An "Orchestrated" Public Forum: As pointed out by Juan Montoya of "El Rrun Rrun" that was not a true public forum at ITEC May 15 about SpaceX. When you rehearse your words collectively at the First Bank of Fred Rusteberg, sometimes known as IBC, with the first few dozen 3-minute presentations carefully orchestrated, it is not a true public forum. It is an infomercial. The only thing missing was canned applause.
The Art of Negotiation: When you realize you have something desirable to a corporate entity, you negotiate from strength. We have something you want. How much are you willing to pay for it? Showing up at an a negotiating session, wearing the logo of the company across the table comes off as desperate, amateurish. Elon Musk has not given a penny to Cameron County. Why would city and county leaders act as if they're already part of the company, sporting the company's logo on their blazers? What message does that send? How do you negotiate now?
Mayor Tony's "due diligence": Mayor Tony Martinez stated that he'd done his "due diligence" on SpaceX. What does that mean. Did the mayor do a personal environmental impact study? Does he know the effect of a huge rocket explosion on all of the flora, fauna, and creature life of Boca Chica? Does he know where the huge amounts of "gray water" will be coming from necessary for cooling? What about the effects of trucks transporting rockets, fuel and supplies out to the site on the fragile two-lane made up of depression era concrete sections with a thin asphalt overlay? With all due respect, the only "due diligence' possibly completed by Tony would be of a financial nature, if at all.
No More from Rene Oliveira on SpaceX: As reported on two blogs and backed up by quotes from a letter by his own Chief of Staff, everything Oliveira said at ITEC was either irrelevant, inaccurate or both. The legislation he supported that failed in 1998 was for a Space Port. The legislation he "helped" pass in 1999 was for a Space Port. The proposed launch site at Boca Chica is not for a space port. The bill he "supported" last session to limit the liability of manned space craft is also irrelevant. No manned flights are even proposed here. What Oliveira said about the State of Texas contributing 3.2 million to get the site "shovel ready" is flat out wrong. Rene, please save yourself the embarrassment of any more public comments about SpaceX.
The Psychology of Elon Musk: Musk threw a psychological curveball in Cameron County's direction by naming as one of his primary prerequisites to doing business with us would be the warmth our community showed for his proposal. For our desperate, psychologically weak community, this was the perfect pitch. He turned the negotiation around from listening carefully to what he could offer our community to seeing how high we could collectively jump.
Perceived Economic Impact: Sports stadiums and franchises, convention centers, industrial zones are sold every day with the lure of economic impact. From the amount spent in a week by a visiting Little League team to the amount tax revenue generated by the Dallas Cowboys Stadium, it is almost always greatly exaggerated. Don't buy it at face value. Alltel Arena was sold to Little Rock on the basis that it would lift an impoverished region out of the ghetto. Twenty years later, one block from the arena is still ghetto.
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My best friend just left Brownsville and moved out of state because there were no jobs here. didn't say if she would ever come back
ReplyDeleteI understand the concerns about SpaceX, and agree with this "Musk threw a psychological curveball in Cameron County's direction by naming as one of his primary prerequisites to doing business with us would be the warmth our community showed for his proposal. For our desperate, psychologically weak community, this was the perfect pitch. He turned the negotiation around from listening carefully to what he could offer our community to seeing how high we could collectively jump."
Yes, we are DESPERATE. There are no jobs here, and the only way to get on is to be a nieto or nieta of somoene. Or keep your MOUTH SHUT if you work at the county or city or BISD and your boss is stealing, or the Commissioner giving the county's caliche free to his murderer family. The Cameron County Democrats promising jobs again like we didn't hear that for 20 years from Solomon Ortiz. Oliveira making speches and having the facts all wrong. Come on, we cannt afford to lose this one because of the usual incompetence.
Why I support this:
ReplyDelete1. Good paying jobs and the prospect that the engineering and technical work could go to graduates of the Science & Engineering school at UTB, to keep our grads here. Elementary and high school kids with an interest in science and physics having the opportunity to intern at there in the summers and do hands on science projects for class.
2. Homes and properties will be sold to people getting these jobs, including those moving to the valley to work at the launch station
3. Property values will increase, not because the county is raising them with no good justification but because new jobs, new restaurants, new industry will drive the purchase of property and investment nearby
4. Watching the launches from the island or boca chica beach will be fun and promote interest in our area
5. Once a month launches is not something that scares me into believing the area around this site will be utterly devastated. An airport causes dead birds on a daily basis. This is just once a month. An enviro impact study is necessary though.
6. Boca chica beach is gross. Hopefully the launch watchers will drive an interest in keeping it cleaner and encourage upscale restaurants and better roads to be built.
7. The economic impact likely isn't all they are promising. Example I do not believe 10,000 people will line up every month to watch a launch. But good paying jobs will be created, people will buy homes near their jobs and it will drive some, perhaps only a moderate amount of investment and tourism our way. Better than nothing.
BTW that guy, Elon Musk is one of the geniuses of the 21st century. I can't believe I missed the presentation I would have loved to meet him!! Musk is a physicist/economist, co-founder of PayPal, Tesla motors founder (the Tesla Roadster was featured on the cover of Time in December 2006 as the recipient of the magazine's "Best Inventions 2006—Transportation Invention" award), his other SpaceX station was used as a set in the Iron Man movie and he came out in a cameo in the movie. Everything the man touches turns to gold. This isn't the usual GBIC promotional crap this SpaceX proposal is a rare opportunity.
ReplyDeleteNot true
ReplyDeleteThis man is only hitting 20% of the time and loves to take money from the tax payers
The White House also announced in 2009 that Fisker “estimates it will build 75,000-100,000 of these highly efficient vehicles every year by 2014.
Fisker has sold just over 400 of the Finland-built Karma cars to date.
Last month, with the memory of the Solyndra loan-guarantee scandal still fresh, the U.S. government froze Fisker’s access to the loan funds, citing the company’s failure to meet intermediate milestones.
“They won’t release any more money, given where their at with the programs,” company spokesman Roger Ormisher told Bloomberg News on Feb. 7.
Tesla Motors, another electric-car pioneer whose main investors include Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin and PayPal co-founder Elon Musk, also received a $465 million government loan guarantee.
Just saying guys
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/09/karma-107k-plug-in-hybrid-dies-on-test-track-company-got-528m-us-loan-guarantee/#ixzz1uSrpPcRE
‘Karma’: $107k plug-in hybrid dies on test track, automaker got $528m US loan guarantee
Realtors don't give a damn about anything but developing everything in sight and trying to keep property values up. Self interest, nothing more.
ReplyDeleteThank you for providing intelligent debate about this proposed facility. but as the saying goes don't look a gift horse in the mouth. We need these jobs more than we need to bash Elon Musk, a rocket scientist and economist. The major auto developers Ford GM Chrysler in America are on life support from the government. These loans are minor compared to the ones being sent to Michigan. And it says something about Musk's ability to bring federal money to his projects when they need it, rather than what we do here, which is tax the poorest people in America to build new buildings for Juliet or whatever.
ReplyDeleteBrownsville: Lets keep electing Rene for another 30 years!
ReplyDelete