The Tram in all it's fiscal glory has become a smokescreen for the greater problem. SoWa is broke.
All of the infrastructure, transportation and public improvement projects are way over the amount budgeted in the approved SoWa plan.

http://www.pdc.us/pdf/dev_serv/pubs/dev_macadam_report.pdf

According to the PDC the TIF borrowing capacity has already been exceeded and the money spent. The PDC estimated that more TIF borrowing capacity would not arrive until FY 08/09.

They had no money to pick up the lagging far behind projects and deliver the Development Agreement improvements the city promised.

While everyone was distracted by the Tram the developers were threatening legal action if the city didn't deliver the other more costly projects.

The banner story here is how much the city promised in addition to the Tram, how far over budget all those projects are and they lack TIF capacity to pay for them. And there never will be enough.

http://www.pdc.us/pdf/about/commission_meeting/2006/0411/report-06-38.pdf
From Page 3
""""Failure to execute an Eighth Amendment as proposed will result in a delay in the development of affordable housing, parks, greenway, and economic development initiatives until additional tax increment financing
is developed in the Urban Renewal Area"""".

The so-called "new" TIF capacity is future speculation which does not increase today's TIF borrowing capacity.
So the city must borrow against the general fund.
From Page 2,
""""The Office of Management and Finance will be requested to provide resources (likely in the form of General Fund-secured lines of credit) to fund the projects and programs identified in the Eighth Amendment in advance of generation of North Macadam urban Renewal Area tax increment debt capacity.""""

also from page 2
"""The Eighth Amendment will significantly increase PDC's financial commitment to the South Waterfront Central District project and the Urban renewal district""""

No kidding.
The city is traveling way out on a limb again without telling the council or the public. The so-called "funding commitments secured by gap payment obligations" by NMI (North Macadam Investors) is a charade to create an illusion of increased TIF borrowing capacity and additional revenue. There is no security (real estate) behind these promises of future property tax revenues.
There is no new TIF revenue to provide added borrowing capacity or the increased debt service which is also soaring.

Within the public-private partnership called SoWa the city made reckless promises it could not afford or keep. They are now engaged in a two pronged effort of pyramid borrowing and suppression of the fiscal quagmire they have wrought.

If the city council believes there is "new" money, or new guarantees of added TIF sources they are victims of the same deceptions and misrepresentations they got with $15.5 million Tram price.

Where are the lessons learned?

Further troubling are the mounting unanswered questions regarding the federal I-5 airspace approval, a full life cycle cost estimate for the Tram, updated budgets for the South Waterfront plan, yearly reports on Urban Renewal impacts to basic services and other components rarely addressed by the PDC commissioners, URAC's or city council members.

More often than not these oversight entities are handed vague reports just prior to their voting on the content and meaning which has yet to be fully discussed or considered.