Loveland, Friday Aug. 24, 2007

McWhinney Enterprises amended their current request before Loveland's City Council
on Friday to exclude the controversial trolley.  In the face of growing negative publicity
and the onset of local elections in Loveland (four City Councilmen face re-election and
the Mayor has announced he is not running again) the McWhinneys have postponed the
item until after Loveland's city council elections in early November.

In a secret City Council session held two weeks ago, City Manager Don Williams was
said to have presented the City Council various options for funding the trolley at a lower
percentage than the original request.  This was seen by some who have spoken to
LovelandPolitics.com as a bait-and-switch since he also discussed increasing funding for
the private parking structure or other items.

LovelandPolitics.com has also been informed that another purpose of the closed-session
was for Williams to straw poll the council before their public meeting scheduled for
August 28 to vote on the matter.  Apparently, it didn't pass the test so the McWhinneys
were informed and withdrew that part of the request at least until the elections in
November.  Williams is alleged to have provided the McWhinneys this advice after the
closed session failed to find much support from council.

Despite the public relations campaign launched by Williams and the McWhinneys,  the
public appeared to be very much against the proposal.  The Loveland Reporter-Herald
even ran an editorial in late July questioning the process where the project is first
announced as going forward and later threats were made to Council that it couldn't go
forward with public monies that were never mentioned during the announcements.

In a July 25, letter to the Loveland Reporter Herald, Chad McWhinney stated, "First,
the Reporter Herald stated that our company....failed to say at the time (of the
Grand Station announcement) that it needed city incentives to make it all happen. This
statement is outright false!"   
Click here to read Chad McWhinney's letter.

LovelandPolitics.com has carefully tracked this story from the beginning and can't find
any evidence the McWhinneys disclosed to the city council, public or local media their
need to receive public funds before completing Grand Station at the time it was
announced.   In other words, the editorial appears to be correct.

Williams, acting more like a publicist for McWhinney than a city manager, joined the
McWhinneys in pretending that a public subsidy was not only a good idea but necessary
part of the plan from the beginning.  Below is a quote from Williams regarding the trolley
subsidy for CBS News Channel 4 in Denver;

"What has unfolded here first with Centerra and then with the Promenade shops and
now with Grand Station could not have been possible with out public-private
partnership," said Don Williams, the Loveland city manager. "The costs to do something
like this are simply too high and the tasks are simply too great for anyone to go it alone."

Chad McWhinney held two separate public forums and his community relations staff
(including former Reporter-Herald reporter Alicia Beard) hit the local circuit in an effort
to find support for their trolley called by many the "Trolley to nowhere."

A blogger on LovelandPolitics.com first raised the idea that if taxpayers are funding the
trolley -- why not have it serve a public purpose like transporting people between
Loveland's downtown and Centerra.  Chad McWhinney called it a "great idea" at his
first public forum when asked by a member of the public about supporting a trolley
between Centerra and downtown.

Off-the-record, one staff person from Centerra voiced concern to a representative of
LovelandPolitics.com that panhandlers and other half-way house residents who
"populate"  Loveland's "old" downtown could use such a transportation system to find
Centrra and harass their well healed shoppers.  This occurred during the first of the two
public forums.  It is no wonder that initial discussions at Centerra, according another
source,  regarding a wider coverage area for a trolley don't consider downtown as a
potential destination but instead other McWhinney developments and the Sports Park in
East Loveland instead.

Four of the nine members of the City Council are up for re-election in November and
almost to the person they voiced fears about the impact any public funding could have on
their chances for re-election.  The August 28 city council meeting will consider other
proposed changes to the Master Financing Agreement (MFA) with the city and the
McWhinneys.  
Details on these changes can be seen in our original story on this issue.
LovelandPolitics.com
Taxpayer Trolley Request Pulled By
McWhinney
- Likely Coming Back After
Elections -
Cara O'Brien, reporter for the Loveland
Reporter-Herald, is seen here taking notes during the
first of two public forums hosted by McWhinney
Enterprises to gain support for their taxpayer funded
trolley for Grand Station.

Chad McWhinney stated in letter to the
Reporter-Herald, "This statement was outright false!"  
In a desperate attempt to gain support for taxpayer's
funding his trolley ride at the newly announced Grand
Station.

Click here to read the letter
Also, McWhinney calls idea to link trolley to
downtown Loveland a "great idea" click here to hear
his comments
Chad McWhinney hoped his taxpayer funded trolley
proposal for Grand Station would catch fire in the
community with lots of support.  Instead, the fire that
caught was one of anger and mistrust towards his
company for having made the proposal

Story about the proposed changes to Master Financing
Agreement with the city

Story about McWhinney's trolley forum
Loveland residents watch a presentation by Chad McWhinney meant to turn the tide of public opinion to favor
taxpayers funding a trolley attraction at Grand Station - in the end the public never seemed to support using tax
dollars for the proposed trolley at Grand Station
Centerra President Doug Hill looks to
the ground in frustration during a public
forum his employer (Chad
McWhinney) hosted that turned into a
nightmare of negative questions from
the public