Bob Yancy said:

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Baylor Scott & White should be north of the middle of that list. Good paying high tech jobs with more coming very soon.

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They're #12 on that list.
https://brazosvalleyedc.org/data/leading-employers

The thing that most folks don't realize is that with so many non-profits, education, and government on that list is that they pay exactly $0 in property taxes. Which causes the local government's thirst for "other people's money (tm)" to be satiated by property tax that is levied on those same struggling families, working for those non-profits, schools, and governments, who, as we have discussed, don't pay that well.

Property valuations have skyrocketed. I see local governments squeal with glee as they build huge gargantuan fire stations, plantation-esque city halls, and police palaces, because tax *rates* sure aren't dropping.

Soon, College Station will be a city of college students funded by "The Bank of Momma and Daddy", along with retirees, who's taxes are frozen. Nothing in between. My house has gone from $275k to $500k valuation in the 5 years we've owned it. Unless something changes, we're going to take that money and buy a nice place in Grimes County with lower taxes, Bob. I'll hang up and listen.

Edit: grammar

For anyone who wishes to make a suggestion or ask a question, my email is byancy@cstx.gov and I welcome the feedback and thoughtful debate!

You'll need to get over your aversion to "indelicate" communication if your peers continue to make decisions that are not what the people want.

Get over yourselves. You work for your constituents to be their voice. Represent their concerns to council or step aside and let someone else do it.

People get upset when council buys expensive property they had no business buying, and then sells it at a huge loss. And follows that with buying a dead department store space in a failing mall.

Nobody is going to kiss the rear of an elected official in College Station until some sound fiscal decisions are made.

Are y'all capable of making those types of decisions?

Bob Yancy said:

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And I think the BVEDC might need to update those numbers as City hall and BS&W are essentially the same size, employee-wise.

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I can attest that I see a company there with an estimate that is undercounted by at least 2-2.5X.

For anyone who wishes to make a suggestion or ask a question, my email is byancy@cstx.gov and I welcome the feedback and thoughtful debate!

Bob Yancy said:

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Good morning and blessed Sunday. I will always put a premium on civility and objectivity and accountability. Always. The Macy's decision predates my time on council, which began last November. The City of College Station's overall record on real estates investments might surprise you, but I concur there have been some questionable ones in the past. Your comments got me thinking that a report on real estate investments would be good data. As for listening to our bosses, the citizens, I think there has been a keen interest in unfettered citizen feedback and my experience as a citizen and member of council illustrates that council does listen and does act on that feedback, in most cases. I'll be requesting that report, and yes in my opinion we are capable of that.

Have a great day.

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Thanks for the reply, which is quoted here in case you decide to nuke your previous text (again).

For anyone who wishes to make a suggestion or ask a question, my email is byancy@cstx.gov and I welcome the feedback and thoughtful debate!

Have a great day!

Bob Yancy '95

Russell Bradleys Toupee said:

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Monorail to IAH is the answer. Either that or a huge indoor ski center out by CLL.

Council, you should start saving "your" HOT money.

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You had me sold at ski center. Saving me the 12 hour drives to wolf creek in CO.

Bob Yancy said:

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The City of College Station's overall record on real estates investments might surprise you, but I concur there have been some questionable ones in the past. Your comments got me thinking that a report on real estate investments would be good data.

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This appears to be a really good idea.

It's not about what you commented.

It's about the fact that earlier you made a long post and then went and deleted the text in that post.

I'm glad to see a member of a local city council engaging on this board, but when you say something and then erase it, in an era where citizens want transparency at all levels of government but rarely see it, you just set yourself up for "complaining".

The world isn't always sunshine and roses and champagne and chocolates. Sorry we didn't give you a ticker tape parade for showing up here. If you post your words that you stand by, don't delete them. People will treat you better on this forum.

If you think this is rough (it's not), go over to the Politics forum for a bit and start a thread. Let us know first though. Popcorn takes a little time to prepare.

maroon barchetta said:

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It's not about what you commented.

It's about the fact that earlier you made a long post and then went and deleted the text in that post.

