AZ State Senator Bob Worsley's Windfall Profits as DTMesa Real Estate Speculator in 'Innovation Districts' + 'Opportunity Zones'

Readers of this blog may have little noticed or don't remember that remark about "15-year moments" made in a rare appearance by Mesa Mega-Millionaire Bob Worsley at a recent meeting of the Mesa City Council . . or a remark made by Mesa Mayor John Giles that the city will need to figure out how to finance recent MOUs and IGAs - Looks like Jivin' John Giles will have to be looking for "more than an aircraft carrier" from the Federal Government to make reality out of all those half-baked Pie-In-The-Sky schemes financed by public taxpayer dollar$ for personal gain$ by his friends-and-family and their private $pecial intere$t$ - robbing from the poor and giving to the rich.

Here we go again! ...and here's a good question asked by https://news.impactalpha.com:
How do you ensure that wealth creation extends to the communities themselves, and not just the investors?
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The 90-day determination period for designating Opportunity Zones began in late December 2017 when the Opportunity Zones Program was created in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
Invested capital will flow through “Opportunity Funds,” new funds and vehicles required to invest 90% of their assets in economically distressed communities. Governors must nominate areas for inclusion by March 21.
According to the Economic Innovation Group, which helped craft the law, there is probably close to $6 trillion sitting around in capital gains
http://eig.org/opportunityzones
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Explore the map below (or click here) to see which communities in your state are eligible to be designated as Opportunity Zones:

Eligible for Opportunity Zone allocation based on low income community criteria

Eligible for Opportunity Zone allocation based on contiguity with low income community tracts

Not eligible for Opportunity Zone allocation based on low income community criteria

Insufficient data

Join the Coalition

EIG is in the process of organizing a broad coalition of organizations working together to ensure successful implementation of the Opportunity Zones program. The Opportunity Zones Coalition is being formed to work with a broad array of public and private stakeholders to ensure the timely and effective national implementation of Opportunity Zones. If you are interested in learning more or becoming a part of the coalition, please contact info@eig.org

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Opportunity Zones are a new community development program established by Congress in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to encourage long-term investments in low-income urban and rural communities nationwide. The Opportunity Zones program provides a tax incentive for investors to re-invest their unrealized capital gains into Opportunity Funds that are dedicated to investing into Opportunity Zones designated by the chief executives of every U.S. state and territory. Read more below about how the Opportunity Zones program works, as well as its history and community of supporters.
All the bragging that Maricopa County and the City of Mesa are "doing great'' as the fastest growing in the country could backfire - The federal law is targeted - only census tracts that meet certain poverty or income criteria can be nominated.
The City of Mesa has 12 Census tracts to get what could be a crucial economic boost - tomorrow March 22nd is the deadline when Governor Ducey makes recommendations that have been reviewed by the Arizona Commerce Authority. The federal law allows Ducey to give the designation to 168.

A provision buried deep in the new federal tax law allows the governors of all of the state to designate some areas as eligible to become “Opportunity Zones.'' What's significant is those that end up on the list are likely to become magnets for new investment

New ‘opportunity zones’ likely to become magnet for investment
Link > Howie Fischer 11 March 2018

What will entice people to invest in Opportunity Zones?
Much of that is wrapped up around unrealized capital gains -- and avoiding taxes.
According to the Economic Innovation Group, which helped craft the law, there is probably close to $6 trillion sitting around in capital gains -- money made on existing investments -- with the run-up of the stock market.
The new law envisions the creation of Opportunity Funds whose managers would look for eligible projects in the Opportunity Zones, things like new businesses, investing in existing ones, real estate projects or even infrastructure.
An investor who puts his or her existing capital gains into one of those funds gets to defer paying taxes on that gain.
More significant, if the money remains in that fund for seven years, the taxes due on those deferred gains are reduced by 15 percent.
And there’s another sweetener: If the funds remain for at least a decade, there are no taxes on what is earned from the investment in the Opportunity Fund.
Getting a designation does not, however, guarantee that investment dollars will pour in.
EIG, in a paper designed to help governors decide which census tracts to designate, suggested they look at which areas are best prepared and capable of absorbing the new capital that could become available.
There’s also the question of what kind of development the state seeks to spur.
For example, the EIG paper says
> one option would be to create Opportunity Zones on the edge of university campuses to encourage spin-offs and technology transfer.
> Other possibilities include things like redeveloping “brownfield’’ sites in communities.
But all that, in turn, is linked to what areas qualify for designation.Blogger Note: Keep in mind that the City of Mesa's Office for Economic Development pioneered a new RDA initiative back in September 2017 hiring on new employee
Sara Sorensen Project Manager
Office of Economic Development
Phone: 480-644-2773
in a project using the Utah-based Zion Public Finance Group to train other city employees for the classification of certain areas as blighted eligible for classifications as Redevelopment Areas RDAs...It started in The Fiesta District, got extended first to the Central Business District CBD or Town Center, then to East Mesa and more
What is a Redevelopment Area? A Redevelopment Area is an area of the City designated by City Council to be in need of revitalization. The City of Mesa has four existing Redevelopment Areas - the Town Center RDA (1999), the Southwest RDA (2016), the East RDA (2017) and the West RDA (2017).
Why are we doing this? Development interest is increasing in the proposed area and it is imperative we build upon this momentum. Designating the area, a Redevelopment Area will help reduce blight and spur development and adaptive re-use of vacant or underutilized structures
The mission of the Office of Economic Development is to enhance Mesa’s economy and create quality jobs . . .
LINK > http://www.mesaaz.gov/business/economic-development/redevelopment-area

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Opportunity Zones Resources - CDFI Fund

https://www.cdfifund.gov/Pages/Opportunity-Zones.aspx

Opportunity Zones. The authority to implement IRC 1400Z-1 and 1400Z-2 has been delegated to the IRS. The CDFI Fund is supporting the IRS with the Opportunity Zone nomination and designation process under IRC 1400Z-1 only. IRS Revenue Procedure · Opportunity Zones Information Resource, with sortable lists by ...

Metrocenter, Desert Sky Mall Among Phoenix Opportunity Zones | KJZZ

https://kjzz.org/.../metrocenter-desert-sky-mall-among-phoenix-opportunity-zones

Feb 17, 2018 - Phoenix hopes to cash in on a provision in the federal tax bill approved by Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump two months ago. The city has identified nearly 50 areas as opportunity zones.To qualify as an opportunity zone, at least 20 percent of the population must live below the ...

Opportunity Zones Program: States Have Less Than 90 Days to ...

https://www.enterprisecommunity.org/.../States_Have_Less_Than_90_Days_to_Desig...

Jan 17, 2018 - The 90-day determination period for designating Opportunity Zones began in late December when the Opportunity Zones Program was created in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Governors in each state and U.S. territory (and the Mayor of Washington, D.C.) are now tasked with identifying a certain number of ...

Opportunity Zones - Economic Innovation Group

eig.org/opportunityzones

Opportunity Zones are a new community development program established by Congress in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to encourage long-term investments in low-income urban and rural communities nationwide. The Opportunity Zones program provides a tax incentive for investors to re-invest their unrealized ...

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21 March 2018