Abramson strikes again! With him were his trusty Cordish Cronies and once again they have thumbed their noses and given the finger to the citizen's of Metro Louisville.
This portion of Abramson's malfeasance started last year when before we were suddenly ?broke?, Abramson's friends at Cordish the Baltimore based company (so much for supporting local businesses) that was supposed to renovate the first floor of the Starks's building and house a national seafood chain restaurant broke their promise and were $50,000.00 behind in back rent.
Instead of making Cordish pay the money they owed and finish what was promised, he let them back out of the deal and use the money for redeveloping one of their own establishments that had gone belly up on 4th Street Live.
This was called a forgivable loan that they didn't have to repay and furthermore, the ?Arrogant One ?(Jerry) did so without Council or voter approval.
Three months ago the Courier-Journal made an open records request. this week when they threatened to go public with the story all of a sudden the city produces a short three paragraph memo from the Baltimore based company dated July 10th basically stating ?We spent the money on things for the new club? yet they failed to give any details. So much for Abramson's Office complying with Kentucky State Law regarding open records requests.
When reporter Dan Klepal pressed the mayor about the matter, Abramson replied ?That the letter satisfies him that Cordish spent the city's money appropriately.? How the hell would he or anyone else know? There are not any details on how the monies were spent whatsoever.
"It looks to me that their financial person is giving us a certified commitment," Abramson was quoted in the paper. "The loan agreement that they signed doesn't require them to give the city a specific ... detailed report."
When Klepal asked if the city can require Cordish to turn over spending records, Abramson replied: "I'm unaware of any way to get those specifics. It is what it is. If you're looking for receipts for drywall, or how much they spent on tables, there isn't any and they're not required."
Gee Jerry with your track record and with transparency in government becoming a national issue that is exactly what we are looking for. As the Steward of this community you should spend less time making flippant remarks and more time actually making sure even ?your? brand of government is working.
Coincidentally, a few minutes after that interview, Bruce Traughber, the city's economic development director, called the newspaper and said he will personally inspect the invoices to verify how the money was spent "the next time I'm in Baltimore." This sounds suspiciously like someone scrambling to cover his bosses rear end.
Bruce doesn't know exactly when he will be going there, but golly gee with a budget crisis and people being furloughed this is really a kind of back burner issue for this administration.
Council members Kelly Downard and Jim King both of whom are CPAs and are chairman and vice-chairman of the Government Accountabilities Committee both want to be present and look over these receipts.
I get the feeling that they don't want to have Bruce come back and tell them. ?Everything is o.k.? ?Sorry I forgot to bring back copies though.?
Maybe Cordish is on the level. What is sad is that we allowing some crony shyster of Abramson's to write these contracts without accountability. It is a pretty simple thing. We give you money and you show us receipts on how you spent our tax dollars.
Once again Abramson has shown his wide arrogant streak and the contempt he has for the people of this community. Personally if the Governor wants to choose him for a running mate I would campaign for him, anything to get him out of Louisville.