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Show IHIaDW AlboDnd; lit? newnD(iDnDa(t What do you think of the plan to charge out-of-town visitors to the Art Festival a $1 admission fee? I V i I John Woeckner , . , 1 L T'H hate to rharee neoDle money for something they ve enjoyed for free, but the money they put in might be able to put on a better show in the future. Page A2 Thursday, June 10, 1982 rr -mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmt m i i l ; Robbing Peter to pay Paul? If you want to get a reaction out of Nancy McComb, all you've got to do is say these two words: redevelopment agency. Nancy McComb is the president of the Park City Board of Education, and, with the 1982-83 budget now in the works, the Park City Redevelopment Agency has been the subject of a lot of discussion. And the debate isn't likely to die down soon. If you're familiar with the background behind the Park City Redevelopment Agency, please skip over the next few paragraphs. If you're not familiar with it, you've got lots of company. In 1971, the Utah Legislature passed the Neighborhood Redevelopment Act, modeled after a California law, which authorizes a municipality to establish a redevelopment agency through a vote of the governing body. The act paved the way for cities to use local property tax money to stimulate the rehabilitation of specific "blighted" areas. In April of 1978, the Park City Council voted to establish its own redevelopment agency to encourage the revitalization of the Main Street business district. Similar agencies have been established in a number of is that taxes in the rest of the school district must go up to When federal funding for redeveloment agencies dried up in the mid 1970s, the Utah Legislature passed a law authorizing another form of generating revenue known as tax increment financing. Here's how it works: Each redevelopment agency can establish its own district boundaries, defining the blighted area which it wishes to rehabilitate. The total valuation of the property within that area is calculated at the time the boundaries are drawn. From that point on (from 1978, in Park City's case), any increase in valuation within the boundaries of the district can be used as a tax base to fund redevelopment projects. When the Park City Redevelopment Agency established its boundaries in 1978, the valuation within the district was about $5 million. That figure is now approaching $30 million. So the agency is entitled to use the tax revenue from about $25 million in assessed valuation to fund its projects. That $25 million is the tax increment. Okay, now back to the school district for a minute. If you include the $25 million, the total valuation of the school district is a little more than $90 million this year. However, if you subtract the $25 million designated for the redevelopment agency, the school district is left with a total valuation of about $65 million. A big difference. What this means, argue the members of the school board, is that taxes in the rest of. the school district must go up to compeiate-Wtherr'alaation lost to the redevelopment agency. What that means, they say, is that residents of Summit Park and Highland Estates are indirectly subsidiinp the rehabilitation of Park City's Main Street. A couple of other things irk the members of the school board. One is that the district boundaries were drawn to include Deer Valley, hardly a blighted area, even in 1978. The other is that the redevelopment agency can be self-perpetuating. It can continue to exist as long as it wants. In an effort to gain a voice over the use of redevelopment agency funds, the school district recently asked that a member of the school board be appointed to the agency's board of directors. Unfortunately, the Utah Code stipulates that the agency board must be the same as the governing body of the municipality (in this case, the city council). So that request ended in frustration. As it relates to the drawing of the district boundaries, the school board's complaint does have some validity. Deer Valley may technically have fit the definition of a blighted area (since it had inadequate streets and poor drainage), but including it in the redevelopment district after plans for the ski resort had been announced amounted to little more than a blatant land grab by the agency. But that happend four years ago. Our attention now should be focused on keeping a balance between the redevelopment agency and the school district so that neither one gets fat at the expense of the other. In the city's defense, it should be pointed out that the redevelopment agency is not using as much money as it is legally entitled to take. The remainder of the money has been turned back to the school district. City Councilman Bob Wells also points out that, in years past, Park City residents have been paying a disproportionate share of the school district budget, since there are fewer children and higher property values within the city limits than in the school district as a whole. So the burden on the guy in Summit Park or Highland Estates may not be as unfair as it seems. While the redevelopment agency has no time restrictions, it has announced an overall budget of about $6.5 million. It has also made legal commitments to acquire land in and around Swede Alley for parking and other improvements. So the wheels have begun to turn. The question now seems to be: what kind of timetable should the agency adopt? In other words, how fast should that $6.5 million be spent? That decision should not be made in a vacuum. Since the agency's decisions will impact both the school district and the