Reader comments
Plans for Cottonwood Mall leap forward

Peter, please vote Yes...

Granite is going to contribute money to help a commercial enterprise? I think some ethanol has gotten into the drinking water.

How is this a good thing for Granite District schools? Why should students suffer / fund a commercial enterprise?

It is quite concerning that more residents don't speak up in outrage. Let's take away from the students to give to businesses...

The RSL staduim and now THIS!?!? Where are the priorities?

Wow, all this angst. The School District isn't losing any money. They are going to keep getting exactly what they are now until construction is complete. Then they will get 25% of what they will get at the end of the 20 year period.

This 25% is an increase of roughly $700,000 a year more then they are getting now. And at the end of the 20 year period, they will be getting almost $4,000,000 more then they are getting now.

They aren't losing any money the decision. They are in fact going to be getting more.

So would all of the people who are upset that the School District voted for this be willing to get more money without losing money?

This is something that everyone should want the School District to do. Think of the children first. Thankfully, they did.

I'm so tired of people whining that this is "taking" money from the kiddies...do your research...with this approval, the amount of money from the Cottonwood Mall directly to the Granite School district goes from 137,000 to 900,000 instantly. Then, in 20 years, it jumps to 4 Million. This is a win-win for everyone, especially the city of Holladay, who stood to lose their anchor economic base. Give it a rest. Students will not "suffer" unless nothing happens at Cottonwood Mall.

I think this sounds like a wonderful project that will enhance Holladay and bring much needed revenue. I just wish they'd also decide something on that big patch of vacant land where Partner's, etc. used to be. What a fiasco that has been. Let's hope the mall project turns out better and we have something besides another blighted area to contend with.

How ironic. Salt Lake County officials fight giving RDA funds to the Real Salt Lake Stadium, even though the team pledge not to take any RDA funds from schools. Now they're happy to throw 20 million into a developers pocket with no questions asked. Where's the economic viability study? Where's the press conference raking the owner through the coals? Now we know the the RSL stand at the county was nothing more than politics.

Anyone else imagining "The Ventitain" in Vegas???

Would love the Venetian. Don't know if the gondolas in the winter would be very fun. I can only imagine the high school kids pushing them playing accordians in frozen ponds and snowing.

In all seriousness, it isn't a bad idea to theme it. I think a great mall is to take it one step further and completely replicate Venice with the square, Il Doge's palace, St. Peters Shoppilica, the Bridge of Sighs (could be a cool location for books or computer stuff or Spencers gifts) and the Rialto bridge. I would shop there.

Jaded, the RSL money was from the TRT, Transient Room Tax. This is payed by visitors to the hotels in the county.

The main problem the county had with it was that the hotels that were "funding" the stadium are all in Downtown SLC and the stadium is in Sandy where the "funding source" will not see an impact.

If the stadium would have been allowed to be in Downtown SLC like originally planed prior to Curtis stepping in and trying to take the glory, the County wouldn't have had a problem with it.

This story is about the Cottonwood Mall redevelopment. Which will not take money away from the school district but will rather give them more.

Wow, some public officials with vision and foresight, what a concept!! I agree with Anon 807 and Thanks 807 - people are so quick to jump to conclusions that they don't see the benefit to this vote.

GSD doesn't write a check to anyone, and they aren't "gambling" with the kids' money (as Van Tassell from the Taxpayers Assoc said last night). If anything, the gamble would be for the Board to have voted no in hopes of luring another developer in without the RDA status. And ooh boy - then we could watch the mall sit vacant for another 2-3 years and watch the traffic at Macy's and TGIF totally dry up - wouldn't that be the way to go?!

Here's a story problem for all you well-educated "tax advocates": do I want $171k (and shrinking) to spend on our kids, or do I want to give them $900k/year now and $4 MILLION+ in a few years? Hmmm - let me think about that one...

I don't get it. With this money now going to build the 'mall', where will future funding in the next few years for additional schools, teachers salaries, needed county improvements, etc, come from-- a tax increase perhaps? It seems we are mortgaging our future now to pay for the REAL and now a mall.

WHAT THE HECK????
Granite School DIstrict is in the mall development business?

I thought they were supposed to be teaching kids to read and write, and that schools are all begging for money.

I guess I was wrong, they have $52M laying around [forcibly taken from us TAXPAYERS!] to "invest" in some Ponzi scheme that may pay more someday?

This is WRONG on so many levels!

Never, NEVER! again tell me our schools need more money!

VOTE AGAINST EVERY POLITICIAN WHO SUPPORTS THIS NONSENSE!

If the project goes off as planned there will be a huge advantage. In the meantime, the district will still get more than it is getting now for a 20-year period. Like four times more each year.
Where were all the naysayers when the board met? More than 200 people attended the meeting and only two spoke against the project -- one of them being with the Utah Taxpayers Assn. -- and his remarks were comical. The other was a gentleman who opposes the principle of tax increment funding. He presented his opinion in a most impressive manner.

The RDA is a commercial scheme to steal money from the taxpayers. It was used in downtown SLC and other places. The idea is to redirect tax money from its proper place to the construction of private projects. This is a definately a Conservative Republican thing.

Read the information available on how this RDA actually works and increases money going to schools by bringing in over a half billion dollars into our state.

www dot cityofholladay dot com - Cottonwood Mall section on the left menu.

The Cottonwood Mall area is a lowly and depressed area. Even $70 mil will not boost this area. My goodness, there are residences in California worth more than $70 mil.

If Granite School District has all this extra money sitting around buring a hole in their pockets (especially after buying the old hospital and turning into their newly upgraded offices), why aren't they spending it on an upgraded education for our kids now?

This sounds cool and a good fit for that area. I'm not down with corporate wellfare. However, if the government is paying for infrastructure such as streets, that sounds like it may be fair to me. We all paid for our houses, but we did not pay for the streets we live on.