It's not a contradiction if you believe what you're saying?

I serve on the board for an organization called The Downtowners. Yesterday we sponsored a luncheon that featured a discussion panel on the use of Tax Increment Financing in Kansas City. One of the four panelists was City Auditor Mark Funkhauser who is no fan of KC’s TIF policies (or lack thereof). Another panelist was an attorney from a large law firm located on the Plaza so needless to say he was on the “pro” side. Several interesting points were made and several evasive non-answers were made. All in all it was par for the course as far as discussion panels go. The development attorney maintained that TIF should not be targeted to undesirable areas because “nobody wants to build there anyway.” Huh? Isn’t that what TIF is for? The attorney maintained that government should not be in the development planning business and targeted incentives were just plain wrong. Later on when Mark Funkhauser attacked the use of TIF for retail projects, the same attorney stated “targeted TIF has been very successful in areas like the Plaza.” Contradiction? Maybe not to a powerful development attorney. Funkhauser asserted that retail is a lousy TIF investment because it is so hard to predict. I agree with Mark. Think about it this way. Most TIF projects are projected over 23 years. Do you think we would all still be shopping at Izod World if that idea had been floated back in 1983? I'm sure back then it would have seemed like an awesome concept. While hanging out in the back of the room I noticed David Martin of the Pitch scribbling away in his notebook. Since he’s a journalist and I’m obviously not, I’m sure his write up of the event will be much better. Keep your eye out for next week’s Pitch.