"I don't hold out any hope that we're going to get paid much of that money," he said in an interview yesterday.

Is anyone NOT shocked that Rochester's mayor would proclaim that his administration is too impotent to be able to force a deadbeat corporation to pay millions of dollars in back taxes (and assumedly penalties)?

But then of course this is the same individual who, for 5 years as city attorney, also sat on his hands and refused to take any action against Wilmorite.

' What's most important for the city is to get that building back into as full a use as possible, not to try to recoup what has been an unfortunate decade out there."

This is such utter BS. Such total and complete and typical-of-Rochester BS. Where is Occupy Wall Street on this one? Because you know the citizens of this city get no relief from paying their taxes. But this city is willing to give away the store to any pipe dream they think will be the Hail Mary that saves downtown.

If this administration cannot collect the taxes the city is owed then THIS ADMINISTRATION IS NOT DOING ITS JOB.

In cavalierly dismissing the $22,000,000 in back taxes owed by Wilmorite to US, the citizens of Rochester, Richards states that, "What's most important for the city is to get that building back into as full a use as possible, not to try to recoup what has been an unfortunate decade out there."

Out of curiosity Mr. Mayor, could you elaborate on how giving up $22,000,000 in desperately needed revenue in order to (perhaps) get the Sibley Building back into full use will benefit the city in the long run? How many years/decades will it take for that long term benefit to outweigh the short term hit?

And perhaps you could also outline what actions you took as city attorney and as mayor to attempt to collect all or part of those unpaid taxes.

Is that legal?? I mean, how can the City just "forgive" $22 million in taxes, thus effectively shifting that burden from millionaire campaign donors onto other City taxpayers?

If this was a Republican Mayor talking about forgiving $22 Million owed by major Republican campaign donors, there would be calls echoing around the city for investigations and indictments. Funny how the usual suspects of Rochester's liberal community are silent now.

Hey, at least we can now tell the Supreme Court that there is a difference between an individual and a corporation- corporations apparently don't have to pay their taxes.

This IS a Republican - only recently converted to a Democrat. Let's see: a former CEO, giving a corporation a break. Sure sounds like a liberal plot to me, too, you betcha!

I can find when he was a "blank" and when he was elected as a Democrat, so your assertion that he is a Republican is untrue and diverts attention from the question at hand...money owed to we city residents. Mayor Richards may be correct that collecting from Wilmot's company may be hard. But, there is an alternative, foreclose, sell it at a tax sale to a new developer (including Winn) who is willing to pay the most for the property. At least the city will receive something. Instead, he is double favoring someone...Wilmot and Winn as the next buyer. I believe that for the city to simply favor the interests of Winn is wrong and borders on illegal!

"Not to recoup what has been an unfortunate decade..." Who was the city's lawyer for half of that decade? Surprise! Tom Richards. If the city DOESN'T go after this money, is there any way for the taxpayers who live in it to file a lawsuit, perhaps a class-action suit, against "Wynn"? By the way "Wynn" sounds to me, to be the most ironic name for a corporation I've ever heard of. It doesn't "won" Rochester a damn thing.

Troll Whisperer- your assertions are ridiculous. If you think those practices only happen in the Republican party then you are part of the problem. Ever heard of Chris Dodd?

Peking - Where did I write these practices occur only under the GOP? My point is this wrongful action on the part of Mayor Richards is hardly a liberal plot. Period.

Can't the city seize the building for back taxes and sell it? MCC doesn't want to be there. Sell it to a developer for office space. Let's fix downtown with common sense, not some misguided sense of urgency.

Mayor Richards is revealing his true colors, and it's not pretty. It's clear, to me at least, that this mayor is not working in the best interest of the taxpayers, but rather the tax scofflaws.

I normally rag on City paper so I have to give credit where credit is due- I see absolutely no one else reporting on this story- not even Rachel Barnhart and usually she is right on top of stuff like this. This is such a huge affront to Rochester's tax-paying citizens! Why aren't our newspapers letting the citizens of Rochester know about this?! To me, this is bigger news than anything I'm seeing reported on right now.

+1, Peking. Weird; awfully selective.

