Tag: impact study

City “Still Reviewing” My Request For Biz Park Impact Study

I made an Open Records Request for a copy of the impact study that the City paid for as part of their Business Pork vetting process. The idea is that this study will “prove” mathematically ALL the many, many benefits that this secret prospect will bring. That in turn will allow the LEDC to hand them a big chunk of money or free stuff and tell us how we are all coming out ahead on the deal.

It only seems fair to me that we taxpaying peons be allowed to see the claims of benefits being made by the LEDC if they are going through with the handouts.

Keep in mind, the LEDC is desperate to get a deal done and get someone, ANYONE, in there to justify the last 20 years and over $7 million tax dollars being wasted.

Also keep in mind their track record sucks. Besides being conned by Mike Cour the first time around, they ALSO handed $20,000 to Heritage Funeral Home back in 2021 [see page 5].

That would be the same Heritage Funeral Home that (1) was to be a direct competitor with an established funeral home in town who DIDN’T get $20,000 handed to them by the City and (2) is owned by a guy who hobnobs with Hollywood douchebags and drives around in a Bentley. In other words, a guy who sure as shit doesn’t need $20,000 in taxpayer funds.

Second biggest douchebag on Hollywood D-List
“How to bilk a small town out of $20,000…plus some skin-care tips!!”

Well, he might now, if the rumors of legal troubles are to be believed.

LEDC Requested Impact Study For Secret Biz Pork Prospect. Study Is Completed. Will They Allow Taxpayer Peons To See Results?

So the LEDC requested a study on the economic impact of their secret Business Park prospect (very likely Eco-Strong or Eco-Flex – depending on how they have structured themselves after the last fiasco).

They must have done this a while ago because the study is apparently complete. They went back to Impact Data Source. Remember them?

November 2020: City REFUSES Transparency on LEDC Economic Impact Study Paid For With City Funds

They are essentially a company that takes City money and then goal-seeks an outcome, in my opinion. A rubber stamp. I have requested a copy of this “impact study” to see what ludicrous assumptions it makes. I can all but guarantee you that JC Brown will deny me this information and it will ONCE AGAIN be up to the Texas Attorney General to decide if I get it.

What was all that crap Talbert blabbered about “transparency” before? Oh yeah…

“I feel like (City) staff and Council oughta be tasked with being accountable to answer on the spot…and…uh…I would be comfortable doing that….that’s transparency at its finest…is…you know…we don’t put off a question, we answer it on the spot” – current LEDC President Misti Talbert as mayor in 2020

Sure you do!

Reminder: the LAST time around, Eco-Flex Alan Champagne told two massive lies. One about when his fake press release was written and another about not using any government funds:

“The press release was issued late February, I  don’t feel I have to explain myself. With the boarder closure which was supposed to be temporary and now  will probably be closed to the end of this year. This is a private company which is not using any government funds or such.”

He then asked for $1.850 MILLION from the City of Lampasas.

He was denied, of course. I wonder what they’ll get THIS time around!

City Forced To Turn Over LEDC ‘Business’ Park Prospect Impact Study

Well, score one for the taxpayer and the little guy.

Despite JC Brown and Finley’s best efforts to stymie me, the “impact study” the City had conducted for Eco-Strong as a viable candidate to be a “business” park tenant is now in my hands.

I think this is the first time the Attorney General has sided with me. The score may be something like 4-1 in favor of City attorney JC Brown and Mayor “Transparency” Talbert, but that’s ok. It’s nice to finally win one.

I started perusing the docs yesterday and I can already say, it looks like a whole lot of numbers pulled from asses. I will post more detailed analysis over the next week or so, but there are a few tidbits below. I figured the taxpayers of Lampasas would like to know what their City is considering getting into:

[If you need to brush up on Eco-Strong, please start HERE]

They are proposing the following:

“A 35,000 square foot facility that will recycle 500,000+ tires per MONTH”.

By my math, that is 16,600 tires EVERY SINGLE DAY moving through the “business park”. Sounds like absolute horseshit to me. Assume you had a truck big enough to carry 1000 tires at a time (a random guess by me). That means a truck pulling in there every hour between 5am and 10pm. Every single day. Forever.

I don’t buy that shit for a minute.

“The firm will initially have 30 workers – the initial average annual salaries of these workers will be $33,000”

Wow. Those are some high-paying, high-tech jobs there, Mandy! Shoveling tire crumbs into a furnace, or however they do it, for about $16/hr. I think I’d rather work my way up at Wal-Mart to $16 in a year or two, but that’s me.

Has anybody given a moment’s thought to JUST the massive amount of traffic required to transport 500,000 tires worth of material into and then back out of the property every month? The pollution?

I doubt it.

There is much, much more. We’ll be back soon with all of it.