On July 22, the council approved a huge addition to the city’s Enterprise Zone (EZ). Click on the thumbnail to the right for a map of the parcels added then. You’ll notice that those parcels include, among other things, Westlake Shopping Center, all of the “convenience loan” establishments along University, Wal-Mart, Auto Zone, Comcast Cable, and Best Buy.

But that apparently wasn’t enough. It’s back on the agenda this week with eight more parcels added. What poor, blighted businesses are getting the benefit of EZ status this time, you ask? The entire Glen Hollow shopping center. You know, blighted stores like Target, Petsmart, Cub Foods, Lowe’s, Wendy’s, Barnes & Noble, Hometown Buffet. Slums, all of them. And how were they added? According to the council communication, “At the request of one of the City’s Planning Commissioner’s [sic]….” Not all of them; not even a majority of them. One of them. I guess that’s all it takes.

Once again, the city communication makes this comical statement:

These areas are located within the core of our City and property owners have encountered challenges in attracting investment since many businesses are choosing to move to the northern parameters of the City.

And I’ll point out again that one of the reasons they’re choosing to move there is because the City is incentivizing it through annexation and, yes, even EZ status. So now they’re using the Enterprise Zone in the 2nd and 4th districts to compete against the Enterprise Zone in the 5th district. What other self-defeating strategies will the City dream up?