Now that ‘racism’ has been solved by a couple of teen kids (who have probably never been more than 50 miles from their hometown) who ‘shared their wisdom’ with adults twice their age, can we get back to the money wasting?
Specifically, that these LEDC and City council FOOLS are going to plow ANOTHER $2 million dollars into the failed goat patch ‘business park’??
That’s IN ADDITION to the millions ALREADY wasted on this thing.
I remember the heady days of 2015 when Chris Toups was mayor and City council had the EXACT SAME DISCUSSION about this corpse repository ‘business park’ boondoggle.
The thinking then was that they had held this property long enough and it was time to shit or get off the pot: either sell it or spend close to a million dollars to “develop it” into “shovel ready” parcels by bringing electricity and water into the ‘park’. The theory was that AFTER wasting another $1,000,000.00 THEN the high-paying jobs would come pouring in. THAT was the story that was used to sell this pipe dream back in 2014/2015.
Of course, they made the WRONG decision. Goaded on by Toups (who was ALL FOR this ‘upgrade’), instead of selling this piece of shit they poured another million into it. I have LOTS of dummy politicians and bureaucrats [Monroe, Toups #2, Finley, etc] on record claiming that a ‘business park’ BOOM was imminent.
That was five years ago. It’s still a weed patch today.
NOW the EXACT same dummies are making the same argument: we need to shoe this horse or sell it (actual statement by City council). Except THIS time it will cost the taxpayers TWO MILLION [see page 4]. And like clockwork, the dummies made the WRONG choice yet again. Here are the estimated costs to make the corpse repository SUPER DUPER ‘shovel ready’ this time:
[OF course, all these estimates come from Pope Eckermann, who will also be handed large sums to bless this project]
Total roadway and drainage: $1,396,272
Total wastewater to support Phase I improvements: $279,566
Total water to support Phase I improvements: $298,041
Grand total: $1.974 MILLION DOLLARS
I know what you’re thinking: how can they be SO STUPID as to waste ANOTHER $577,000 on ‘water and wastewater’ when they ALREADY paid Qro-mex somewhere north of $800,000 five years ago to run water and wastewater to the ‘business’ park.
Great question. I guess it’s the same stupidity that allows them to pay to have the same piece of property surveyed over and over and over again. Or to waste over FOUR MILLION on an idiotic project like this.
Just a sample of how wrong they were last time:
“I feel like we’re getting somewhere,” LEDC board president Dr. Neal Leavell added. “I think we’ve really accomplished something. It’s taken a lot of patience, but we’re here.” – September 23, 2014
“Advocates of utility extensions have said entities compete vigorously for new jobs and that cities with ready-to-build sites have an advantage as they try to attract new businesses.” – August 8, 2014
“Economic development officials have said utilities for the business park are essential to make the 165-acre area attractive to companies.” – July 22, 2014
The LEDC was “proactive,” deGraffenried said, in acquiring the U.S. 183 property several years ago for a business park. The goal of utility extensions, the city manager said, is to develop the land into a site that can promote economic growth. – June 17, 2014