Business Pork disaster – The Original Lampasshole

LEDC Meets. The “Workspace” Idea Is As Bad As I Feared.

The LEDC had their monthly meeting last night. This also means the minutes from the LAST meeting were posted. Unsurprisingly, they are a comedy of errors, wheel-spinning and money wasting.

The main bad idea? They are actually considering “spec buildings ready to occupy.“

I was worried about this a couple months ago when they first talked about a “workspace concept” but there were few details:

LEDC Discussing “Workplace Business Concept” For Empty $7.4 Million Business Pork Project. Unclear What That Means.

There are still scant details, but they are DEFINITELY talking about throwing MORE money into their 20-years-failed “if you build it, they will come” model for the Business Pork project.

I only see this happening two ways:

#1 – the LEDC already has some company in mind to build these “spec” buildings. Company X will presumably get all sorts of handouts from the LEDC and the City to build more office space (which we already have PLENTY of around town). This will likely sit empty forever – kind of like the old Twisted Oak restaurant or all the old office space over there by Tractor Supply that has sat empty for many years or any of the dozen OTHER empty buildings dotting the city.

#2 – the LEDC will go Full Retard and will build these things themselves. If that happens, expect a massive money-wasting fiasco right up there with the Hostess House debacle or the Old City Hall renovation debacle. They will blow another million and have nothing to show for it.

Number of days the Business Pork has sat empty: 7317

Amount of money wasted on Business Pork: over $7.3 million

Number of tenants in Business Pork: 0

Look at those numbers. They have wasted ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS A DAY, every single day, for the last TWENTY YEARS. Pathetic. And they want to waste MORE now throwing up some “spec” buildings.

LEDC Wants To Waste a LOT More Money Advertising “Business Pork”

According to the latest LEDC packet [page 4 under VI – Business Park Strategies] Finley presented some more options to burn cash on the goat pasture that has stayed empty and devoid of tenants for over 20 years now.

***Eleven dunces shoveling bullshit – nine years ago.***

His brilliant idea? “Professional engagement with a commercial broker,” preferably one who “has experience with large projects.” Also to “seek outside guidance from brokers who reside outside Lampasas and specialize in commercial development.“

Are you shitting me? Wouldn’t that be the FIRST thing you do after realizing you blew over $7.4 million on a goat pasture that nobody has any interest in? I must ask for the fifth or sixth time now: what the hell have you been doing for the last 20 years?!?

Well, they actually HAVE been using “professionals” for a while now and spending a lot of money doing it. Let’s look at the MANY ways the LEDC has marketed this disaster – every one of them cost a nice chunk of change – all of them have been utter failures.

#1 – the “weekly RFI (requests for information) from the governor’s office.” I think we can safely say after 19 years of “getting weekly RFIs” and having zero tenants to show for it, that this avenue is and was totally useless bullshit. I called them on this exact bullshit nine months ago:

The Lie That Keeps On Giving: RFIs

City’s Hack Attorney J.C. Brown Won’t Even Release The NAMES Of The “Many” Companies Making Requests For Information On Business Park

#2 – Blow money on numerous videos, emails, digital ads, print ads, social media, etc. (Neon Cloud, Site Selection and Flyerview) – cost of over $15,000 in one year alone and WELL over $50,000 since inception. Results? Zero tenants.

#3 – Hire yet another Economic Development Director who said it was her “number-one priority” to find tenants when she was grilled by Rhonda Witcher on the radio. That was almost 18 months ago. Cost? Her salary and benefits are enormous. Results? Zero tenants.

#4 – Post the Business Pork on all sorts of commercial websites that already exist for this sort of thing. This includes ReSimplifi and Loopnet.com.

According to Loopnet, the Business Pork isn’t even listed on there anymore!

So after failing many different expensive ways over the last 20 years, Finley and the LEDC have come up with the genius idea to hire a commercial broker who “specializes in commercial development.“

LOL. I can’t wait to see what THEIR cut is going to be if they DO find someone to move in.

What a joke.

P.S. – bonus method #5: don’t forget the LEDC just recently DRASTICALLY lowered the bar on financial requirements to move into the Business Pork.

LEDC Lowers Bar In Sad Effort To Fill Their Empty $7.3 Million Business Pork. Tosses Out Many Financial Requirements.

More Sad Milestones Hit By LEDC and Failed Business Park

It’s hard to believe it has been TWO WHOLE YEARS since Misti Talbert was installed as president of the LEDC.

Inbred LEDC Decides To Inbreed Some More – Talbert Takes The Wheel

It has been 18 months since Talbert and the LEDC stood before City council and begged for another $2 million to incinerate at the “Business Park” – and swiped $971,000 in Covid relief funds from the City. Money that COULD have been used for just about anything. Instead, the LEDC grabbed it and set it on fire….

Talbert and LEDC Pilfer $971,000 MORE From City Coffers For Business Park Debacle.

Guess what? The Business Park is STILL EMPTY today on August 14th, 2023! And despite the LEDC posting about a “project won” and “20 to 35 jobs created,” when pressed for evidence of this, they had to admit: we don’t have any.

Of course, the biggest piece of evidence of all is the giant 156-acre “goat pasture” (former council member Mike White’s words, not mine) sitting out there on highway 183 as you head south towards Cedar Park. A $7 million dollar testimony to idiocy, money wasting, incompetence and general retardation.

***“Shovel ready” for EIGHT YEARS. Still empty.***

Why, it is already EIGHT MONTHS since Ryan Ward and Stacey Ybarra went on the radio and told us the following:

Ryan Ward: “That’s a great question! I can give you an update on that! Mandy did a great job…it is about 99% complete…the legwork that Mandy had done…there are several businesses that were waiting on the City of Lampasas to complete that… so once the electric is complete, we hope to get folks, uh, moving in as soon as possible, you know, some of these businesses that are really interested in being out there”

Yet here we sit ANOTHER eight months later. Nothing accomplished. What happened to the “several businesses” waiting in the wings? You’ll never get an answer on that, because the City’s hack attorney refuses to divulge it. It’s all “secret.”

The Lampasas Economic Development Corporation: throwing tax money into a pit for 21 years and counting!

How the Business Pork Project Started 21 Years Ago (Spoiler: They Lied From The Start)

Business Pork Project – REAL Phase I Was in 2003

Didya Know? Business Park Edition (2005)

‘Business Park’ Is Huge Piece of Pork. Pope Eckermann and Others Feasting On Taxpayer Ass

OUTRAGEOUS Tidbits From LEDC Non-Profit Filings

Did Lampasas Build A Biz Park In The 1970s??

Look How Much Money the LEDC Has Squandered Over The Last Six Years

The Lie That Keeps On Giving

Shovel Ready – Another Lie

Weed Patch Blasts From The Past

Mandy Walsh Begs Ajinomoto To Back ‘Business Park’. Ajinomoto Offered City 200 New Jobs AND $300,000 Back In 2016. City Declined!!