Take this quiz to see if you are as dumb as City Council 

A street corner conversation...  As we from time to time watch the monstrosity growing out of the ground at Pembroke (one ugly piece of architecture for a parking garage/building), we can’t help but wonder about a couple of things that are beginning to fester like a irretrievable splinter under a thumb nail.  

Here are the questions.  Let see if you can provide the answers:  

1. In what U.S. city will you find your municipal center and services a gazillion miles away from its town center?  

2. In which U.S. city will you find a downtown area with a 45 mph speed limit?   

3. How many pedestrians will you find on any given day walking the sidewalks in the Pembroke Mall area?  

4. Chair of Fear question for $1 million liability insurance dollars: How many lanes do you have to cross while walking from Sears at Pembroke Mall to the Pizza Hut on the southwest corner of the intersection?  

5. How many light changes does it take to successfully complete #4?  

6. How long will it take for the stores on the sidewalks of the town center to close because of no walk-in traffic?  

7. How much money have the owners taken out of Pembroke Mall without reinvesting in upgrades to keep the mall attractive for new tenants and inviting for shoppers?   

8. If your answer to question #7 is, “None of your business!” You were correct. Unless City Mis-manager Spore,  (See: Spore's Follies) convinces city council members to implement a Pembroke Mall tax incremental financing district like the one created for the town center across the street as a bailout for land speculators Divaris & company.  

9. When do you think the free parking garage for special interest tenants of Amada-Hoffler-Divaris will finally be paid off?  The correct answer is found in #10.  

11. When do you think the town center tax incremental financing district will finally end?  The correct answer is found in #12.  

13. Where is the taxpayer’s nearly $1 million central park located?  For the correct answer, see either # 10 or #12.  

14. Guess the number of new $35,000 per year jobs created by the town center as promised by the developers.

15. Guess the number of times city council members challenged the figures provided by the city manager and the economic development department for every snake-oil salesman trying to cure the city’s ills? The answer can be found either in #10 or #12. 

You know when you see your tax dollars blown to the wind like this, you have to have a sense of humor to keep from thinking the world is crazy.

Email your answers to: Editor.  Or, you can be like council and respond to slick presentations, smooth talkers and act on emotion.  If you get two (2) correct, you'll score 100 points.  

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