Developers lining up for city favors

MESQUITE, Nev., June 9 (UPI) -- U.S. cities are finding developers frequently pressing for loans and tax breaks as the recession wears on -- a sign of the times, a Nevada city councilman said.

"In desperate times, we're taking desperate measures," Mesquite, Nev., City Council member Bill Wells told USA Today.

The city is one of many where local governing boards are deciding how much of a break to give developers, whose projects may contribute in jobs and taxes in the long run.

Mesquite is contemplating offering real estate developers more than $10 million in aid, the newspaper said. In Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., city council members approved an $8 million loan to developers of a luxury hotel, where rooms cost as much as $3,400 a night.

Some say the breaks favor the rich and large developers who cater to the wealthy.

"The little guy -- the plumber who builds five houses -- can't afford lawyers and lobbyists," former Milwaukee mayor John Norquist told the newspaper.

In affluent Evanston, Ill., just north of Chicago, Kevin O'Connor called the city's decision to give a developer a $4.1 million tax rebate "developer welfare."

"How can you not call it a bailout?" he said.