I think Christmas is coming early this year. Watching yet another of the LEDC’s “business prospects” take a shit on their heads is just too perfect. God must really love me to shower me with so many gifts.
You may recall PhoLicious. You should – they were JUST in the local newspaper a mere 15 days ago. The small-town small business hit it big by getting their Pho (essentially very expensive Ramen noodles made by dozens of other companies) onto the shelves of Wal-Mart. The owners, Joseph and Anh Trousdale, made sure to gush over the City and the LEDC and how they were going to save the day:
At first, the Trousdales feared they might have to leave Lampasas to find a large-enough building within their time constraints. But with the help of the city and the Lampasas Economic Development Corp., the couple found a developer who had land.
Well, I was quite skeptical two weeks ago of a 10,000 square foot facility being built “in a few weeks”. I was also surprised they “found land” since LEDC Misti Talbert has told us many times that her Business Pork is “the only game in town” right now and there is simply no other land to be had! She repeated that lie in February when she was begging for the $971,000 in city Covid money.
The LEDC ALSO listed PhoLicious as one of their “serious” prospects for the Business Pork earlier this year. I questioned that too, of course.
I have no doubt that when PhoLicious got accepted by Wal-Mart a few weeks ago, Misti and Mandy immediately had visions of a hugely successful business blossoming in their $7.1 million dollar Business Pork. They’d get to show everyone that the Business Pork was FINALLY worth it!
Best of all, they’d show that mean old Lampasshole he’s been wrong all these years!!
But that all blew up in their faces VERY publicly tonight on the LCBN Facebook page:
Ouch. That’s like when Jan Levinson gave David Wallace a big promotion on the TV show “The Office” and Wallace promptly told her he was quitting for a better job offer from Staples or Office Max or something. Complete and total kick in the nuts and huge douchebag move.
I was wondering who the “developer” was and where the “land” was. Trousdale let slip here that it was “by the fire station” so I can make a pretty good guess: the big warehouse that Mike Irvin just bought where Greenskeepers used to be, maybe? That is a HUGE building and more than enough for PhoLicious, so something else must have happened behind the scenes to scuttle this “deal”.
Did the City not cough up a big enough bribe subsidy economic incentive? Did Trousdale realize he will never find enough workers here (something I have pounded the table on repeatedly as a reason the Business Pork will never work)? Was all his gushing about the LEDC helping him out just a pile of shit to keep them buttered up for possible free land in a year or two?
If anyone out there has the dirt on how this all fell apart, email me at lampasshole@protonmail.com
As for the LEDC, get used to this feeling. It’s going to happen again with Eco-Strong very soon.
