Category Archives: business news

business news, local news

Mayor creates a scene where none was needed

mayor and nair

I know that politicians hate hypotheticals … at least that’s what they say.

Here’s one anyway.

You’re a business owner looking for a place to relocate your business. You hear that Amarillo is a business-friendly city with an economic development agency that parcels out sales-tax revenue to new businesses looking to expand local payrolls.

You think: Hey, that sounds like a good place to live and work.

Then  you hear about the City Council’s current state of dysfunction. You understand that three new council members joined the panel in the spring of 2015. Two incumbents got ousted; a third council member didn’t run for election. The three new guys have butted heads with the two holdovers publicly.

One of the council holdovers then announces he is leaving the city this summer. The council puts out a call for applicants. They get 14 of them; the council winnows them down to five finalists. Then word hits the street one of the finalists has put out some unflattering and insulting social media commentary. The council is getting pressure to rethink whether to interview this individual.

And on top of all that, the mayor storms out of an executive session, declaring to the public that he doesn’t “trust the process.”

Is this still the place where you want to relocate your business?

Maybe … then again, maybe not.

I mention this because of Mayor Paul Harpole’s demonstration of petulance this week. He knows how much I respect him and that I generally support his agenda for the city. He’s a good man with a solid personal history; I consider him a “brother,” given his Vietnam War experience.

Harpole is a passionate advocate for Amarillo and if you’ve ever listened to his speech about downtown redevelopment efforts, you might be inclined stand and cheer.

I just wish he hadn’t made such a show of the executive session episode, which well might have telegraphed to business owners just like my hypothetical example that Amarillo’s municipal government is in a state of serious dysfunction.

Amarillo doesn’t have a “strong mayor” form of government. The mayor casts one vote that carries precisely the same weight as the other four City Council members. The mayor, though, does preside over meetings of the governing council and is in a position to exert his “bully pulpit” authority over the rest of the body.

I haven’t discussed the events leading up to this spate of pique with the mayor. They did occur in private session, so he’s not obligated to say what happened when the council was meeting in secret.

Perhaps he thought he was making an appropriate political statement by leaving the session in the hands of his colleagues.

He also well might have made another kind of statement about the quality of leadership that exists at City Hall.

I fear the mayor has inflamed an already inflammatory environment.

business news, local news, State news

Severance pay for state employees?

Golden-Parachutes

No doubt you’ve heard it said that “we ought to run government like a business.”

Most of the time, that’s merely a cliché that doesn’t deserve to be taken seriously.

Then again, you get an exception to the rule. Take the case of state agencies paying what amounts to “severance pay” to public employees who resign their public jobs.

As the Texas Tribune reports, the practice in Texas is likely to vanish during the next legislative session … as it should.

https://www.texastribune.org/2016/05/27/analysis-expense-texas-taxpayers-carries-no-explan/

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office has paid such severance to several former staffers. Paxton doesn’t call it “severance.” He calls it “emergency leave” pay.

What the bleep is the difference?

This is outrageous. It ought to stop. It’s a waste of valuable public money that the state keeps harping about that it doesn’t have.

I happen to know a bit about how private business handles these issues. It’s a whole lot less generous — in a case with which I am intimately familiar — than it is in the public sector.

In August 2012 I received some shattering news from a hired gun brought in to manage the “reorganization” of the newspaper where I was working at the time. We were told we could apply for any job we wanted. I chose to apply for the job I’d been doing at the Amarillo Globe-News for nearly 18 years; I thought I was doing a pretty good job.

Not long after being interviewed twice by the management team at the newspaper, the hired gun called me into his office and said:  “There’s no easy way to say this, but we’ve decided to give your job to someone else.” The “someone else” also had applied for the same position, so my employer went with him. I was out.

I chose to resign on the spot rather than apply for another position and face the remote possibility of getting hired for that. I was qualified to do one thing at the newspaper, but I didn’t do it well enough to suit my employer.

During what amounted to an exit interview the next morning with my soon-to-be former boss, I asked about a severance. He all but laughed in my face.

I walked out.

That’s how it’s done in private business. You resign, you don’t get a severance, man. Ross Ramsey, writing for the Texas Tribune, says private businesses do offer such severance deals, but they come with a price. Ramsey writes:

“In the business world, departing employees are sometimes given a golden parachute in exchange for their silence — a ‘thanks for all you’ve done’ along with a ‘keep your trap shut about what happened here.’” I didn’t get that, so I’m free to blab.

But, when someone leaves a government job in Texas, they qualify for “severance” or “emergency leave.”

Give me a break.

End the practice … as soon as possible.

business news, media news

Yes, it’s a cutthroat business

21tampapaper2-master675

Media companies operate in a highly competitive and often ruthless environment.

A take-no-prisoners approach to wheeling and dealing is commonplace. Consider the recent acquisition by the Tampa Bay Times of the Tampa Tribune. The Times bought the Tribune and then shut the paper down after a 123-year run on the other side of the Florida bay.

According to the New York Times article attached here, former Tribune employees felt betrayed by the takeover. They didn’t see it coming.

Well, let me be among the many individuals who’ve worked in print journalism to offer this bit of solace, not that it will soothe the pain: It could’ve been worse.

I worked for nearly 11 years for the Hearst Corporation, which has exhibited its own heavy hand in acquiring competing newspapers. Although I wasn’t affected directly by Hearst’s takeover strategy, I know many former colleagues who were.

In the late 1980s, Hearst was operating the San Antonio Light, which was in the midst of a nasty newspaper “war” with the San Antonio Express-News, which was owned by Rupert Murdoch’s company. Hearst decided to take the offensive, so the company moved the publisher of the Beaumont Enterprise, where I worked at the time, to San Antonio to take over as head man at the Light; I believe it was in 1988.

