What we've got here...is a failure to communicate.
Sometime in the near future the City Council will sit down with the High Priests of the Church of EcDev to discuss what is being described by both sides as a "breakdown in communication."
What caused this breakdown is unclear, but I have an idea.
Currently, the MDC board had assigned a one-on-one system of informing the council: a board member partnering with a council member.
Is it just me (a rhetorical question, so shut up) or is this the system of communication you would use if you purposely wanted to create as many mixed signals as possible between the Council and the MDC?
Ask any law enforcement officer how many accounts he can get from x number of eye-itnesses to an incident of any kind. The number of version is always closer to x than it is to 1. So now we have six possible twists on a project coming out of the MDC and, using my own bastardized version of Magic ChamberMath we have a multiplier effect when it hits the seven council members.
Personally, I don't think that that is where the breakdown of communication occured.
The problem could be more serious than that. I have yet to read anywhere or get any kind of indication that the amount of information that the council received from the MDC on the Dean Baldwin Painting deal was any less or different than than what they have received on any other deal handled by the MDC.
On the Council's end, does the council really have a more intimate knowledge of the operations of Trace Engines than they do of Dean Baldwin's or were they just suitably comforted by the fact that is owned and operated by favored local friendlies including a former council member and former Chamber President?
And on the MDC's end, you have to get the feeling that they were shocked that the council would feel it necessary to have more information than was provided them by the MDC.
And on the public's side...why did the Dean Baldwin Painting Deal ultimately fail? Did it fail because information became available to the council that it was not that keen of a deal?
Or was it because that information became available to everyone?
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: What we've got here...is a failure to communicate..
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.jessicaswell.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1775
5 Comments
Okay , okay..I concede that one a.m. is not my finest hour for commenting , Wals , but you guys do this every year ! Disappear from the planet Earth and I have to scour the obits hoping nothing has befallen any of you ! Shame ! Continue this practice and I will be forced to continue mine ..so there !
I know all is well at the Well when I can see a publicity photo of Strother Martin leading off the article..and as for said article....
Ospurt and you did MUCHO research in a mornings time..(you say fifteen minutes but getting the information out there took a few hours..and I seriously doubt the folks on the council are as computer savvy as youse guys..so I didn't expect any revelations or clarification's from their end)
I would be curious to see the number of hits to JW after the two of you brought to light some of the prior dealings of DBP ..AND.. I credit the turndown of the DBP deal directly to the work done here at JW .
As to your closing questions , I say yes to the first . To say yes to the second brings us dangerously close to folding aluminum hats.
Regarding the one-on-one between the council and the MDC ,I am unable to comment as when I read this mornings paper I fell from the chair laughing so hard I may have injured a rib or two and am still suffering from the giggles ( If the soreness does not recede in 24 hours I have the number of a lawyer in Odessa...)
ENOUGH ! Welcome back ! I leave now suffering from the craving of hard-boiled eggs..yum.
There is a certain level of incompentence that the MDC is being allowed. The MDC either knew about the shortcomings of Dean Baldwin or they didn't. Either way, they made the MDC board and the council look stupid.
Still, even after this blog provided numerous red flags about Dean Baldwin, the board still chose to pass that deal.
You do have to question whether the MDC and its board got used to the Council rubber-stamping its decisions. Just like they acted dumbfounded that the Council would require more detailed briefings more often. Who's calling the shots at the MDC anyway? The Council, the board, the Chamber president, other influential Midlanders?
Maybe it's time economic Development in Midland got a new start. Maybe it is time for the Council to take the chamber out of the equation. The chamber has gotten sloppy and Midland deserves better.
With the cost of a barrel of crude at 126.00 and the potential for crude at 200.00..Why are we now having this discussion of Economic Development ? Seems like we should be shoring up existing companys to prepare for any possible fall in the world price (which I don't for a second believe will happen as people gobble up the Euro for American dollars).
We need to be having a reserve of cold ,hard cash that will tide us over for a few YEARS for the payment of the city ,PLUS hospital, school and other applicable expenses .. to get us through any economic BUST (as we have had) to keep our city operating in the black WITHOUT sticking it to property owners who can not liquidate their property to pay taxes..ala 1985 .
I do not feel a "bust" in the future , but it sure would be a comfy sensation that the city has a savings account desiginated for such an emergency...and it could not be changed to put the money for other uses..like new highschools with clock towers and fountains downtown etc.
I just wish ALL our taxing entities would get together and decide whats best for the people of Midland rather than their little carved out fiefdoms.
Then again if wishes were horses the poor would ride...BAH !
Wasn't communication with the public and fighting mis-informative blogs a top issue in the TIPS strategy the MDC paid top dollar for from a group of out-of-town consultants?
Yep, more money well spent.
Happy...er....Mother's Day, Otto!