CITY BLOCKS RELEASE OF BOARDWALK FRAUD RECORDS

If you have been following the comments on "The Blackballed Request", you know that a few of our readers filed with the City of Grand Rapids the same Freedom of Information Act request as we at L.A.W. did for the disclosure of public records relating to the value of the Boardwalk project on Monroe Avenue north of downtown.

As previously explained, the City has in its possession two written statements from the Boardwalk developers that conflict as to the amount they invested in the project.  In the first statement claimed they put $31.5 million into it at a time when they were preparing to close $26.5 million in loans with Old Kent Bank (now Fifth Third Bank) and National City Community Development Corporation.  Such an investment figure would support a high valuation of the Boardwalk property to properly collateralize, per federal regulations, the Old Kent and National City loans.  However, in the second statement they claimed to have put only $20 million into the project, including the original purchase price of the property.  This statement was made at the time the City was assessing the Boardwalk project for its taxable value.  Accordingly, the assessor's office low-balled the property's value and assessed it at about half of the bank appraisal.

By making these conflicting statements as to their investment, the Boardwalk developers had it both ways.  The high investment figure got them the big loan from the banks; the low investment figure got them a cut-rate tax assessment.  Of course, both statements cannot be true.  If the $31.5 million figure is false, then that would suggest bank fraud.  If the $20 million figure is false, then that would indicate tax fraud.  Someone is getting screwed, and we wanted the public record of these conflicting statements to determine who that is.  So, we filed a Freedom of Information Act request as shown in "The Blackballed Request" article.

Asst. City Attorney Daniel Ophoff, who is also helping to defend the Boardwalk developers in a hazardous waste complaint pending in Kent County Circuit Court, succeeded in blocking our requests on a false pretext.  When we reported this problem, three of our readers volunteered to make the same request.  Because Ophoff was unable to fabricate a rationale for blocking their requests, he agreed to disclose the requested public records.  But not really.  Yesterday we learned from reader Robert Harrison that Ophoff claims that he lacks sufficient information to identify two of the requested records and so cannot release them.  Can you guess which ones?  That's right:  The two letters containing conflicting statements as to the amount invested in the Boardwalk project.

Here is how those records were described to Ophoff in the FOIA request:

"2. A letter and all attachments from Thomas E. Beckering to the City of Grand Rapids, dated about February 2001, representing the actual cost of the Boardwalk project as $31.5 million"

and ...

"3. A letter and all attachments from the developer of the Boardwalk to the City of Grand Rapids representing the actual cost of the project as $20 million (this is the letter City Assessor Glen Beekman identified in an e-mail message to City Manager Kurt Kimball on April 28, 2005, at 4:28 p.m.)".

Now Ophoff claims he has no idea of what records are being asked for.  Of course, he knows precisely what is being requested, which is why he is blocking their release.  We'll keep you posted on the apparent fraud Ophoff is helping the Boardwalk developers to cover up.  Meanwhile, you can be assured that your elected guardians, Mayor Heartwell and the City Commission, are doing nothing to bring Ophoff to heel.  After all, folks, they have to work with him, not you, everyday.