Tag: money grab

“Economic Development” Director Grabbing Lots Of Goodies At Budget Time. Part I.

This will be Stacey Ybarra’s first go-around when it comes to an annual budget for the City of Lampasas. She was hired just this year at an $85,000 salary – which is $10,000 MORE (13%) than they were paying Mandy Walsh (who was in the position for over FIVE years).

But she sure isn’t being shy about grabbing as much cash as she can for the next fiscal year (which begins October 1st). Especially when it comes to her own benefits, self-enrichment and creature comforts [see pages 17 and 18]:

First up? Three grand for “lunches and site visits.” La de dah! luncheons and gallivanting around!

These are where she traipses around town to already-established businesses (like Oil States) and takes photos with them to show us how hard she is working.

I’m pretty sure a kick-ass company like Oil States does not need a city government bureaucrat to tell them how to run their operations or “discuss their industry needs.” I’m guessing a kick-ass company like Oil States just wants the government to stay out of their hair and leave them alone, thanks very much.

Photo of two people who work their asses off and create value.

Hold a clipboard, put on some safety goggles, snap a photo…exhausting! Then it’s off to a well-deserved lunch on the taxpayer’s dime! La de da!

Fun fact: Oil States is one of the top three private-sector employers in the City. But the Chairman of the Lampasas Democratic Party (Clayton Tucker SDEC-24 TX) wants to put those 135 people out of a job because he says we need to get rid of fossil fuels entirely. There is nothing I’d love to see more than that noddle-armed retarded midget walk into a machine shop filled with burly oil guys and explain to them that they need to learn how to work on pinwheel gear boxes instead – because Bernie Sanders says so.

[Hey! I know of an “already-established business” that wanted to expand and create 200 more jobs not too long ago! It was Ajinomoto, but the City told them to go pound sand. True story!]

Next on the budget goody grab-bag? Ten thousand dollars for “travel and training.”

The first half ($5,200) is for “conferences and site selection trips.” These are the Nerf vacations I have railed against for a long time. Most recently, Ybarra travelled to Dallas to learn (for a price!) a bunch of common sense stuff I have been spewing on these pages (for free) for over 5 years now:

Economic Director Stacey Ybarra Attends Nerf Conference – City Pays To Learn Obvious Facts I Have Written About Here For Years (For Free).

Nerf Job = Nerf Workshops + Nerf Travel

These have been going on FOREVER – Kathi Masonheimer wasted piles of time and money on them when SHE was in Ybarra’s position (2014 through 2017). Shit like Space.com conventions – NONE of which ever panned out:

Five grand here…five grand there…all free! Wheeeeeee!
Monroe STILL on the LEDC board voting for stupid shit in 2023 – just as she did in 2015.

This has happened over and over and over and over for 20 years! Zero results. But that won’t stop the new girl from doing all the same shit. Nor will it stop the LEDC idiots from paying for all the same shit – with the same results.

I believe the “site selection trips” are where she gallivants around to other states to try and drum up businesses to move into our still-empty Business Pork/Corpse Repository/Goat Pasture on south highway 183.

Back during the very profligate Toups administration, they pulled this shit a few times. Kathi Masonheimer and others got to take “business trips” to California to fuck around and “drum up interest” in the Business Pork. That was 8 years ago, and NOBODY has shown an interest yet. So you can see how well it works.

The SECOND part (OU EDI for $4,800) is Oklahoma University “economic development” classes. This is so Ybarra can get more letters after her name. As a reminder though, Mandy Walsh had WAY MORE letters after her name than Ybarra, yet Ybarra was hired (with no ED experience) at a 15% HIGHER salary than Mandy was!

THAT is Finley math! Then Ybarra can leverage those letters after her name into a NEW higher-paying job someday with an even more clueless City manager somewhere.

Last on the list is the literal “FREE MONEY” (‘grants’) that Ybarra gets to hand out like Santa Claus to worthy businesses. It is called “life safety” because it is supposed to offset the ridiculous expenses for “saftey equipment” the City of Lampasas Code Ordinances place on anyone trying to start something up.

As in, one department of the City says “hey, that’s an awful nice venue you have going there. Sorry to say, you need to install $40,000 worth of sprinklers or you can’t open your doors.”

Then Ybarra comes along from ANOTHER City department and says “hey, here is $20,000 in taxpayer dollars to help you out. Oh, don’t worry…we have plenty more! It grows on a tree at Finley’s house!” which I’m SURE the existing businesses (and competitors) really love.

They actually gave a $20,000 “grant” (free money) to James Mercer for his Heritage Funeral Home two years ago. That would be the same James Mercer who (1) just had a few businesses go tits-up recently because (2) the state shut down his adoption place because of some kind of shenanigans (I don’t know what shenanigans because he refused to talk to the Dispatch when they called him for comment) and who (3) hobnobs with Hollywood douchebags and drives fancy cars.