I'm glad to see a member of a local city council engaging on this board, but when you say something and then erase it, in an era where citizens want transparency at all levels of government but rarely see it, you just set yourself up for "complaining".

The world isn't always sunshine and roses and champagne and chocolates. Sorry we didn't give you a ticker tape parade for showing up here. If you post your words that you stand by, don't delete them. People will treat you better on this forum.

If you think this is rough (it's not), go over to the Politics forum for a bit and start a thread. Let us know first though. Popcorn takes a little time to prepare.

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Don't play in the kitchen if you can't handle the heat or have a hide as thick as a rhino's!

For anyone who wishes to make a suggestion or ask a question, my email is byancy@cstx.gov and I welcome the feedback and thoughtful debate!

Bob, what policy discussion are you wanting to move the needle on?

On the matter of a convention center, I stated my opinion. I don't see the need. To me it is likely millions or tens of millions of dollars that could be spent on many other projects that would directly impact the people who already live here. Infrastructure and roads are an obvious one. Airport. Recreation centers and community centers. Park improvements.

As stated before, why would conventions want to come here when Houston is 1 1/2 hours away? This seems like an idea that is decades or more too soon.

How does building a convention center to increase the HOT income help make me and my neighbors lives better? Is the increased traffic and congestion worth the revenue? What assurances do we have that the increased revenue will be used for the betterment of our city over just more spending on "growth" projects?

As you stated before, people are already moving here. So why accelerate it? I just don't understand the desire to speed up the process. I'd be fine with a little stagnation personally but I know the business types would scoff at that notion.

Maybe I'm just an out of touch townie with no "vision". So, what am I missing? If I am, please enlighten.

Waco, Temple, and Killeen all have "convention centers", that are mostly filled with gun shows, craft fairs, and the like. I don't see a lot of real "conventions".

When I have work conventions, or sales meetings, we do not do it in mid market cities that are hard to get to. Think Vegas, New Orleans, Atlanta, Orlando, San Fran / San Jose, or New York.

Not Tulsa, Des Moines, Omaha, or College Station. I'll echo what others have said. What is the driving need Mr. Maloney sees behind this? More grandiose buildings that we have to pay to upkeep?

chigger said:

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Why do we want to attract more people? Why does College Station have this almost obsessive push to build and develop?

The best thing about BCS is that we DON'T have a million people here. It's already getting too busy. I just don't understand this drive to "attract more people and businesses". Let the bigger cities develop all that and we can drive there when we need to.

This has been a nice place to live precisely because we don't have all that. We are quickly moving away from that though.

So to the City Council, concentrate on the things that make this a nice place to LIVE, not some fabricated destination to come to.

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Yep. Back in the 1970s I used to go to or through Austin every week and when I visited my friends there I kept telling then that Austin is going to have major transportation and other issues if they keep growing at the rate they are.......and here we are, I35, Hwy 290 and Hwy 71 are often just long parking lots for hours on end. I hate going anywhere close to Austin now.

I have a friend that posts regularly on her Facebook images of her going home after work from Downtown Austin to Round Rock and commenting that she is two hours in the I35 parking lot.

I agree with the comment above. CS should spend tax revenues on increasing the quality of life of the current residents and not maximizing growth and increased traffic.

We had better be careful of what we wish for.

Hornbeck said:

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Waco, Temple, and Killeen all have "convention centers", that are mostly filled with gun shows, craft fairs, and the like. I don't see a lot of real "conventions".

When I have work conventions, or sales meetings, we do not do it in mid market cities that are hard to get to. Think Vegas, New Orleans, Atlanta, Orlando, San Fran / San Jose, or New York.

Not Tulsa, Des Moines, Omaha, or College Station. I'll echo what others have said. What is the driving need Mr. Maloney sees behind this? More grandiose buildings that we have to pay to upkeep?

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Recently I have been to conventions in some big cities. These were for 1000 professionals or so and lasted a few days each. They were all inside big hotels. Slept, ate, and attended the conventions without leaving the hotel. What CS should really do is encourage another large hotel with convention space to open, along the lines of the BCS Hilton. That would offer additional convention space for things without taxpayer money and reap more HOT funds.

