the homeowners might disapprove.
rodinman 1 year, 1 month ago
Perhaps the two "new" hotels could reduce rooms rates to $10 per night and have a registration fee for whatever amount to ensure they keep their current rates yet deny the city the much anticipated (salivating and probably already spent) tax money.
JCLifer 1 year, 1 month ago
Government of the people By the people and for the people.
Being ruled by millionaires of both parties has not worked very well for the rest of us.
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