It looks like the Cloth are trying one last gambit to maintain control over the debacle called Rio Nuevo.  With them circling the wagons, it seemed just like a bad western:”Last Stand at Rio Nuevo”.  As I type this, the  meeting is going on.  Watch out for some shenanigans between the Downtown Partnership and the Rio Nuevo Board before this whole thing is over.  In DTP news, I am hearing that Lord Hecker may end up with 2 new board positions before it’s over.  He seems bored, so let’s approach him with new leadership postions! 

 Let us all stand together and pray for the downtown business owners getting sold down the “New River”. They are going to need it.

Anyone who may have gone to the meeting is welcome to post a report under comments

Rio Nuevo unit sets closed meeting
 
Members may move to hire new director before Legislature’s reforms take effect, lawmaker fears

By Rob O’Dell
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 05.02.2009

Even as the Legislature is looking to shut down or reform Rio Nuevo, the board that is supposed to oversee the Downtown redevelopment district will meet in closed session Monday to talk about possibly hiring a new director.
Board members and City Council members won’t say exactly what they are discussing, offering only the vague explanation they’re “looking at options” and finding the right “flexibility” to hire contractors and management in the future.
But critics of the district, such as Rep. Frank Antenori, R-Tucson, fear the city is trying to make an end run around the Legislature by appointing Downtown Tucson Partnership Executive Director Glenn Lyons to run the tax-increment financing district.
Antenori said his concern is that the Rio Nuevo Multipurpose Facilities District Board will appoint Lyons to run Rio Nuevo before the Legislature’s reforms of Rio Nuevo go into effect, likely on July 1.
What is worse, Antenori said, is the district board could be trying to approve a provision so that Lyons will get paid even if he gets fired. That would leave a new board installed by the Legislature to choose between firing Lyons, which would cost taxpayers money, or keeping him, which is what he said city officials want.
Antenori likened the situation to the December Rio Nuevo bond sale, in which the city sold bonds despite bad market conditions in order to encumber the redevelopment district’s share of state sales taxes so the Legislature couldn’t take the money away. Lawmakers have threatened to shut down the district because of a lack of progress, despite $100 million spent. More than $600 million is expected to be brought in by the district before it ends in 2025.
Antenori said he warned city officials that “if you covertly obligate money in a back-door underhanded deal, it’s going to blow up in your face.”
Lyons said he has been working with Rio Nuevo board members Anne-Marie Russell, the Museum of Contemporary Art’s executive director, and Jeff DiGregorio, owner of Downtown’s Royal Elizabeth Bed and Breakfast Inn, along with Larry Hecker, a Downtown partnership board member.
“We might end up doing some work for Rio Nuevo, we might not,” Lyons said.
He said the Rio Nuevo district board wants to amend its agreement with the cities of Tucson and South Tucson so the board can take on more responsibility. That agreement says all three entities have to sign off on major changes to the agreement.
There are four board members, two appointed by Tucson — Russell and DiGregorio. A weighted voting system gives them the power to override the two members from South Tucson, former Pima County Supervisor Dan Eckstrom and Roman Soltero, a former South Tucson City Council member.
Although the board is supposed to oversee the district’s finances, it did not meet for nearly 11 months between September 2007 and July 30, 2008, when it met three days after an Arizona Daily Star investigation revealed for the first time the city had spent $77 million on Rio Nuevo.
DiGregorio said the board wants to meet in closed session to see “what is legally available to us.”
He said, “We want the district board to be as flexible as possible,” adding that included amending the agreement with the city and finding new management for Rio Nuevo at a later date.
Councilwoman Nina Trasoff also said the board is looking at changing the agreement so the board has more flexibility. “This is a very intelligent and deliberate group that is simply looking at options,” she said.
The board is working collaboratively with the Legislature to make the right moves, said Councilwoman Karin Uhlich. She said she would not “hypothesize” whether she would support Lyons heading Rio Nuevo.
“Everybody locally has made clear there’s no attempt to circumvent the Legislature,” Uhlich said.
But Councilman Rodney Glassman said he hopes the board is not making any moves that could cost Tucson its tax increment financing money.
Sen. Jonathan Paton, R-Tucson, said he hopes the city does not take any action before the Legislature implements its reforms. Right now, the plan is to get rid of the current four-person Rio Nuevo board and replace it with a nine-member board — three members each appointed by the speaker of the House, the Senate president and the governor.
“I don’t think they should obligate a future board. That would be a mistake,” Paton said. “The city has done enough to lower the confidence of the Legislature as it is.”