Most Sales meetings I have been to are in places like this. But again, in the case of a large global company looking to bring a few thousand folks in for a big meeting or conference, ease of getting there (i.e. international airport) is the major consideration. College Station is not that. You can fly into Houston or Austin and drive more than an hour. I could see a small fire fighting convention (fire school related) or as someone said the beef cattle short course.

XYZ Corp is not having their world wide sales kickoff here. A&M even does their tech conference for the system in Galveston… why? My guess is that CS is hard to get to.

We don't have the airport to support this.

I actually agree with techno on this one. I would prefer to see this done in the private sector by a business that has deemed it a benefit and a good investment based on all the reasons outlined by others on here. I don't see the need for the COCS to get involved in this other than supporting the requests and permitting and other duties that go along with normal business development.

I just don't think we have the infrastructure for something like this now. Wait until we have the interstate access and airport to make this an easy place to get to and then revisit it.

Again, decades too soon at this point.

Council member Yancy,
First of all, thank you and all of the other members for serving on Council!

I would echo what several others have said about the topic of the City of College Station getting into the convention center business, especially when we already have several operating in the area, including:
- Texas A&M Hotel and Conference Center
- Hilton College Station Conference Center
- Annenberg Presidential Conference Center
- Brazos County Expo Complex
- Thinking beyond the traditional "Conference Center", we should also recognize that TEEX puts a lot of heads in beds with some world-class training facilities.

If the Council moves to spend 10's of thousands to hire a consultant to perform a feasibility study, please keep in mind that the convention center experts are very likely to find that convention centers are feasible.

Some other opinions, starting with the good:
- Sanitation. Aside from some minor issues in some student housing areas, residents never have to worry about there garbage getting picked-up. That's not a given in many cities.

- Public works. Overall, the City streets are in good condition. The recently approved road projects will address some of the larger outstanding problems.

- Increasing property values. As you said about cities, property values "are in a constant state of growth, stasis or decline. Which do we prefer?". Increasing property values are the ultimate measure that the City and the CSISD are doing an overall great job.

Concerns:
- Public safety. The City is growing, public safety needs to be adequately funded to meet the growth.

- Planning. The City of College Station seems to spend a lot of time and effort attempting to contain the growth of the student population. Many of these decisions are made based on emotional factors and wanting things to stay the same or revert to the way things used to be. Most of these efforts will ultimately fail and real estate will eventually find its highest and best use based on market forces.

The Ugly:
- Parks.
College Station spends a lot of money on parks. It gets justified by fuzzy math provided by experts in parks-tourism. For the locals, there is not even a bike path that will take you safely across town north to south or east to west.

The new trail from Fitch to Lakeway is popular, but why not finish the parking area on Fitch that so many people use to access this trail? Another simple improvement would be a crossing over Lakeway since the crossing under Lakeway is often closed due to the poor design.

Finally, what's happening at the new $17M Texas Independence Ballpark? The City of College Station tourism website says that it will be open "summer of 2024". This deadline will be difficult to meet as there has not been any construction activity at the site for several months.

Thanks again for your service on Council!

Golf cart trails that lead to campus and across town put charging stations at the convention center

Hornbeck said:

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Most Sales meetings I have been to are in places like this. But again, in the case of a large global company looking to bring a few thousand folks in for a big meeting or conference, ease of getting there (i.e. international airport) is the major consideration. College Station is not that. You can fly into Houston or Austin and drive more than an hour. I could see a small fire fighting convention (fire school related) or as someone said the beef cattle short course.

XYZ Corp is not having their world wide sales kickoff here. A&M even does their tech conference for the system in Galveston… why? My guess is that CS is hard to get to.

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Having managed about 50 conventions in a past life, one of the major considerations of convincing interested persons to attend, is not only the quality of the presentations, but of the activities and attractions outside of the formal convention activities...what we called in planning, the "day before day after, and evening activities".

