Bob Yancy said:

---

I'm sorry if that answer disappoints you.

---

You're fine. This is a mess that's difficult to navigate. If you'd voted differently it almost certainly wouldn't have made a difference. And I am glad you're up there to push against the BS that I have no doubt the consultants are going to be proffering in upcoming meetings.

That one vote doesn't make you (or Wright or Harvell) the bad guys in this one. I am pushing for y'all to stay strong and not let inertia win out.

Good luck!

It's two firms in a joint effort, Brinkley Sargent Wiginton Architects and the consultant Berry/Dunn. I know of no investments held by any councilmember or staff member in these firms and knowing how seriously city hall takes conflicts of interest I'm confident none exist.

I also vote for something like the LEGENDS event center but in CS.

Like a convention center?

Sounds like you should run for council. 3 spots are up.

At the recent College Station city council meeting held on Thursday, the council members agreed to modify the 2024 budget. The adjustments included allocating:

• $200,000 towards a feasibility study for a new Recreation Center
• $200,000 for a feasibility study concerning a Convention Center

Personally, I'm of the opinion that it would be more beneficial for them to proceed directly with the construction of these facilities instead of spending excessively on additional studies that seem to merely support their predetermined decisions.

officerfred said:

---

At the recent College Station city council meeting held on Thursday, the council members agreed to modify the 2024 budget. The adjustments included allocating:

• $200,000 towards a feasibility study for a new Recreation Center
• $200,000 for a feasibility study concerning a Convention Center

Personally, I'm of the opinion that it would be more beneficial for them to proceed directly with the construction of these facilities instead of spending excessively on additional studies that seem to merely support their predetermined decisions.

---

How can I get the contract making feasibility studies for COCS?

That's the real question.

I was thinking I'd start up a consulting company that tells municipalities what they want to hear.
Profit.

I'm glad you're not a pessimist. I think folks sometimes vastly overestimate the tactics and coordination of a council or commission led governmental body. It's a group of individuals, each with their own priorities and goals. They vote, and 4 of 7 prevail.

There's a story in the Eagle today about capital projects in our cities. I'd love to know this forum's take on that story.

Bob Yancy said:

---

I'm glad you're not a pessimist. I think folks sometimes vastly overestimate the tactics and coordination of a council or commission led governmental body. It's a group of individuals, each with their own priorities and goals. They vote, and 4 of 7 prevail.

There's a story in the Eagle today about capital projects in our cities. I'd love to know this forum's take on that story.

---

It looks like:
- City of Bryan is working on several ways expanding Midtown Park and broke ground for a major new employer.

- College Station is working on roads, designing Taj Mahal FD#7 with two new bird blinds ready to open when the weather improves.

Any specifics of what project(s) you were looking for feedback on?

MeKnowNot said:

---

Bob Yancy said:

---

MeKnowNot said:

---

Bob Yancy said:

---

I'm glad you're not a pessimist. I think folks sometimes vastly overestimate the tactics and coordination of a council or commission led governmental body. It's a group of individuals, each with their own priorities and goals. They vote, and 4 of 7 prevail.

There's a story in the Eagle today about capital projects in our cities. I'd love to know this forum's take on that story.

---

It looks like:
- City of Bryan is working on several ways expanding Midtown Park and broke ground for a major new employer.

- College Station is working on roads, designing Taj Mahal FD#7 with two new bird blinds ready to open when the weather improves.

Any specifics of what project(s) you were looking for feedback on?

---

No I was just curious as I feel we could be doing better in CS with economic development.

Fire Station #7 is not a "Taj Mahal" with all due respect. There's also an untold story of taxpayer savings on that project I was thinking about posting here on Texags. I think it's fair to take the heat when we mess up, but also fair when we make good moves to let the taxpayers, our bosses, know about it. We need to do better in that arena.

---

By CS economic development, do you mean the new cinnamon bun bakery that the Eagle story referenced? If so, great work on CS landing that business!

I'm guessing that all of our fire departments, including proposed FD#7 have a fitness center and other fitness amenities.

If you want to save money and think outside the box, why not open these facilities to the public during certain hours and for a fee? This would go a long way toward the community quest toward "recreation" centers without the taxpayers bearing additional capital costs and limited additional operating cost?

On the soft side, it might also help recruit future first responders...

---

I'm referring to more than retail establishments, albeit I appreciate them all. I'm referring to industry, professional and technical job creation and a deeper diversification of our job creation engine, so to speak. I'm referring to entertainment options for families beyond game days and Northgate.

I've just come from one of our stations tonite. They don't have fitness centers, but they do have a room with some workout equipment. After all, these guys and gals that risk their lives for us actually live in the station. They eat there and sleep there. It would be counter to best practices to demand they meet physical testing standards and not provide some barbells.

