Oxbow, ND’s elite have taken Fargo, Cass County and the State of North Dakota for a ride.
Despite having near 500 year flood protection, according to Oxbow Mayor Jim Nyhof in his 2011 letter to Terry Birkenstock (USACE), Oxbow’s Elite has blown past the $65 million estimate for the entire OHB (Oxbow, Hickson, Bakke) Ring Dike-Levee by over $43.76 million and the costs continue to add up – potential final costs could be $130-$150 million.
The Oxbow Country Club portion of the OHB project was presented as 6 replacement holes and 2 holes to be re-worked. Currently, all 18 holes of the Oxbow Country Club have been replaced with betterment’s that far exceed the original value of the original golf course which was valued by the Cass County Assessor around $1.3 million dollars.
Somewhere in the mix, the existing higher-end habitable homes were not good enough for Oxbow’s Elite as they made their play for big buy-outs for their exclusive country club and adjacent estates.
Think about it. Every existing home that was moved out of Oxbow to some undetermined destination could have been relocated within Oxbow, ND for considerably less than the current price tag of the OHB project.
40 homes could have been relocated, generally speaking, less than 2500 feet from where they previously existed.
The FMDA (Fargo Moorhead Diversion Authority) could have spent $250,000 per home on all necessary infrastructure, temporary housing and moving costs to relocate each home for around $10 million…, instead of $55-60 million…, where is the fiscal responsibility?
On September 7, 2017 Chief Judge john R. Tunheim, United States District Court handed down a 54 page injunction stating that:
| “The Corps and the Diversion Authority and all other individuals or entities acting in concert with the Corps and the Diversion Authority shall cease and desist all construction work on the Fargo-Moorhead Flood Risk Management Project (“Project”) until further order of the Court.” |
When one compares the $108.7 million spent thus far the Oxbow project, it does beg the question why there was such a rush to spend tax-payer dollars when the future of the overall FMDA project was imperiled for lack of all the necessary permits and adequate funding.
Again, the OHB component of the overall project was to appease the squeaky wheel(s) of Oxbow Mayor Jim Nyhof and his country club ilk.
So when you think the spending can’t get much worse…, unfortunately it can…
Take a long hard look at the following picture. It is a structure located within the original Oxbow City Park. How much do you think it is worth?
According to FMDA documents, a price tag of $163,396 thousand is Earthwork Services, Inc bid to replace the structure included in their total park bid coming in just under $621 thousand.
Think again about the $65 million proposal for the entire Oxbow project, which provides ZERO flood protection benefit to Fargo and the current position of the Minnesota DNR is that the overall project is not permittable, which renders the Oxbow, ND project an entire waste of taxpayer dollars and a significant disruption to the social fabric of the existing communities.
So why is the taxpayer on the hook for an exclusive country club where the public cannot even order a cup of coffee or glass of pop as a NON-Member?
When will the wealthy welfare end?
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