I think we'll be posting on this for quite a while.

I am boggled (and, again, I have a high boggle threshold) by this "deal." I am astonished at the MDC's stooping to this level. Ospurt has documented the holes that are apparent from a high level just by reading the MRT article. As we dig, I hope the holes get filled in, but, the MDC has little credibility here.

I also thought it interesting that Mayor Perry said that this issue/deal would not be discussed at the upcoming council meeting (though I see that quote is not included in the online version of the story). Maybe the council will push back on the MDC on this one.

I also found it very curious that the Story in the MRT didn't include a single quote from a representative of Dean Baldwin, nor did the story mention that anyone from Dean Baldwin was present at the meeting.

If I was getting a sweet deal on a building lease I'd show up and have something to say about it.

Yeah, and where did that quote from Perry go? I think tabling the issue had more to do with the proximity of the City Council Meeting, and the speed of this deal.

Well, it is not like the MDC has a history of over-estimating demand. Okay, maybe it is.

So before we go and borrow $16 million to build several hangars for which the demand is stated as being high, a couple of questions come to mind.

1) If demand is in fact so high, why do we need the MDC to take over the building of hangars? Couldn't the city unilaterally build hangars at its own airport on its own land without involving the MDC? Just because the demand for hangars is stated as 'high' doesn't mean that the demand is high at the price the city would have to charge to cover the construction and cost of operations. It may a drain on the city's books....unless the project can be turned over to an entity that can use Magic Chambermath to create a false payout. Enter the Midland Development Corporation.

2) Even though Building A at the Entrada Business Park is not a hangar with tarmac frontage it is not entirely unrelated in that we should require some real answers as to why it goes unoccupied to date. There is a demand for like space in our area yet Building A (for whatever reason) obviously remains relatively unattractive to other alternatives. It is a building like so many others, and just as useful, so I have this suspicion that the MDC itself is placing terms on its occupancy by these prospective companies (price, industry type, job types, whatever) that the companies themselves are declining to subject themselves to.

Also, it looks like we are ejecting a rent paying customer to make way for Dean Baldwin Painting.

From the City Council Agenda for today (04/08/2008):

Consider a resolution authorizing the issuance of a sixty (60) day termination notice for the Commercial Hangar Lease agreement between the City of Midland and C.C. Western Inc. (dba Central Transport); C.C. Western Inc. is a trucking company and their activities are non-aeronautical in nature; due to recent economic development it is necessary to terminate the month-to-month tenancy with C.C. Western Inc., which leases a warehouse located at the Midland International Airport; the term of the initial lease agreement commenced on November 1, 2002 and expired on October 31, 2006; the lease was never extended by the City Council.

Shep:

If the Council can't push back on 'incenting' a company that has trouble paying rent, hires illegals to increase margins, has to wrangle a special deal with the state of New Mexico in order to pay back taxes, and is willing to jilt Roswell after all of the incentives delivered to them by the Roswell equivalent of the Midland Development Corporation, then their credulity is expanding at a rate faster than the universe itself.

You said it better than I could, Walser. I will cut the Council some slack over their meeting being a day after the announcement, per Ospurt, but I wonder if the timing was contrived as well.

See where that credulity and credibility thing gets you...I am even questioning a fairly logical inference on announcement timing. Sheesh. And I know several of these guys. They really are trying to do right by the city, but are blind to the consequences of their methodology.

Dear MDC: Just give me my money back boys, and no one gets hurt!

On the City Council's expanding credulity: it's expanding faster than a Midland oilman's ego when oil hits $100. I think that means we are approaching light speed.

