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Show I Redevelopment agencies come under fire The Newspaper Thursday, February 4, 1982 Page 't A redevelopment agency is supposed to do just what the name says redevelop. But critics are saying a better name would be a diverting agency diverting money, that is. At the recent session of the Utah Legislature, amid charges that redevelopment agencies are subject to abuse, a bill was submitted that would require a popular election to create a redevelopment redeve-lopment agency. (Let's call it RA for short.) At the Park City level, there is also disagreement. Fire district attorney Barney Bar-ney Saunders is concerned that fire district and other taxing entities are losing money to Park City's RA. But City Manager Arlene Loble responds that an RA increases the value of city property and will ultimately benefit all the taxing entities. enti-ties. But we need a little background to begin. An RA's purpose is to stimulate growth in an area usually considered blighted or in need of renovation. The agency lives on tax increments increases in the value of property in the redevelopment area after the RA has been created. For instance, let's say that an RA is formed in 1983 that covers two square blocks. Every year after that, when the value of those two blocks increases, the increase can only be taxed by the RA. (The agency then pours that money back into projects that will improve the two square blocks.) In the meantime, the fire district, school district, and even Park City Municipal Corp. can only tax the two blocks at their 1983 value. In this sense, therefore, these entities are losing money to the RA. Does this mean that an RA can go merrily along, taxing and spending for an indefinite indefi-nite period of time? Not according to City Manager Loble. When an RA is born, she said, it is confined to a predetermined program. For instance, Loble went on, Park City's Redevelopment Agency is committed to $6.5 million worth of improvements. improve-ments. Once that program is accomplished, she said, the RA dies. Its property goes back on the general tax rolls, and all the taxing entities now enjoy the benefits of an area that is now much more valuable. Furthermore, Loble Lo-ble said, "The faster the Redevelopment Agency gets this money, the faster they get done." Said Barney Saunders: "That's an idealistic concept. con-cept. It doesn't always work in the way it's intended to." The city's agency will not work, he said, because it includes areas like Deer Valley that are not blighted to begin with. A government agency isn't needed to stimulate stimu-late growth there. "The impact of that development should be on builders, not taxpayers," he said. Loble argued, however, that Deer Valley is linked to less developed areas of the city. "Deer Valley will need Main Street and they're a direct beneficiary of im- We predict you will read this article Forty-five years ago, May McClellan predicted Park City would again become a boom town. "I told people that one day it would be bigger than Sun Valley," she said. May receives occasional psychic "feelings" but her real forte is palm reading. In fact, she's even automated it in her business, May-Mac. She does palmistry by mail, reading Xerox copies of palm prints sent to her. McClellan is hostess for the "Psychic Panorama" taking place at the Holiday Inn Feb. 6 and 7. The paranormal talents at the weekend show include computer com-puter astroiogists Jim and Debra Mccoy; an Indian, known only as Taco, who reads cards; psychic Mary St. Clair, who won a "National "Nation-al Enquirer" contest by describing the contents of a sealed envelope; Katie Peterson, a personologist who "reads" people through the shape of their bodies and their anatomical measurements; measure-ments; handwriting expert Leslie King; card-reader and numerologist Janis eter-son; eter-son; and face-reader Marion King (no relation to Leslie). If your favorite psychic is occupied, said McClellan, you can be entertained by caricaturist Vaughn Stout. May said her husband Glen was an old-time resident resi-dent of Park City, and she NEW LISTING Lot 41 , Plat A, Summit Park. South facing corner lot on Aspen Drive. Call Ron Perry 649-8535 or 649-1131 w Muliiplr Listing Service REALTOR THE IRISH CAMEL LTD. IRISH I Wc MEXICAN (1 M B Serving the finest Mexican food and charbroiled burgers Camel Icelandic Wool Hats lor sale '$20 7 says a wetk. . provements there," she said. The city's redevelopment area, she said, extends from the Holiday Inn to Deer Valley, excluding the western wes-tern side of Park Avenue. At the state legislature, there have been no attacks on specific RAs in Utah, said Representative Glenn Brown. But the concerns are similar to Saunders'. "Legislators are wondering won-dering about the agencies' impact on other levels of government," Brown said. "We have heard that the Uniform School Fund loses $1.5 million a year statewide. It's also felt that some agencies are perhaps stretching the intent of the law." Brown said he had no reason to criticize Park City's Agency. "Perhaps it is in their best interests." The Republican legislator said he voted for the bill, sponsored by Davis County representative Ute Knowl-ton, Knowl-ton, that would require a popular vote to create an RA. It passed the House this year, he said, but was stalled in the Senate, either by opposition or the heavy workload of other bills. The bill may come back to the 1983 legislature, Brown said. It has been assigned to a study list that will be reviewed this summer by the legislature's Revenue and Taxation Committee. was a public health nurse here. She was also director of student health at Westminster. West-minster. At college fairs she would appear in gypsy garb to give palm readings. "Now that I've studied more, I realize that palm-reading palm-reading is an art and should be taken seriously," she said. "I remember reading a woman at a party who suddenly said, 'This isn't funny, this is scary! You're getting close to a lot of things about me.'" She said she has "feelings" "feel-ings" but doesn't know why they come, or how to turn them on and off. "Once, we were driving past this man's home and I said, 'I think he's dead' and my husband said, 'No, he isn't. I saw him just yesterday.' Two days later, the man had a cardiac arrest." Psychics, she said, are no different than the doctor who takes the mysterious squigg-les squigg-les on an EKG chart and interprets them for you. "You run into many people who have had dreams that come true. You have hunches. hun-ches. Another name for it is ESP, and some people have it more than others," she said. Prices for psychic services, ser-vices, she said, will be $10 and up. They will be available avail-able on both days from 12 noon to 10 p.m. Officer Carey Yates resigns over selection of new police chief Five-year veteran Carey Yates resigned from the Park City Police Department Depart-ment Monday in response to the appointment of Francis Bell of Jackson, Wyoming as the new chief of police. Yates expressed disappointment disap-pointment that Joe Offret, who has been acting chief since Mike Crowley resigned in September, was passed over for promotion in favor of Bell. That appointment also meant that Yates lost his position as acting sergeant, which he assumed from Offret in September. Yates said that his feelings about the appointment of Bell would interfere with his relationship with the new chief, so he decided to resign. In a letter to the editor printed on Page 3 of this issue, Yates said, "It is very hard for me to understand, but with the apparent need to bring in professional people, I feel that I should leave my home town altogether in order or-der to give the new chief a fair chance." In the letter Yates praised Offret and his achievements since becoming acting chief, and noted that he had been on the police force for seven years and was born and raised in Park City. It makes me wonder if there is any future for advancement ad-vancement within the police department, since there is no seniority within the city workers," Yates said. Asked if other officers shared his feelings, Yates responded that "I think they're feeling pretty low." Detective Lloyd Evans supported sup-ported that view, saying that "we're pretty disappointed, as you might expect." Yates concluded his letter of resignation to Offret by saying that "I hope my decision does not influence others on the police department, depart-ment, because that's not my intention. I hope to have good working relations with the Park City Police Department Depart-ment in the future, because I believe it to be one of the best departments in Utah." Yates accepted a position on the Heber City Police Department for less money than he was making in Park City beginning Feb. 2. "Carey's resignation is a problem for the police department, because we're losing one of the best officers we've ever had," said Offret. "A lot of the senior officers have similar feelings to his. But I indicated to them that I don't think they should leave. If leaving improves their career opportunities, fine. Other than that, leaving isn't going to accomplish anything. Francis Bell will be the new chief as of Feb. 15, and nothing's going to change that." 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