Community Corner
Lindley, Batchelor & Carpenter Addressed Movie Studio Future on Tuesday
City Manager and Mayor addressed the City's role in the Morning View project at the Dixon City Council meeting Tuesday, while Carpenter spoke out via phone to Dixon Patch.
After the June 11 City Council meeting, and a long phone conversation with Carissa Carpenter, there are still no definitive answers for the future of a movie studio in Dixon.
"We are not going anywhere," says Carissa Carpenter of the Morning View movie studio project via phone Tuesday evening, "Stop the attacks on the City Manager and the elected City Officials, they have done their job at no cost to the City or community, and it's only hurting progress."
Carpenter responded to a recent article in the Sacramento Bee, explaining that there are two sides to every story, and although they spent weeks and hours working on the story together, she was sidelined by what they wrote.
"Anyone can say anything, we aren't hiding, we just want to get this project done," she stated, "We have agreements with six City land owners and 12 County owners; we are still waiting for one land owner to work out their own taxation issues, that which we are still trying to help them with."
Meanwhile, at the Dixon City Council meeting, City Manager, Jim Lindley, addressed the public on the City's role during the project since June 2012.
"I've done nothing more with this project than any other project," said Lindley, "all preliminary communications are to bring businesses to Dixon, it's Economics 101. One thing we do not do is investigate proposers or developers; we look at the project itself to determine if it is viable and if it fits in the city and community."
Lindley wrote in the council agenda, "The City is now at a point where no work is needed on the City side to initiate the project, so we are current in waiting mode."
Mayor Jack Batchelor followed stating, "I make no apologies; there have been no closed door sessions. We are doing our best. Dixon has made a lot of positive steps, this is one that didn't workout."
Carpenter maintains hope to have escrow open within the next couple weeks and with that, the $100,000 developer fees will be paid to the City.
"We have done our best," says Carpenter, "and in the end we will get this project complete."