county as a whole, it makes sense for; those governments to be consulted before more commitments are made-' ' , ' ' . v?:v.w.:. nH (TOo.TlTlr rvJSTl by Jack Anderson There's a glimmer of light at the end of economic tunnel Washington The first faint signs of an economic recovery are becoming visible. So far, it is merely a glimmer at the end of a dark tunnel. And some economists fear it may be the headlight of an onrushing express train. But the light is there. The auto industry is calling back workers. They have contracts to build more trucks and tanks for the armed forces. But they are also producing better cars, which hopefully will sell. For the fifth straight month, more new homes are under construction. Air travel is also increasing. A boom appears ap-pears to be developing in the telecommunications telecom-munications industry. The increase in defense spending should stimulate the economies of at least 10 states: California, Texas, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Missouri, Virginia, Florida, Louisiana and Washington. President Reagan's tax cuts and the cost-of-living increases in Social Security benefits will also take effect in July. This will put more money in the pockets of consumers. The great hope is that the extra money and the economic stimulation will open up their pockets. Maybe they will now go out and buy the homes, automobiles, furniture and appliances that they couldn't afford last winter. Even a mild spending spree could start an economic upturn. Unfortunately, there is also bad news that could dampen a recovery. Ten million people are still out of work. The industrial states of the north are particularly hard hit. And during the first two months of 1982. more than 3,500 companies had to close. That is a 55 percent increase over the same period peri-od a year earlier. The trend is grim. But Americans are incurable optimists, op-timists, and this may make the difference dif-ference between boom or bust. Spies-in-the-Sky: In the battle for the Falkland Islands, Argentine pilots and submarine commanders have set their sights on Britain's two aircraft carriers and the troopship Queen Elizabeth 2. The Argentine junta is reported to feel that sinking one of these big ships would help even the score. The Soviet Union is playing an important im-portant role in this Argentine strategy. We have seen top-secret details of the Kremlin's behind-the-scenes help to Argentina in the South Atlantic war. The Russians have been giving Argentina important information on the British fleet. Soviet satellites have been pinpointing the location of British warships for the Argentines. The most important Soviet spy-in-the-sky is the Cosmos 1365, which was sent into orbit on May 15. It is a nuclear-powered radar satellite specifically designed for ocean surveillance. sur-veillance. A top-secret CIA report has this to say about the Cosmos 1365 satellite: "These satellites have been able to identify coastlines, ships and prominent terrain features. The radar on these satellites is able to detect ships the size of a destroyer when weather conditions are good, and ships the size of an aircraft carrier when weather conditions are bad." We are told that these super-satellites super-satellites have a relatively short life-a minimum of two months. After that, booster rockets are supposed to propel the nuclear-powered part of the spy satellite far into space, where they will remain in orbit for at least a hundred hun-dred years. But when the Soviets' Cosmos 1365 satellite is operating at peak efficiency, efficien-cy, it has remarkable surveillance power. Our intelligence sources say it can spot an aircraft carrier 90 percent of the time, a cruiser 50 percent of the time and even a warship as small as a frigate 30 percent of the time. The last important crisis that led to the launching of a Soviet nuclear spy satellite was in the spring of 1980. That was five days after the United States launched its ill-fated Iranian rescue mission. The 37-ship American task force in the Persian Gulf had managed to give Soviet spy trawlers the slip, so the Russians sent up one of their nuclear satellites. That's what makes the use of another nuclear satellite so significant. It shows that the Soviets consider the Falkland war important. Headlines and Footnotes: American-operated American-operated AWACS radar planes in Saudi Arabia have had a couple of close calls recently. Intelligence sources say it was only by luck that one of the planes wasn't destroyed by Libyan guerrillas at an isolated airfield. A security guard spotted a hole in a fence which led to the commandos. This was the second unsuccessful Libyan attempt at-tempt to blow up the planes since March. Labor Secretary Ray Donovan's former construction firm has hired private detectives to investigate the Senate investigators who are looking into his alleged ties to organized crime. One of the detectives is Robert Shortley, a former FBI agent who has done work for the Republican National Committee. Shortley's wife, it turns out, is a special assistant in the White House. Federal employees who leave Uncle Un-cle Sam's payroll often find the welcome mat is out in private industry. in-dustry. Employers believe that former government workers can use their old friends to get lucrative contracts. Last year, the number of Defense Department Depar-tment employees who left for greener corporate pastures shot up by 50 percent. per-cent. Copyright, 1982 United Feature Syndicate, Inc. Raymond Goodman It's a fair price, for anyone over 10 years old. I V a . "7 '' ' X- L Kerry Greene If they use the money to clean up Park City afterwards, fine. Otherwise, tacky. Wolfgang Sonntag It's a good idea, but children should not be charged. -r?y " Kj j Rick Lanman I think the Art Festival should be a fund-raising mechanism. I would like to see the festival receive a commission from the sale of the art work as opposed to charging an admission. Judy MacMahon I approve of it, and hope it will help raise some needed revenues for the Art Center. r .