You know – a guy who really needs it and can be trusted not to fuck it all up. Don’t worry, though. That $20k of your taxes was greatly appreciated!

I know they also gave a few grand to The Doghouse (now defunct!) for fire extinguishers, a knox box and emergency signage and lights.

So, money well spent all around town. No doubt the NEXT $25,000 she wants will be spent just as wisely.

City Declares Several Blocks of Downtown Square “Blighted” In Order To Try and Grab State Tax Dollars

Wow. So after years and years of the LEDC and Mandy Walsh going to dozens of seminars, conventions, workshops, webinars, TML conferences and spending countless manhours and dollars on all that shit to “revitalize downtown”, the end result is a “blighted” area? [see pages 89 through 91]:

WHEREAS, the City Council has found conditions which are detrimental to the public health, safety, and welfare of the community within the district as follows- cracked, broken, and uneven sidewalks, lack of adequate walkways, and lack of handicap accessible ramping; and,

WHEREAS, the existence of said conditions are detrimental to the public health, safety, and welfare due to the possibility of injury;

WHEREAS, the City Council of Lampasas has authorized an application for funding under the Downtown Revitalization Program, as follows:

Rehabilitate and replace cracked, broken, and uneven sidewalks and provide
ADA-compliant sidewalks and ramps including possible drainage, streets, and
lighting.

[Wait, you mean those $15,000 metal LTX letters didn’t do the trick??]

That’s a pretty big admission of failure! Hilariously, it is practically in front of City Hall and also covers part of the street (3rd street) the City just spent large sums repaving just last summer. You gotta love it when a City that had millions thrown at if for “Covid” is already going hat-in-hand begging for some “sidewalk repairs” money just a year later.

Of course, this is all bullshit. I took pictures this morning. Why just LOOK at all the crumbling and the lack of ADA-compliant sidewalks with no wheelchair ramps!

Just look at all that blight! Practically looks like Detroit!

Oh wait.

I wonder if Saloon 37, Petal Peddlers, First Texas Bank, Bear Real Estate, Merk & Tilly’s and the rest of them know they are located in the shitty “blighted” area of our fair town?

Wading Through Mandy Walsh’s Hip-Deep Horse Shit – PART I

As promised, I want to go through the latest Dispatch puff-piece about the Lampasas Economic Dunces Club (LEDC) ‘business park’ and their attempt to fleece the United States Federal government to fund it further. I have highlighted particularly odious piles of horse shit for further discussion:

Right off the bat, they TWICE repeat the lie that this is “Phase I” of the development. This implies they are JUST NOW starting out on this project. It hides the ACTUAL history of complete failure and money wasting for the last 17 years. I SUSPECT they did this so it looks better on their grant application.

The reality is that they spent close to ONE MILLION DOLLARS back in the 2014/2015 time frame when Chris Toups was mayor. THAT was “Phase I”. It was also supposed to be the ONLY phase of this debacle. The pitch back then (SIX YEARS AGO) was that we just need to throw a million at this ‘goat pasture’ and the high-paying jobs would come pouring in.

Don’t believe me? I went through the Dispatch archives and found every idiotic quote from every idiotic politician and government dingbat and listed them all RIGHT HERE going back to 2014. Go ahead and click the link to have a look. I’ll wait.

You’re back? OK. Let’s continue.

Walsh said “Last fall, an international business expressed interest in opening an operation in the park”.

Notice how Mandy NEVER names names of all these supposed interested parties? What business was it, Mandy? Wait, don’t tell me. I already know. It’s “Eco-Strong LLC” which was not even formed a year ago? You have met with Mike Cour several times – starting last fall. About ONE MONTH after this “Eco-Strong LLC” was incorporated, according to Texas filings.

It is SUPPOSEDLY a distribution arm of “Eco-Flex”, which is a Canadian company. Eco-Strong LLC appears to be a one-man operation…SUPPOSEDLY somehow related to Eco-FLEX but with a different name(?).

A British website called “Tyre & Rubber Recycling” ran a huge (obviously bullshit) story back in May of this year describing how ground was JUST ABOUT to be broken in Lampasas on a tire recycling plant in early June. I emailed the author (Ewan Scott) the DAY AFTER his highly erroneous article was published. No answer! How odd. I feel it highly unlikely Ewan Scott would just make this crap up out of thin air. He must have had someone feeding him “information”, right?

So, did Mike Cour feed Ewan Scott this line of shit to make his “company” look more legit when he went to the LEDC? What exactly was his “presentation” to the LEDC?

We can never know, because the LEDC does their best to keep everyone in the dark about these back-room deals: The LEDC skips meetings constantly (they skipped TWO of SEVEN meetings already this year)…..they move meeting times to noon to make it inconvenient for working stiffs to attend…they REFUSE to record their meetings on the City’s $96,000 A/V system, despite them holding their meetings in the exact same building as City council (the $1.5 million dollar Fishbowl).

