Well, they finally made a move on the Business Pork disaster. Saner heads finally shook Talbert out of her do-nothing, deer-in-the-headlights denial/stupor phase she has been stuck in for the last 8 years or so. But let’s talk numbers first:
According to a “study” performed by City manager Erin Corbell, the total amounts wasted on the Business Pork so far are as follows:
Total expenditures to date: $6.928 million. Shockingly close to my number of $7.4 million I arrived at all by myself long before this. But there is more!
$703, 000 in future interest payments scheduled. Guess that makes it $7.6 million unless you are planning to default. That can’t happen, because PREVIOUS City councils agreed to put the City on the hook for all of this borrowing if the LEDC defaults.
Oh, and also $2.2 million in debt. So calculate all that however you want. The bottom line is they have been paying piles of interest on a non-performing asset for about two decades now. Not to mention all the tax revenue forfeited had the land just been left in private hands back in 2004. LOL. What a train wreck.
But the best part had to be the progression of Talbert from defiant, to deflecting blame and finally to bowing her head and agreeing to sell off 80+ acres of Talbert’s Folly.
Ouch.
Here’s a nice synopsis:
DEFIANT: Council member Haider asked Misti Talbert to name the “two interested companies” that are (as always!) right on the cusp of moving in! Unsurprisingly, Talbert “declined to discuss details” of those companies. I sometimes think everyone forgets that the LEDC exists at the discretion of Council. They could dissolve the entire thing tomorrow, if they wanted to. Watching Talbert REPEATEDLY refuse to divulge anything about anything for the last 8 years of fuckups reminds me of those FBI scumbags who defy Congress and/or lie to their face. I’d demand some names or just dissolve the whole LEDC that night.
DEFLECTING BLAME: In the Dispatch article it says “after public comments, Talbert said the EDChas been following the direction of City council– which has been to establish the Business Park.”
LOL. I love her sudden shift in responsibility to weasel out of looking like an abject failure. “Who me? I was just a vessel! I was just a conduit of City council’s wishes! This certainly isn’t my fault!” implies the chick who literally came up with the idea herself to go beg for a million dollars of City Covid money in February of 2022!
Also, she and Monroe were BOTH on the LEDC board AND City council during that entire time!!! So you were essentially following your own wishes, you moron. As you can see in the above photo, Misti (former mayor/current LEDC prez) went begging to Monroe (then-mayor AND LEDC board member) for almost a million bucks.
For SIX CONSECUTIVE YEARS (2017 through 2023), either Talbert or Monroe were the Mayor of the City AND also sat on the LEDC board while “following the direction of Council” – which was THEM! I ranted about this ridiculous inbred arrangement many times, but it fell on deaf ears.
TJ Monroe Should Be Removed From The LEDC Board Immediately. [2021]
Inbred LEDC Decides To Inbreed Some More – Talbert Takes The Wheel [2021]
But now she’s trying to wash her hands of blame and says “she was just following orders” like some sad sack at Nuremberg in 1945.
BOWS HER HEAD: at the end of the article, Talbert admits “that doesn’t mean the EDC can’t change its course.” Brand new EDC member Finney recommended selling “80-plus acres in Lot #4″ to help pay off the LEDC’s $2.2 million in debt….EDC board members unanimously agreed.”
Lookie there! You get some new blood on the LEDC board (something Kuehne and Talbert fought against tooth-and-nail) and in a couple months, there is sane action to staunch the financial bleeding….and Talbert bows her head and goes along with it – finally broken of her stubborn stupidity.
Next course of action? Now they need to pay for an appraisal of “Lot #4” signaling a willingness to consider a sale.