Most of your fire stations do have a community room where HOAs and other groups regularly meet. The Chief just mentioned that at the class I attended tonite.

Here's a strategic fact for you I arrived at tonite from anecdotal data in my notes from tonite's class… CSFD is on pace to DOUBLE total fire and EMS calls in a 15 year period from 2013 to 2028.

Those Fire Station are yours/ours. The equipment, the engines, all of it. Fire Station #7 has approximately $2,000,000 worth of cost savings to the taxpayer associated with the project. Everyone at the city is doing more with less.

Yes mistakes have been made in decision-making in the past. I'll be first to admit it. No city hall is not perfect by any means. But I can't find any strategic errors in public safety. Everybody is working their tails off trying to stay on top of unprecedented growth.

My $.02, respectfully.

- yancy

Bob Yancy said:

---

I'm referring to more than retail establishments, albeit I appreciate them all. I'm referring to industry, professional and technical job creation and a deeper diversification of our job creation engine, so to speak. I'm referring to entertainment options for families beyond game days and Northgate.

---

I dig that vocal voters often indicate that they expect you to do something to steer the economy this way or that way. Some indicate "we need to diversify our industry beyond just the University" or some other thing. But there are very good reasons to think that attempts to do that kind of thing are seriously misguided. I do not expect you or anyone else to read it. But Hayek probably said it best.

https://www.econlib.org/library/Essays/hykKnw.html

The information needed to make decisions is impossible to aggregate for a central decision maker. Even though the folks in city hall are some of the most informed about general goings on here, they do not have anywhere near the insight that individual citizens have about the situation on the ground. And those individual citizens have a hard enough time figuring what to do as it is. City Hall, as bright as y'all are, does not stand a chance.

But key information about what y'all could do differently: there is a massive collection of some of the brightest people in the world on that campus on the north side of town. Making it easier to unlock the potential there is the best thing y'all can do.

I don't know exactly what will come out of it if y'all remove road blocks. But I have an idea.

If it becomes easier for entrepreneurs to connect with skilled students and faculty and give them easy access to job opportunities in their off-time (betwen classes, after 5pm, summers), that would be massive. I cannot overstate how big that could be; Silicon Valley of the Texas type stuff. A froth of new businesses, satellite offices of established firms who know a good opportunity when they see it, etc.

The combination of reasonable proximity to Houston and Austin for the occasional business meeting or world class entertainment act is pretty solid. And being walking distance from a massive talent pool that is super-skilled, super-energized, and super-hungry for experience in cutting edge-industries is something that smart entrepreneurs know is immensely valuable.

But it doesn't work as well when things are pushed out to business parks 5+ miles from where the action obviously should be (just off campus). Making thousands of people drive or bus like that when they could be doing super productive stuff is such a waste. For sure, some businesses do it. And often they do pretty well. But if you want to see something amazing, unlock the gold mine by letting complimentary activity happen near that school.

With respect to recreation options, entrepreneurs are pretty good at figuring out what is an effective use of resources to entertain folks. And key to that is probably variety. A bunch of different churches, MMA gyms, Kindermusics, restaurants of all kinds, juice joints, coffee shops, Grand Station, etc. are not as easy to see as a big convention center. But a plethora of options put forward by entrepreneurs trying to figure out how to get big value out of low costs are going to do a better job than y'all in city hall could possibly do. And it isn't because y'all are bad or stupid or anything. There is just too much to know. Landlords, developers, and entrepreneurs all coordinating using prices in a market economy to figure out what to do where is an incredible system for figuring that kind of thing out.

When anyone tries to outdo markets they don't stand a chance in the long term.

Those entrepreneurs can do more with $40 million than you can imagine. When the City takes that kind of money from taxpayers to spend on a ballpark, YMCA, or convention center, we don't know precisely what we are losing, but it is big. Much bigger than the benefit those projects bring. Another thing I don't expect anyone to read, but Bastiat made this point super well.

https://fee.org/resources/that-which-is-seen-and-that-which-is-not-seen

Diverting resources to encourage industry that might as well be in Hearne, Huntsville, or Houston is an incredible waste. Redirecting tens of millions in an attempt to turn CS into a hub for regional-class entertainment when Austin and Houston are pretty convenient options is a multimillion dollar misstep.

College Station (and Bryan) have a peculiar opportunity centered on that giant school. Remove the road blocks to taking advantage of those massive opportunities and you'll see prosperity pop in a huge way. It is damn near a national tragedy that we aren't taking better advantage of what we have going on here.

Bob,
Thank you for trying your best on this issue.

It was no surprise that when the City hires a consultant that builds recreation facilities to study "if" if a rec center is needed, the consultant concludes "yes!".

I think your cost estimate was way low. A&M spent $35M for the South Campus Rec Center and that does not include a pool. I can't imagine what the operating cost will be.

What property will go off the tax roles to construct this grand facility?