Sign the Petition to Oppose Willow Valley’s Financial Bond Request

To the Lancaster City Council,

We, the People of Lancaster, ask you to reject Willow Valley’s request to approve this bond for the Mosaic Project, which has clearly failed to secure the funding they needed independently.

We recognize that they have an approved land development plan, which has faced public opposition, but it is not the responsibility of the Public to save this project. In fact, this proposed resolution that argues this is for the “desirable for the health, safety and welfare of the people in the area served by the facilities,” is an absolute slap in the face to all residents that need housing opportunities that do not gouge them on rent.

This resolution goes to prove that it is possible for the City of Lancaster to help finance large scale housing projects; projects that would more directly improve the health, safety, and welfare of people in the area served, because economic pressures cause irreparable harm to those who need to sacrifice family, to work more than one job, just to pay rent.

There is no guarantee that this project will succeed in reaching sales goals just because of the groundbreaking, as Marsha Kauffman stated, “We expect the groundbreaking will be an impetus to an increase in the velocity of sales.” Expect. This is just another bad deal that leaves private interests holding no risk. The public has no reason to assume this isn’t just a way to save Willow Valley for all their sunk costs and reducing the credibility of the authority’s future bonds.

It is shameful that City leadership would even consider providing help to a project meant to attract the wealthiest people in the country, for a project that can’t even make their sales goals, instead of entertaining projects that would require the same amount of financing, and with housing assistance lists constantly at their maximum clearly demonstrating that such projects to help existing residents would be at full capacity immediately.

Reject this project. If your community partnerships are truly so strong, then we can use this funding mechanism to meet the City’s housing goals instead of attracting new money. Economic development is not gentrification when you bring up the existing population, as opposed to callously supporting projects which accelerate their displacement.

Signed,