Economic literacy erupts at Planning Commission meeting
Image by JJBers
Recently, SJ's Planning Commission stood firm in the face of noisy residents and approved a new Costco store at the Westgate West shopping center. Commissioner Pierluigi Oliverio made the case for the new store, noting that the ever-growing list of city services people vote for actually need, you know, an economic base to pay for them. The Merc reports.
“The issue is that the city needs to build an economic base to pay for city employees and to provide city services,” Commissioner Pierluigi Oliverio said. “We take actions on this dais in a consistent manner to approve thousands of units of low-income housing that pay zero property tax. Zero. We add residents that demand services, but we have no way to pay for them and the only way to make up for that is when we have a chance where there’s a commercial development that brings revenue to the city.”
Costco plans to invest an estimated $60 million in the project, which envisions tearing down three existing buildings at the struggling mall and replacing them with a 40-foot-tall, 165,148-square-foot store with rooftop parking.
Along with adding 250 to 300 jobs at an average hourly rate of $29 per hour, city officials see the project as an economic boon. The Costco store will provide $2 million in annual sales tax revenue on top of utility and property taxes, which will benefit the city of San Jose, Santa Clara County, and Prospect High School.
Read the whole thing here.
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