MTTANK said:
A great way to help business would be to get out and vote. City council is busy talking about mandating more trees or shrubs at business locations for aesthetics. Meanwhile our economy and small business are being crushed. Are cities slashing budgets? Of course not, they are looking at ways they can make up for it by raising taxes. Vote pro business. Please. On another note, president Young has not been doing much to help things either. If we do have a football season, attendance will be way down. Labeling TAMU and this community as racist bigots over a hoax has many canceling donations and season tickets. Don't worry though, no consequence for the hoaxer and no apology from Young. Moral of the story is, hold our leadership more accountable and vote.
So much to unpack here...
I agree that we should all get out and vote. More voting is good. However, for a long time our choices in local elections have been the real estate development/non-development groups. Neither of these will help out in the current situation.
As Charli points out above, we need to expand our economic base in our community beyond the university, the health services, retirement, and government. Building Castlegate 17 (to be ridiculous) is not a long-term economic growth strategy - it enriches developers, but does not provide long term jobs. No one seems to offer ideas on how to bring more high paying jobs to our community. The closest thing is Bryan giving land to the health sciences area with the goal of developing a bio-industry there. This is a very long term play.
"Are cities slashing budgets? Of course not..." Umm, check the Eagle or other news sources, the proposed College Station budget for 2021 is down 8.3% from the current year. You can argue they should cut more, but they are cutting.
Like him or hate him, Michael K. Young is not evaluated on the strength of the local economy. This is nothing new. A&M exists for a different purpose than local economic development.
That kid pulling the hoax on his car is as foolish as many 20 year olds, and since in these days whenever you apply for a job the hiring manager will google your name, he will regret it.
Perhaps the whole Sully situation is a devious plan to get 50% of the Old Ags to cancel their season tickets, so the Athletic Department doesn't have to make difficult choices on who gets to attend games this fall? Let's say the athletic department brings in $100 million this year instead of $200 million. Given the number of events they will be cancelling, I wonder if this will hurt?