After combing through years of LEDC minutes about the Business Pork, it becomes depressing and frustrating to see how the EXACT same useless ideas are tried over and over and over.
Committee after committee after committee. Economic plan after economic plan after economic plan. Task force after task force after task force.
Below is an excerpt from a 2007 article. It interviews Judith Hetherly. Hetherly shows up repeatedly in the LEDC minutes in the 2001 to 2005 time frame. She was another clown on the LEDC board who was instrumental in wasting money on failed ideas. As you read this, you can’t help but notice the similarities to today. Just substitute Misti Talbert for Hetherly. Both were on City council. Both were mayor. Both were president of the LEDC and both helped waste enormous sums with nothing to show for it.
Truly, there is nothing new under the sun:
Last month, Judith Hetherly took the seat of mayor of Lampasas, a position formerly held by Jack Calvert for the past 16 years.
“I think Lampasas is a progressive city that has a lot of possibilties for business growth and economic growth, and I think we’re going to see that. With the springs we have here, we’re sitting on a gold mine,” Hetherly said.
In fact, the natural mineral springs are what got Hetherly involved in Lampasas politics. The town was thinking of shutting down Hancock Springs Pool, which Hetherly saw as a potential tourist attraction, so she joined the campaign to keep the pool open. Hancock Springs Pool remains operational to this day, and Hetherly remains active in city government.
Hetherly served two terms on the city council and is the president of the Lampasas Economic Development Corporation board. As mayor, Hetherly sees herself as a facilitator, collaborating with city and county officials, the school district and Lampasas citizens to achieve positive growth and a sound economy.
Her priorities as mayor are to develop a recently purchased business park and to work with the newly formed Downtown Task Force to inventory available downtown commercial space and attract buyers.
“We have a beautiful downtown, and it’s here only because of that courthouse,” Hetherly said. “We have never planned for anything down here. It just happened. This task force is looking at where (downtown) wants to go.”
The city council is also challenged with revising the Comprehensive Plan for the city. The plan was developed in 2005, but the broad scope of the document created challenges in implementation. Hetherly said that the plan must be more focused.
Amazing! SAME EXACT BULLSHIT. Task forces. Trying to snazz up the downtown area. The Business Pork pipe dream. She even talks about a Comprehensive Plan developed in 2005!!!!
By my count, that is FOUR “economic plans” the City has wasted time and/or money on. Angelou Economic Advisory was the first back in the 2001/2002 era (cost of $25,000). Then the one Hetherly mentions here from 2005 (cost unknown), then the “Strategic Plan” formulated in July of 2017 by the LEDC and then the Comprehensive Plan that Finley keeps under his pillow from Halff Associates (cost $120,000).
When will these dummies EVER learn that government bureaucrats, central planning, economic development con men who charge by the hour, and endless committees are a colossal waste of time and money??? Truly amazing.