As was expected, the City Council has approved the Midland Development Corporation's recommendation to subsidize with public funds the construction of a parking garage for Basic Energy Services' Permian Place real estate development.

Up until this point I had been pretty much convinced that the Midland Development Corporation was purchasing with our tax dollars no marginal utility whatsoever for either the taxpayers of Midland nor the development of downtown.

After all, the new and purportedly much needed parking facility will sit directly across the street from the single largest parking structure in all of Midland, the Wells Fargo parking garage. With a walkthrough of the Wells Fargo parking garage any weekday afternoon you can count over 150 empty parking spaces, not including the entire roof.

Within a block or two to the north or northwest of the the proposed Permian Place garage sit a couple of large, essentially empty parking lots.

The Permian Place tenants themselves would require a parking facility but the developers had already incorporated that into their plans for the site, albiet a smaller garage.

What it comes down to is that there was no demand signal at all from the market for additional public parking at this location. There was only a recommendation from hired consultants for increased infrastructure in the downtown central business district.

So what marginal utility did the MDC get for spending $2,000,000 of tax money?

Was it the catalyst for the project in the first place? Or did it help revive a stalled project? The answer to both of these questions is obviously no.

Basic Energy Services would have gone ahead with its $15 million "Permian Plaza" project downtown without the Midland Development Corp.'s $2 million incentive, but the 440 space parking garage would have been smaller and would not have included public parking, Basic CEO-President Ken Huseman said Tuesday after the Midland City Council approved the contract.

[snip]

"We knew what we were getting into cost-wise and didn't go into it assuming we would get any development money; but the incentive allows us to make the garage a little bigger and provide parking for downtown."

In short, the only thing that we got for our $2,000,000 is some additonal public parking for which there is no market demand.

Now this subsidy does come with some strings attached.

Chamber of Commerce Economic Development Vice President Mike Hatley said the MDC's requirement for Basic to retain at least 50 jobs -- about half of its current staffing level -- was less important than the company's investment in infrastructure.

Draconian, huh?

Moving down the article some more....

The plan calls for the modernization of Basic's headquarters at 511 W. Ohio Ave., to be called "Permian Two," the influx of retail stores and restaurants at the new "Permian One" in the Hightower Building at 600 W. Illinois Ave. and parking garage where the old Pecos, or "Belt Buckle," Building stood at 300 N. Pecos St.

Wait a minute....did the planners of Permian Place anticipate an influx of retail stores and restaurants but decide not to provide any parking in their facility for them, or is it just hoped that the additional parking spaces that the MDC just spent $2,000,000 on will now cause them to appear in Permian One?

Finally, this is either a misquote or a total disconnect from Mr. Huseman's quote above:

"The big thing was getting a $15 million redevelopment project going," [Chamber of Commerce Economic Development Vice President Mike] Hatley said. "It will be valued much higher than what the taxpayers pay and we'll be getting rid of the dilapidated old Belt Buckle Building. Even if Basic were bought out, those improvements will be there regardless of what happens."

Mr. Huseman is quoted in the beginning of the article that the project would have gone on with no involvement from the MDC. All parties involved know this to be true. Which inherently means that, Mr. Hatley's comments regarding "what the taxpayers pay" notwithstanding, the MDC's and the Council's actions have actually decreased the return to the taxpayers on Permian Place by exactly the amount of the handout.

"We'll be getting rid of the old Belt Buckle Buckle Building."

Referring to the Belt Buckle Building as if it still stands is just....I can't even think of a word for it. And there is no "we" here. Neither the MDC nor the taxpayers had a hand in getting rid of the Belt Buckle Building. Basic Energy Services (much to their credit) is 100% responsible for that and any language or narrative that infers otherwise is a ham-fisted misappropriation of credit.

Godspeed, Basic Energy Services, may your development downtown prove wildly succesful.

For what it is worth, Basic is a good company with good people, and if we are to be handing out what are essentially cash prizes and tribute then they may as well get some of it.