I am appalled at the treatment the City of Auburn has given the Cavanaugh family. The Aug. 21 edition of the Reporter tells us the city will pay $460,000 for the Marvel Food & Deli building on Main Street across from City Hall. It also reports the city is prepared to spend an additional $2,500,000 to buy the Stratford holdings covering the rest of the block except for the Sunbreak Café property.

When the Cavanaugh family risked everything they had to upgrade their property, land in downtown was selling for $11 a square foot. I am aware that after Cavanaugh’s announced their plans, property throughout the downtown area sold for up to $85 a foot. What a nice boost for the city tax base.

However, when the financing for the Cavanaugh development disappeared after supporting the first step of the teardown and building the garage, when the Cavanaugh’s could have used some support from the city, the mayor told me the city did not have the funds to buy that approximately one acre. However, the city did have the funds to buy four acres of other land, which was announced when it revealed the talks with the Alpert developer. I’m sure some of it was at that $85 rate.

It also had plenty of money for a long-term lease of the Auburn Avenue Theater, which required over $100,000 of renovation just to keep the building from condemnation and now, as the article said, it has no problem buying the Stratford holdings.

It seems strange to me that the city could not afford the Cavanaugh property at that point when times were good and the city revenue was high. But now with the economy in free fall, it is not a problem to buy the Marvel block. It seems only the Cavanaughs could not benefit from the city’s plans even though their business relationship with the city existed before any of us were born.

The Cavanaugh property recently sold in foreclosure for less than $10 a square foot. I’m wondering why the city or their preferred developer did not buy it. Do you suppose the city thought that might be morally questionable?

I have lost all respect for the mayor and the council (aside from Sue Singer who spent numerous hours trying to assist the Cavanaughs) for their inaction on this matter.

– Dan Shields