But let’s get back to the article!

“Walsh said most businesses are unable to wait for the city to prepare sites in the park”

Again I ask you Mandy: WHAT BUSINESSES! Please, name ONE single business that is just chomping at the bit to break ground tomorrow. Just name ONE.

You can’t. Because it is just more bullshit. Bullshit you pile upon bullshit to make this corpse repository appear to be a viable project when it is anything but.

Part II coming soon…..

Lampasas Economic Development Corp Committed To Making Taxpayers All Over The U.S. Pay For Their Incompetence

Not content to just blow MANY MILLIONS of dollars of Lampasas city money on a 165-acre weed patch ‘business park’ over the last 17 years, the Lampasas Economic Dunces Club is now formally submitting a grant application (asking for free stuff from federal taxpayers) to the federal government. Which means that nurses from Georgia, bus drivers from Oklahoma and teachers from Michigan will now be funding the LEDC’s ‘business park’ boondoggle indirectly through their federal tax payments.

The bullshit they sold taxpayers 7 years and millions of dollars ago – a pipe dream ^^^
REALITY – a shitty weed patch where corpses are dumped on south Hwy-183

Langford Community Management Services will be charging the LEDC $7,500 to write up the grant. This money is to help pay for the nearly TWO MILLION DOLLAR “Phase I” (actually it’s Phase II but who’s counting) ‘improvement’ to the goat pasture they own.

I have covered this boondoggle of waste and (in my opinion) outright nest feathering  HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE

Recently, the same idiots who said we were all set five years ago, NOW say we need to plow ANOTHER $1.9 million into this fiasco to get it REALLY shovel-ready (even though it was supposedly shovel-ready before). They are even brazenly (and DISHONESTLY) calling this “Phase I” of the ‘business park’ improvements. I guess the ONE MILLION you blew back in 2015 was Phase Zero?

Mike White HIMSELF called the ‘business park’ “a goat pasture” and a “poor return on investment” which has been going on for DECADES [5/26/20 Council meeting at the 10:08 and 19:30 minute mark].

According to Mandy Walsh herself at the last meeting [go to 6:34 mark]

“We have discussed the EDA (Economic Development Administration) CARES ACT…with our grant writers at length for community management services. What that is, is Congress appropriated $1.5 billion to strengthen and assist communities recovering from the coronavirus pandemic. So the EDA is accepting applications for grants that support a wide variety of projects…um, including, ah, infrastructure…and economic development projects, so that’s what we’re going to be applying for, is the disaster funding through the EDA”

Yeah Mandy….the ‘business park’ is a disaster, all right. But it is a disaster of YOUR making, NOT because of the coronavirus.

So, Mandy and the LEDC are going to try and scam the feds out of a huge pile of money EVEN THOUGH THIS BUSINESS PARK FIASCO HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH CORONAVIRUS and has been a disaster for “DECADES”, by the admission of Mike White himself [5/26 council meeting].

This enrages me just as much as when I see scumbag politicians in Illinois/Chicago or New York tell the Federal government that they need to fork over $41.6 billion to their cities/states “because of Covid” and Uncle Sugar should just hand over a check.

I’m sorry, but no, your finances aren’t a train wreck because of Covid. They have been a train wreck for decades because of wasteful and idiotic spending by liberals. Chicago and New York made their beds by electing socialists and morons who ran their budgets into the ground….they should lay in those beds WITHOUT a bailout from the Feds – i.e., the rest of us.

Same goes for Mandy Walsh, the LEDC and our own City council…many of whom I would assume identify as “Republican” or “conservative”. YOU made this mess. YOU kept throwing good money after bad. YOU made this bed and now YOU should lie in it….not some poor tax paying sap who lives in Georgia or Arizona.

I can tell you this: if it’s the last thing I do, I am going to try and stop this theft of federal money you are using to cover up LEDC and City council incompetence. Get ready for a flood of Open Records Requests from me. Who is your “viable tenant” for the ‘business park’ that you are pinning your hopes on and bullshitting the Feds with on your grant application? I sure hope it isn’t Mike Cour and his Eco-Strong scam, because I already visited his OTHER company (Equicare at 15500 S-US 183) and took photos of the absolute JOKE ‘Eco-Strong” is. It is a weed patch with some crappy rubber mats piled up that have been there for quite a while, by the looks of it.

[Not to mention, Mike Cour and Equicare currently sit on approximately 200 acres ALREADY. He has ZERO need for the business park unless he himself is trying to scam some free stuff from the taxpaying chumps of Lampasas. Don’t worry…I’m all over him like a cheap suit, too]

I’ll be there at every turn calling you all out as welfare queens and parasites, which you most certainly are. This is brazen theft and, in my opinion, fraud. The money you are trying to scam out of Uncle Sugar has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with coronavirus and EVERYTHING to do with rampant incompetence and fiscal mismanagement on the part of the LEDC, City council and Mandy Walsh herself.