If a attendee, and even more so if bringing family, Galveston has a tremendous amount of "outside" the formal program activities that would interest attendees. BCS has the Bush Library....what else?

Galveston has the beach, fresh seafood restaurants, Pleasure Pier, The Strand, deep sea fishing, city trolley, Railroad museum, Schlitterbahn Waterpark, and NASA a short drive away. That's just off the top of my head.

No comparison.

If we had one now, we would compete, as mentioned above, with Temple, Waco, etc on gun shows, art shows and other activities mostly attended by persons living in the area.

And we already have gun, art, garden and other shows at the expo center. A bunch of horse shows my wife was involved in moved from locations around Tx and Ok, to the expo and loved the facility but hated no near by hotels or restaurants. Granted maybe better now but they have all moved back to places like grandberry and Ardmore, imagine they have more draw than BCS.
Sons wife some was involved in some local convention stuff, was always in need of gyms which is now likely covered by legends and competition pools, which is likely still a need, to attract events like when mountain west was holding their regionals locally .
We are in less need if convention center now than ever in past. A&m is going to require their groups to use their own and we now have only one regional airline with extremely few flights. If you want visitors to come here and spend subsidize teex professional and international fire training. But even they will want amenities that wont be popular. The rise of the silk stocking might be required.
COCS needs to figure out that the days of spending or annexation to achieve prosperity are DONE

Bob Yancy said:

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I mean the type of Convention Center that can accommodate medical equipment shows, industry groups, hundreds of display booths, etc. Not even our beloved Texas A&M has that.

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Actually, it does --- and the parking & infrastructure to go with it.

Just look at Reed Arena Besides basketball, that place gets re-configured to do everything. Concerts Car Shows Bull Riding Career Fairs MMA you name it.

The big ballroom @ the MSC can hold 1700 people in a lecture style environment, plus all the other rooms around it.

The Equine Center is also great for smaller venues along with the Hall of Champions.

The PEAP could also be used for smaller convention style venue but the Expo Center or Brazos Center would probably be easier to reserve for a non A&M event.

Right now, we have thousands of 4-H members from around the state using those facilities. I think the real issue for using an A&M venue; is that its main purpose, is to serve the university and those things take schedule priority.

The problem for me is not really having a convention center. Its really a matter of priorities. If I made a list of the 100 or 200 things the council needs act upon; even thinking about a convention center to be built in 10 years is not on that list.

It seems like both Bryan and CS are competing with each other right now; except there is no actual contest to compete in (besides ego). Everyone is trying to just build things and spend money to be "First" versus build needed infrastructure (schools - roads - parks etc- not talking about the rosemary sewer line thing), and fix problems.

Koko Chingo said:

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Bob Yancy said:

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I mean the type of Convention Center that can accommodate medical equipment shows, industry groups, hundreds of display booths, etc. Not even our beloved Texas A&M has that.

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Actually, it does --- and the parking & infrastructure to go with it.

Just look at Reed Arena Besides basketball, that place gets re-configured to do everything. Concerts Car Shows Bull Riding Career Fairs MMA you name it.

The big ballroom @ the MSC can hold 1700 people in a lecture style environment, plus all the other rooms around it.

The Equine Center is also great for smaller venues along with the Hall of Champions.

The PEAP could also be used for smaller convention style venue but the Expo Center or Brazos Center would probably be easier to reserve for a non A&M event.

Right now, we have thousands of 4-H members from around the state using those facilities. I think the real issue for using an A&M venue; is that its main purpose, is to serve the university and those things take schedule priority.

The problem for me is not really having a convention center. Its really a matter of priorities. If I made a list of the 100 or 200 things the council needs act upon; even thinking about a convention center to be built in 10 years is not on that list.

It seems like both Bryan and CS are competing with each other right now; except there is no actual contest to compete in (besides ego). Everyone is trying to just build things and spend money to be "First" versus build needed infrastructure (schools - roads - parks etc- not talking about the rosemary sewer line thing), and fix problems.

