“LEDC Executive Director Talbot stated that he has had several economic development inquiries from prospective businesses in the past few weeks.”
That sentence appeared in the LEDC minutes from May 3rd, 2004. It also appears dozens of other times over the five years of minutes I read.
I’d say 97% of the time it was just like that: nice and vague. No names given.
The other 3% of the time it was much more specific and everyone got an instant erection and ridiculous dreams danced in their heads of some sap who was going to come here and start handing out $100,000 jobs to everybody with a pulse. They threw money at anything during those times – swallowing the hype over and over.
First it was a $20 million medical center. Then it was “second-tier suppliers” for a new Toyota plant in San Antonio. Then it was a high-tech company and maybe the next Dell! And on and on and on. Like Charlie Brown falling for the football trick that Lucy pulled over and over and over.
Sad.
None of it ever came to fruition, obviously. But that lie has been used very successfully ever since.
Talbot used it. Cherry Hargrove used it. So did Kathi Masonheimer. Mandy Walsh has said it countless times as has Misti Talbert. Yet nothing ever happened. It is the irresistible bait that keeps City council coming back for more and lets the LEDC waste their next million.
Talbot and Angelou Economics told us REPEATEDLY we just needed a Business Park (2000 through 2003) – then we’d have street cred since you couldn’t go to potential businesses empty-handed. AND, you could only apply for free Economic Development grant money from the state once you had a viable tenant (just like today).
“We are turning them away because we have no land!”, was the line they used.
“An economic study in 2001, [Neal] Leavell said, concluded a business park was the main item Lampasas needed to attract development.” – Oct 23, 2015
So the plan was always this: buy the land, use it to lure a business, then use that now-solid prospective tenant to get the EDA grant. They even paid Langford & Associates (remember them?) $1,500 in June of 2004 to do a “pre-application’ for an EDA grant!
So, the LEDC chumps bought the land ($1.1 million at 7% interest for 15 years) like Angelou said, and waited. And waited. And waited some more…
For 10 years they waited and not a SINGLE BUSINESS had any interest in moving into the “business complex”. That should have ended it right there. Talbot was wrong. The high-priced consultant Angelou Economics was wrong. Craig Benton and Judith Hetherly were wrong. All of them were wrong.
But that didn’t stop it! After 10 years, they told us “we need to run utilities into the park! THEN the businesses will flock here.
“We are turning them away because we don’t have utilities!”, was the new story.
So, in 2014, the Toups Administration set about wasting another $1.345 million (actually, $1.929 million after interest payments) to bring water, sewer and power to the “business complex” and then they waited. And waited. And waited some more.
They told us tall tales that business would be there any minute!
“Advocates of utility extensions have said entities compete vigorously for new jobs and that cities with ready-to-build sites have an advantage as they try to attract new businesses.” – August 8, 2014
“The incumbent said the city acquired the business park property several years ago but has lacked the infrastructure needed at the site. Soon, she said, the business park will be developed enough to be inviting to businesses. [Then-council-member Wanda Bierschwale] – April 10, 2015
“Grayson said he hopes to develop the business park and attract companies to the site.” [Then-mayor Grayson running for re-election] – April 3, 2015
For another seven long years they waited. They kept trying to convince themselves the entire time that success was just around the corner:
“Ms. Toups said she wants to continue to provide infrastructure to develop the business park — Ms. Toups said through the Lampasas Economic Development Corp.’s hard work, “we are on the verge of seeing large corporations come in [to the business park].” – April 21, 2017
But no businesses came.
But again, that wasn’t the end of it.
They came back to council in 2021 and assured them that they just needed another $1.9 million – later upped to $2.75 million – to build a couple roads and extend the utilities even FURTHER into the park and to concentrate on a 50-acre area of the 150-acre weed patch.
Misti even managed to grab $971,000 that fell into the City’s lap through the Covid Recovery Act bullshit federal giveaway. That was $971,000 the City could have spent on a lot of things. Instead it will be incinerated with the other millions on the weed patch. Misti facilitated this pilfering by telling that handy and time-proven lie about “we’ve had several economic inquiries in the last few weeks”….
So will the third time be a charm? Don’t bet on it.