Peking - if by "no one else is reporting on this story" you're referring to the D&C then why are you surprised? Remember that this is the same paper that within the past month reported on a "fight" involving 200 kids at the Liberty Pole and then, when the RPD announced that the reports were in error and that no such fight occurred, refused to publish a retraction or to even have the decency or professionalism to print the RPD's statement without comment.

Apparently they never learned the difference between, "All the news that's fit to print", and "All the news that fits, we print".

I think it's shameful that Tom Richards said "I don't hold out any hope that we're going to get paid much of that money". I guess that's true if the city doesn't even try to collect!!! The Wilmorite's have been making money hand over fist with their malls in the Rochester area for decades. Please explain why they do not have to pay taxes on property they own in the city.

Why are any of you surprised by this? Look at the way Richards "slipped" into office. Do you REALLY think he cares about the regular people who live in this city?

Real democracy is dead in this city. And City Newspaper has been there cheering along the whole way.

Let's call this what is really is - political payola. If you look at the campaign contributions for Tom Richards' run for mayor, tied as being the top contributor to his campaign (with several other people including Danny Wegman) was Thomas Wilmot (not to be left out, Mary Wilmot was also a contributor). It's easy to forgive $22 million in back taxes when the organization that owes back taxes is funding your political campaign.

The Sibley family, the wilmorites, paetec execs, etc., the wealthy, rub each other's backs. They can afford to, because its not a personable business cost to them, and why not help their friends or powerful? That is what is the key, big problem of government money. Everyone wants a piece of the ching ching, whether its hold them harmless to their debts, or give them big salaries with pensions, which is why we must have smaller government. Dollar contracts for water front property, leases to friends, and big paychecks with no obligation of liability. Just smiles and handshakes while doling out higher taxes to the middle class that have lost their jobs, and while unemployment runs out, stats here even look good with deflated percents hitting the news...

I got to see a lot of Mr Richards during the election and this is very much what he was saying then. He is an all corporate trickle down economics believer. Somehow he believes that without giving these breaks no one will invest in Rochester and the city will collapse. Now this is not new in local politics as we have been throwing money at developers for years like High Falls, and Corn Hill Landing without being able to stop the slow decline of our city. Fortunately the voter will have the power to choose a different path shortly.

How many of you were up in arms last month when the Brooks administration at Monroe County gave a Wilmorite subsidiary significant incentives via COMIDA for improvements at Greece Ridge Mall without requiring that Wilmorite pay its back taxes at Sibley? Just as frustrating as Mayor Richards' statement regarding recouping these back taxes right? But it's reality. Some things are indeed too big to fail.

The fact is, if "we" decided to foreclose on Sibley, it would be caught up in court proceedings for years, its remaining tenants would surely vacate the premises, and the building would experience a period of deferred maintenance that would further depress property values throughout the downtown area, and most certainly hinder progress at the Midtown site that we all so desperately want to see revitalized. All that and there would still be no guarantee that the City would get its money back because the Sibley is owned by a shell corporation, not by Wilmorite itself. If we were to go after Wilmorite for the back taxes, then by proxy we should also go after the assets of family members of local people whose homes are foreclosed upon.

This is a slippery slope that we would be foolish to trod upon. For instance, had the City decided not to forgive massive unpaid water bills when the Genesee Brewery was bought, we'd likely have an empty former brewery on our riverfront today. Instead, the City and County came up with a package of sweeteners which allowed KPS Capital to purchase the brewery and has since added hundreds of jobs and generated significant private investment that has reverberated throughout the community.

Plain and simple, the City would be STUPID to go after back taxes on the Sibley Building, thereby endangering this historic building's future and the City's ability to redevelop the adjacent Midtown site. If Wynn is willing to come in and invest $200 million to revitalize the Sibley, we should be more than happy to part with the back taxes. Reality bites.

But what I want to know is- IS IT LEGAL? And if so- WHY? Allowing City Hall to pick and choose who has to pay taxes/back-taxes in Rochester, NY surely doesn't seem to me to be the proper path for getting this city out of the pickle it's in. Personally I would rather see Main Street rot than see this city give another corporation another tax break.