Maybe it'll all work out. Maybe Scott Congel will get his financing, and he'll build that grand new development on top of the ruins of Medley Centre and Irondequoit Mall.

But the bad news keeps trickling out.

This morning's D&C reports that the Town of Irondequoit, the East Irondequoit Central School District, and the county's Industrial Development Agency have told Congel that if he doesn't pay the $322,000 he owes them by Monday, they'll cancel an agreement that gives him a substantial tax break. And that may doom the project.

Congel, says the D&C, has been looking for financing. That's not easy in this economic climate, and Congel began planning his development before the recession hit.

But in my humble opinion, the project was iffy to begin with. The fact is, this community doesn't need another mega-mall. It doesn't need more housing. It doesn't need another hotel or another movie theater.

We aren't growing, folks. We haven't grown in years. So any time we build something new - especially something new and really big - one of two things will happen. Either the new project will put other businesses out of business, or the new project won't make it.

I continue to be amazed that otherwise intelligent government officials dole out tax breaks to businesses that will add nothing to the region's overall economic development. They, like the state legislators who handed over taxpayers' money to build the Rhinos' stadium, apparently don't think it matters whether the projects are feasible.

And they sure don't think it matters whether a new, subsidized project dooms an existing one.

And there's the fallacy of the free-market argument. There's nothing free-market about competition when taxpayer subsidies are involved.

With the Congel project, the Town of Irondequoit, the East Irondequoit School District, and COMIDA have been gambling with taxpayers' money. If they win, over time the new development will boost the town's tax base and add jobs. If they lose - if Congel can't pull this off - they'll be left with a sprawling, empty shopping center, tarnished yet again by a failed dream.

But even if they win, only Irondequoit comes out ahead. New businesses there will kill off some in other parts of the county. A new hotel there will jeopardize one somewhere else.

The Community of Monroe will gain absolutely nothing from the Congel mega-mall. But I don't suppose any government officials are ready to talk about regional planning.