What was that bumper sticker I used to see around Midland?

uhh O yah
"Please God let there be one more oil boom, I promise not to piss it away next time"

In response to your "story", I believe that you should take up a real job other than bantering and protesting about something that you only know half the story on. In all of your careful "research" I guess that it was conveniently neglected all of the positive things that an establishment the like of Dean Baldwin Painting could potentially bring to Midland. I would first like to state that although they may have had financial trouble with their Roswell facility, they have never had any financial trouble with their facility in Bulverde, TX where they also operate out of a "shared" airport. It should also be informed that in your opinion-motivated attempts to mislead others, you lack sufficient proof that Dean Baldwin Painting KNOWINGLY hired illegal immigrant workers to staff their facility (in a side note for a mild attempt at humor, let the record state that the above mentioned liberal is actually prodding "aliens" in a community renown for having them). The fact is that illegal immigrants reside and work everywhere across the U.S., and in vastly different occupations, especially more so in communities so close to border cities. There are only so many precautions you can take to prevent hiring such illegals, but their credentials improve with technology and business can only go so far without having discrimination becoming an issue. As for your closing comments about Dean Baldwin Painting being "downplayed" by a deal where they have the opportunity of "walking away anytime", obviously you are very unfamiliar with the term "BUSINESS" and how it works. Dean Baldwin Painting is not a public airline, it is a private airplane company. As with all other businesses, it only has the obligation to pay their rent and uphold the proper credentials required to keep and maintain their business. Providing their complimentary relationships and courteous service with individuals in and around the communities in which they are implanted should only be considered a good faith effort. In no given place in the free United States should any unsuccessful business be forced to suffer your personal expectation of continuing what could become a longterm failure for not only their business, but also for your community. Giving them the upper hand for walking away before things become worse in the event that their finances plummet isn't necessarily a bad thing. Maybe Midland looked at that as not having a repeat of the financial woes Dean Baldwin suffered in Roswell. I mean, what is the harm of them leaving if the demand for the hanger space is high, what is the big deal for you to personally attack that? Maybe you should just take the time to remember that RELATIONSHIPS are give AND take . . . Maybe you should turn off your monitor and calm from your banter and join a town hall once in a while, or at least show up just to give your excellent superego typing hand a chance to use an old fashioned ballpoint to write a better contract for them, considering as how you know much more about it than they do.

I'm going to say it one more time. When you come to the MDC, or any economic development corporation for funding, you are adding 100,000+ people to your board of directors. Every Midland Taxpayer is an interested party.

I'm not so concerned with what we found, yes it is troubling, but I highlight other issues with this deal that have nothing to do with DPB's trouble, in fact, this post you have responded to mentions them and then sets those aside. I would have welcomed the opportunity for ANYBODY in the know to explain this situation, not just to the MDC, but to the 100,000+ investors in this venture. However, there was no press conference, no official statement, nothing. We are left to have the recorded facts speak for themselves. I would have thought somebody would have put up more of a fight for $23M.

As for the escape clause, well, I want a little more security and peace of mind for a $23 Million dollar investment. This is not a standard business deal, where the only people hurt are those who have put their personal fortunes into the venture, but these are public funds.

Besides, I have said at least three times, that if the demand for the hangars is so high, then lets build them, regardless of the deal with DBP, but with the cooling down of talk locally, it seems DBP and the ED money might have been needed to make it economically feasible. Maybe you should have researched the MDC and seen that they have a two year old white elephant a couple of blocks away from these hangars, and they need a good long term tenant to re-coup some credibility. Did you ever look into that side of the relationship?

Truthfully, regardless of how good a citizen DBP might have been, nobody took the time to make the general public feel good about the deal. Nobody came out and did a little pre-marketing after a deal was decided on in principle with the MDC. This seems to be the way of these Economic Development groups, with all the "executive sessions" to work out the terms away from the public view.

Personally, I like those firms who are applying for an incentive that work the public sometime BEFORE the MDC blesses their deal. Countrywide and TRACE Engines did that in spades and combined they only received about $1M in economic benefit. [[Ohh... and I was for CountryWide, just not the division they were going to put here (subprime) and I have always been for TRACE engines.]]

At this point, this just seems like sour grapes directed to a few concerned citizens which were looking for a little more communication from our representatives and the companies they choose to incent.

Take the deal between MD Helicopter and Grayson County, at least everybody was selling the deal to the public before it happened...seems like a good business move.

I would like to propose not to hold back until you earn big sum of money to buy all you need! You should get the business loans or just commercial loan and feel free