Posted by Ryan M. Bloser on July 20, 2007 at 15:45:52 (EST):
In Reply to: Re: Ford City Ambulance - Part of the property plans?? posted by Reasoning on July 20, 2007 at 15:36:21 (EST):
: : : : : Again if we are a visionary why rule anything recreation. The river has lots to offer. It would be nice to see an upscale restaurant and dock facilities along the river possibly a night club. I am only to guess what is planned. I am interested in seeing a business plan.
: : : : Exactly...and that has become one of the major concerns with some of the alleged proposals who Mr. Bloser is connected to, or should I say, people he has had discussions with. There has been plenty of talk going around from the sources themselves that they want that land for some grand dream of making it a community park or something along those lines. Are they banking on riverboat banking of riverboat gambling? But, we have seen pipe dreams like these turn into disasters and then the only thing left is something reminiscent of an abandoned Kiddie-Land.
: : : : I think Mr. Bloser has been somewhat straight forward, except for when it comes to the connection with F.C. Ambulance. He evaded a few questions initially. And I truly cannot believe without hesitation that he has no idea what plans the F.C. Ambulance has for the property. This is the only thing that is jabbing out like a thorn in all of this. I cannot accept that as a factual answer from Mr. Bloser. I can understand him saying that he is "not involved" with those plans or that he does not associated with those plans, but for him to say that he has no idea of their plans, this rings as an untrue statement for me.
: : : : The reason for this questioning is to test and see if there is any collusion occurring between different parties associated with the sale and purchasing of the property. Bloser has said that he is totally deaf and blind to any plans which I find somewhat unbelievable since part of the proposal was aired at a public meeting.
: : : : Is there a little shake-n-bake going on behind the scenes here? We wil have to wait and see, but I agree with the poster said that the land is more valuable than trying to start up a recreational spot like an amphitheater.
: : : Truthfully who cares what you think, it is a wonder you haven't blamed Mr. Bloser for Holy Trinity, you seem to mistrust him at every step, ask Markilinski what the Ambulace intends on doing with the property, he is the one wanting it.
: : I care what you think. I care what I think too. Right now I'm thinking that it will/would be great to have several manufacturing industries locate here in FC. I also wonder how realistic it is. The economy in this country is leaning more and more to the service industry side of things and further away from manufacturing. That is bad as far as I am concerned. We have to produce something. However, if locally we can't seem to bring in such industry, we may have to eventually look at other options. Bring back the brick streets and the trolly cars. Put in some specialty shops, maybe an outlet mall? Recreation and history related industry may prove the way to go in the end of it all. Lets face facts, no major manufacturer is going to move in any time soon because there aren't many left. A few small ones to act as a base may be more realistic and then growfrom there in a different direction. We have miles of riverfront, trails, a horsepark, good hunting and fishing, hiking, biking. We could make FC a recreational and historic destination for people all along the Allegheny river cooridor and beyond. I know it sounds maybe a little unrealistic, but if we wait too long to decide on a direction and then go for it, we may be too far gone.
: I agree with you, Bryan, but once again, I seem to get no real clear answer here in regards to that. This is the issue that seems to have peole distancing themselves away from in regards to the proposals.
: I disagree with you about the service industry jobs, though, Bryan. This service industry theme has been used over and over. No economy has ever sustained itself jobs. Plus, service industry jobs do not always equal "recreational" jobs. You could pull in a health insurance company or some other bigger corporation that would create jobs. Maybe not the top of the line in wages, but decent wages with benefits. Servie industry is based on the economy around you. Ford City is not big enough to create some grand scale place with outlets. Any small goods markets or such would eventually get eaten up by bigger stores or the malls. You need people with money to upkeep the finances of an area with service industry jobs. It would be like building a big hotel over there. It would be a nice and new building, but who is going to come there to stay. Are you going to try and compete with the Strip District? Forget it. The only reason it stays solvent is because of the attachment to Pittsburgh, a big city. These are all pipe dreams.
: Mr. Bloser, if you were at the public meeting then you know that they did outline a plan to build a place for concerts on that property.
: You are now on record stating that you have never heard anything of such plans. I find that interesting. Within all your discussions that you have had about the property with different people, you never heard of such a plan, but it was discussed at a public meeting. This is what concerns me when people are portraying themselves as being out in the dark when most other people know at least some of the details.
Ford City may have ideas for that, but I was unaware Mike had the same plans. Next time, I'll clarify. I thought we were discussing Mike.
I have had discussions with various people but its never been about a concert venue - its been about family sustaining jobs.
I find the Ford City Riverfront Park a waste of money, UNTIL there is a suitable tax base in the town.