City Council love-fest 2-nite: And the magic number is six.

First, the good news: Any combination of city council meetings remaining in the year 2007 that total six, and the Gang of Four is reduced to the Dunderhead Duo at the stroke of midnight on December 31, when progressives will take to the streets and cheap champagne will be flowing by virtue of Larry Kochert’s voluntary step down, and Bill Schmidt’s rejection by the voters back in May.

Then again, by then, their replacements might include superannuated relics like James Hollis. But that’s okay. (Most of) our collective hair is sure to grow back even after pulling out by the roots.

In the interim, much havoc remains for wreaking by the bile-infused Neanderthal bloc, beginning tonight, when the spotlight shifts away from redistricting (I might buy myself a mohair suit for the approaching court date) and comes to rest squarely on the latest exciting plan to revitalize downtown, one to be submitted by investors this evening, and one, of course, that is certain to be opposed by the very councilmen representing the areas that stand to benefit the most from it.

Whih, in a nutshell, is New Albanian socio-cultural dysfunction at its very finest.

Previously at NAC: Luddite obstructionists mobilize to fight parking garages -- the latest atheist Commie threat.

Given the intimate link between rental properties and "Re-elect Steve Price to City Council" yard signs, perhaps the best way for the city to approach the new parking garage would be to pretend it is a massive slumlord empowerment property.

Predictably, at the Gang of Four’s semi-official news agency (Six Flags over Screechia), the professorial-pretend duo of Dork and Mindy are having a cow over the looming prospect of downtown infrastructure improvements.

Taxpayers -- we are being screwed by the parking garage project and the request to spend millions of dollars to build another downtown parking garage.

Sadly, half of Freedom of Speech’s "brain" trust knows better, but prefers fomenting self-serving chicanery to putting the muzzle on her decidedly junior partner in trognonymous slime.

Meanwhile, I had breakfast this morning with another of NAC’s friendly confidants, D.T. Redux, and here are excerpts from his comments, as recorded with my favorite Sharpie on a bacon-grease-stained napkin:

The bond issue for the downtown parking garage was always intended to be paid for by a combination of TIF funds and economic development taxes. All the parties to the building and financing of the project decided that it was important to economic development and all understood that the incremental taxes gained could not and would not be sufficient to pay off the bond.

About 2/3 of the annual debt service was always intended to be paid from EDIT tax funds (that's why they called it "economic development). That would be about $400K per year. New taxes generated by the infrastructure improvement were to have paid about $200K. When TIF revenues came up short and late, the debt service still had to be paid. So, the redevelopment commission gained approval from all concerned to use EDIT to make up the shortfall.

Now Mr. Coffey and Erika are pretending to believe (or, delusion being a New Albanian birth right, perhaps they really do believe) that all of the EDIT funds dedicated to retire the bonded indebtedness were somehow a robbery from the taxpayers that must be made good.

First of all, EDIT taxes were until a couple of summers ago restricted to use for economic development projects, which the garage surely was. Second, anyone who opposed the use of EDIT funds to service the garage debt was either silent or could not garner the votes to stop it.

Accordingly, any effort to reclaim every penny of EDIT taxes used for garage debt service is an attempt to cheat the system, to declare a do-over, to repeal the acts of previous administrations and councils who lawfully chose to use those funds as they determined. The only EDIT funds even remotely subject to any "promise" to repay were those used to round out the TIF shortfall. There's no way that the $400K expended each year should even be part of a conversation in this council.

The ordinance and resolution before the city council, however, seeks to reclaim every penny of EDIT money spent to build and pay for the garage. It does not limit itself to recouping the shortfall that EDIT covered, but asks that TIF become a new "riverboat" fund instead of the means to improve and provide incentives for downtown revitalization through infrastructure improvements.

To say that the TIF "owes" $3.6 million to EDIT is grossly inaccurate. Aren’t we all tired of listening to certain members of council denigrating all economic development while trying to fool people into believing every TIF and every incentive is a conspiracy to rob the taxpayers? In fact, a TIF is exactly the opposite of what Mr. Coffey and his allies would have us believe.

What did I do with that damned flower pot?