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I said some of the same things in earlier posts but I like the ending of your and would like to add that it would help the city to sell conventions at Texas A&M and Bryan centers because that would accomplish the same goal of trying to fill up hotel space and getting revenue for the city.

Why not hire one person for the city who can be a hunter and sell Texas A&M space?
City gets tax revenue and A&M gets rental revenue in which the city still gets sales tax revenue.

A&M has the space. Kyle field, reed, msc, the hotel on campus etc. college station has the hotels and dining and extra circular things. The cities only investment would be in hiring a hunter which is way cheaper than building/maintaining a building, and money can be spent elsewhere to please the constituents. Who cares if the space for the convention is sold in college station or Bryan your office is stillbringing people to the area and most likely y'all will get get some of the revenue you are seeking. Or have Bryan hire one as well and you can both sell the area.

Work with the venues instead of wanting to work against them. That person would be a promotional arm of the city. I would bet you might already have one in the visitor center but you might not. If you do then y'all need to retool and focus this activity of getting people to visit college station and sell conventions in space that is already here. Pass the leads to space and let them handle business.

One of my sales managers back in the day would've said "Sell what you got first then we can talk about other approaches and items"

Don't be greedy in wanting your own space or fool hardy in passing this up as this is a Win Win!

UmustBKidding said:

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And we already have gun, art, garden and other shows at the expo center. A bunch of horse shows my wife was involved in moved from locations around Tx and Ok, to the expo and loved the facility but hated no near by hotels or restaurants. Granted maybe better now but they have all moved back to places like grandberry and Ardmore, imagine they have more draw than BCS.
Sons wife some was involved in some local convention stuff, was always in need of gyms which is now likely covered by legends and competition pools, which is likely still a need, to attract events like when mountain west was holding their regionals locally .
We are in less need if convention center now than ever in past. A&m is going to require their groups to use their own and we now have only one regional airline with extremely few flights. If you want visitors to come here and spend subsidize teex professional and international fire training. But even they will want amenities that wont be popular. The rise of the silk stocking might be required.
COCS needs to figure out that the days of spending or annexation to achieve prosperity are DONE

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Sounds like we need some hotels on 47 to cover both Expo and RELLIS. Maybe a mixed use with housing, dining, and hotel. Would be good for army futures command and other industry partners that will be out at RELLIS to have nearby hotel and dining. Although all that is in Bryan and doesn't really solve the CoCS wants a convention center problem.

Koko Chingo said:

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Bob Yancy said:

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I mean the type of Convention Center that can accommodate medical equipment shows, industry groups, hundreds of display booths, etc. Not even our beloved Texas A&M has that.

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Actually, it does --- and the parking & infrastructure to go with it.

Just look at Reed Arena Besides basketball, that place gets re-configured to do everything. Concerts Car Shows Bull Riding Career Fairs MMA you name it.

The big ballroom @ the MSC can hold 1700 people in a lecture style environment, plus all the other rooms around it.

The Equine Center is also great for smaller venues along with the Hall of Champions.

The PEAP could also be used for smaller convention style venue but the Expo Center or Brazos Center would probably be easier to reserve for a non A&M event.

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The university isn't a great host for events for several reasons. The first reason:
- Has the MSC ever hosted a trade show or anything that wasn't student-adjacent?
- Has Reed Arena ever hosted anything that wasn't student-adjacent during operating university hours? Lot 100 is packed during normal hours.
- Parking is already a massive problem at the university. For guest prices during the daytime, you're paying basically downtown parking garage-tier prices, which destroys any argument about how College Station could be a cheaper alternative to the big cities.
- The appeal of a convention center is that it's integrated with the hotel, being able to block out a lot of rooms with easy access.
- There's also the relative isolation of where the university is. In addition to not much to do in the immediate College Station-Bryan area (lack of museums, waterparks, unique features, etc.)see Woodiewood's comment...there's also very little around the university to eat and shop. Even San Marcos has the outlet malls.

Yes but it's only 40 miles from hobby and you don't have to drive through Houston to get there

Airport expansion let's make it easier to get here. Use convention center money to pay the airlines to get here and stay. Then maybe we can have a convention center