-. ,,,, .. , Ti i ,rr i m mni.m.I by Stanley Karnow (Bflcolbal View Iran's battlefield wins threaten balance of power Washington The Middle east power balance, always fragile, now is even more precarious following Iran's battlefield victory against Iraq late last month. For the present prospects are that Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the fanatical Iranian leader, will pursue the triumph over his neighbor to promote his brand of Islamic fundamentalism funda-mentalism throughout the region in an opportunistic alliance with Arab radicals. rad-icals. Secretary of State Alexander Haig warned the other day that the situation is fraught with "ominous implications" implica-tions" for U.S. interests, and he pledged that the Reagan administration administra-tion would play a "more active role" in the quest for peace in the area. But it is difficult to see what practical role the United States can play short of deepening America's involvement in the region's extraordinarily extraordin-arily complicated political and religious reli-gious alignments. So, it seems to me, the current crisis in the Middle East again dramatizes America's limited ability to deal with forces propelled by their own momentumeven momen-tumeven though they threaten the security of the United States and its allies. The crisis owes its origin to Iraq's inane decision nearly two years ago to contain Khomeini's revolution by invading Iran. The Iraqis fielded superior military strength, but they underestimated the fervor of the Iranian foes, who believed themselves to be waging a holy war. The climax came May 24, when the Iranians finally drove the Iraqis from their territory by recapturing the port of Khorramshahr, which is strategically strategical-ly located at the entrance to the Persian Gulf.' ;" ' Fearful that the rise of Iranian militancy would menace their conservative conser-vative regimes, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates gave Iraq more than $20 billion in aid. But money was not enough. The Saudis and their partners, realizing that the Iraqi cause is lost, now appear to be shifting. At a meeting last weekend, they switched to a neutral posture by calling for a settlement that guarantees the "legitimate "legit-imate rights" of both Iran and Iraq. It seems doubtful, however, that their appeal will restrain Khomeini. He dreams of merging Iran and Iraq in a single political bloc under his domination. He also would like to extend his religious influence by reinforcing the Shia branch of Islam, which he inspires. Islamic fundamentalism terrifies the moderate Arabs. Fundamentalists attacked Mecca a few years ago, and they assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. They also have infiltrated infiltra-ted the oil-rich Gulf states, plotting against monarchies trying to blend tradition and economic development. Equally worrisome to the conservative conser-vative Arabs, moreover, has been the lineup of their radical adversaries behind Khomeini in an effort to take advantage of his destructive dynamism. dyna-mism. Radical Arab leaders like Col. Moammar Khadafy of Libya and Syrian President Hafez Assad have little in common with Khomeini. Indeed, Khomeini's disciples have conspired to overthrow Assad, whom they consider too secular. But, basing their strategy on the old adage that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend," the radicals have intensi fied their maneuvers1 against the conservatives. One of their objectives is to prevent Egypt from returning to the Arab fold so that Saudi Arabia and the conservative Gulf states can be isolated from the rest of the Arab world, which then would be pushed toward more militant policies. None of this may work. The modern history of the Middle East shows that, while its nations pay lip service to Pan-Islamic unity, their attempts to form cohesive fronts chronically break down under the pressure of their individual aims. Back in the 1950s, for instance, the wave of Pan-Islamic sentiment generated gener-ated by Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser soon eroded when Syria, which had joined him in creating a new political entity, asserted its own identity. But even if the present bid by Khomeini and the radicals to forge a coalition eventually founders, it can throw the region into disarrav while it lasts. Thus the months ahead look bleak. At stake, of course, is the future of the Middle East oil supply. Should Khomeini push forward to control Iraq, he would be able to pinch the vital Strait of Hormuz, through which about 40 percent of the industrialized world's petroleum passes. The war between Iran and Iraq rarely grabbed newspaper headlines and television screens in the West, and it has been eclipsed lately by the fighting for the Falkland Islands. But a bigger conflict may be brewing in the Middle East, and it could transform the region. (c) 1982 The Register and Tribune Syndicate Inc. Tim Newspaper Subscription Rates, 16 a year in Summit County, $12 a year outside Summit County Published by Ink, Inc. USPS 378-730 "hli',h',r Jan Wilking Klli,or David Hampshire Advertising Sales Jan Wilking, Bill Dickson, Don Hart Husinev. 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