[PRCo] Re: The public believes in the tooth fairy?

[John Swindler]

Park City Mall is not going away.  It will either get refinanced, reorganized, some properties sold off to pay off the debt.  My bet would be refinanced or selling off of some properties.
 
John  
 
> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org> From: fwschneider at comcast.net> Subject: [PRCo] The public believes in the tooth fairy?> Date: Wed, 12 Nov 2008 19:48:08 -0500> > Last night our friend from Donora and Jacksonville teased the > "professor" into a diatribe. Tonight's newspaper set me off again.> > In the early 1970s more-or-less local investors decided to create a > new shopping mall. It was to be an uncover mall with four anchor > department stores, two movie theaters (since closed) and over 100 > smaller shops all laid out in the form of an X. The Park City > Shopping Center, now known simply as Park City Center, wiped out > downtown. In fact, the strongest bus routes left in the county run > from the city to that suburban mall. Overtime the local investors > sold out.> > Tonight's newspaper carried an announcement that "General Growth > Properties Inc. shares plummet Tuesday after the mall owner warned it > faces solvency trouble and may be forced to file for bankruptcy if it > can't refinance or extend nearly $1 billion in debt due next > month." Is this the only problem? No. The company has an > additional $3.07 billion in debt due in January that it probably > cannot cover considering what is going to happen to Christmas sales > this year. Mall owners usually charge rents both as a fixed price > and a percentage of sales. And like the American consumer who used > his Visa card as a hedge against next month's pay checks, these mall > owners were probably planning on the percentages coming from sales in > the stores. Guess what guys, you don't make those kind of plans.> > I looked up General Growth Properties on the internet. There are at > least five locations in Ken Josephson's home town. Mark McGuire and > Jerry Matsick have one in Jacksonville. Now when they can't pay > their property taxes, do Lancaster and Las Vegas and Jacksonville and > Cleveland and Baltimore and Washington DC foreclose or do they > forgive the taxes?> > There was an Associated Press story in tonight's paper too. Polls > show that "only 36 percent say trimming income taxes should be a top > priority when the new priesident takes office in January, according > to an AP-GfK poll. That was less than half the 84 percent who cited > improving the economy as a number 1 goal and the 90 percent who said > creating jobs should be a paramount task." If we have spent all > our lives believing we can use VISA and MasterCard to charge this > months spending so we can it with next month's money instead of > building up savings to pay for it (I'm excluding you Mr. Swindler) > how the hell do we expect to teach the public enough responsibility > to improve the economy over night? And we will create great jobs > too for the public who believes that the lawn sprinkler that should > built using $45 an hour union workers should only sell for $2.00 at > Wal*Mart. The tooth fairy is alive and well. We'll fix everything > tonight and the world will be great tomorrow.> > Fred Schneioder > > 
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