The new Light publisher — George B. Irish — was given the task of preparing for a serious corporate takeover.

Hearst decided to purchase Express-News — and then it promptly shut down the Light. Yes, the company “rewarded” its loyal employees, who had fought the good fight against the E-N, by giving almost all of them their pink slips.

A handful of Light hands were kept on. Most were let go. If memory serves, they were given severance packages. Still, the pain was palpable.

In 1995, Hearst went after the Houston Post. It purchased that paper, closed it down and left the state’s largest city with just one paper, the Chronicle, which Hearst already owned.

It’s a tough world, man.

I feel for my former colleagues in Tampa. Please know this: You are not alone.

business news, national news, political news

Trump’s wealth becomes issue of interest

donald

Does it really matter how much wealth Donald J. Trump has acquired?

Should voters really care? Should we concern ourselves with all of this?

Under normal circumstances, probably not. But here’s the thing: The presumptive Republican Party presidential nominee has been making his wealth an issue all along the primary campaign trail.

He brags about his “world-class business.” He boasts about how he built his company from scratch … although that’s not true. He shows off his opulent mansions.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/how-much-is-trump-worth-223329

We’re hearing now that Trump’s net worth is around $10 billion. No one has ever believed he has that kind of dough laying around. Trump filed a 104-page financial disclosure form — and he even bragged about that, calling it the largest such disclosure form in history.

As Politico reports: “Many of his assets and liabilities are simply too large — reaching far above the top disclosure threshold on the filing — for their value to be captured in the report. Trump, for instance, reported at least $315 million in liabilities on the form, many of which are loans and mortgages on his properties. The forms cover Trump’s last 17 months of financial activity.”

Where is all this going? I am not entirely clear, but ultimately it’s going to end up with discussion and debate about Trump’s tax returns, which he still has yet to release.

You see, this is what happens when the candidate makes a big deal of his material holdings. It mushrooms into realms that under normal circumstances wouldn’t necessarily be of voters’ concerns.

Voters knew that the Kennedy family was wealthy. The Kennedy men who ran for the nation’s highest public office — John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Ted Kennedy — didn’t make it an issue. Nelson Rockefeller’s family had acquired immense wealth as well. Rocky didn’t dwell on it, either.

Trump, though, makes his wealth an issue all … the … time.

I’m more interested in debating Trump’s views on the whole array of issues that should be front and center.

 

business news, local news

Downtown’s new look is taking shape

amarillo hotel

I don’t drive that often these days into downtown Amarillo.

So, when I get there I continue to be amazed at the changes that are underway.

I’ve heard about the construction of the Embassy Suites convention hotel and about the rising Xcel Energy business center a couple of blocks south of the new hotel.

However, I have to tell you that seeing the face of downtown Amarillo changing in real time is quite the sight. I went downtown this morning to interview someone for a story I’m writing for NewsChannel 10.com.

Between the hotel and the Xcel site there is a large hole in the ground. Crews have excavated the site where the next major structure is set to rise up: the parking garage.

I understand the city has booked a major convention next year after the Embassy Suites opens for business. There appears to be more on the way to the city.

Oh, yes. There’s also that ballpark that’s yet to be built.

I get that construction of these structures doesn’t guarantee anything by itself. However, let us consider the last time we’ve seen such a flurry of major construction activity occurring in our central business district all at once.

I don’t have quite the “institutional memory” that a lot of native Amarillo residents have, but 21 years living here is pretty sufficient. I’ve seen my share of change throughout the city in my time in Amarillo.

The sight of those structures rising up downtown gives me hope that even better days lie ahead.

 

business news, local news

Downtown mechanism needs attention

downtown

A former colleague and dear friend, the late journalist Claude Duncan, used to say, “There are about as many original ideas as there are original sins.”

That was his way of saying that it’s all right to capture others’ ideas and use them as your own.

I’ve heard some folks with expertise in civic development say out loud in Amarillo that they are concerned about the push to move the city’s downtown revival efforts forward. Chiefly, they wonder whether the machinery that had been set up to start the process has been dismantled too abruptly.

Here are some cases in point from those with whom I have spoken.

City Manager Jarrett Atkinson quit after determining he couldn’t work with the newly elected Amarillo City Council. City Hall also lost other key senior administrators, such as City Attorney Marcus Norris and Assistant City Manager Vicki Covey. They all played a key part in administering the city’s Strategic Action Plan that laid the foundation for what has transpired to date.

Downtown Amarillo Inc. executive director Melissa Dailey quit as City Hall absorbed many of the economic development activities that had been left to DAI.

Amarillo Economic Development Corporation CEO and president Buzz David has left his post. He, too, has been a key player in moving the downtown processes forward.

The Local Government Corporation has said goodbye to a lot of intellectual firepower, such as Amarillo lawyer Richard Brown, who is widely considered to be the godfather of the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone that has helped breathe new life into the downtown district.

Where do we stand now?

The LGC is moving forward with plans to develop the multipurpose event venue and ballpark. It has decided to pursue an affiliated minor-league baseball franchise and put that team into the downtown ballpark when it is built.

Construction has begun on the Embassy Suites convention hotel and the parking garage across the street from it. There appears to be a legitimate chance for a big announcement soon relating to the future of the long-abandoned Herring Hotel.

The MPEV price tag has escalated from $32 million to something north of $50 million. Yes, voters approved the lesser price  when they endorsed the citywide referendum this past November. The LGC, though, has signed on to the double-A baseball recruitment effort and has accepted that it requires a little more money to finance it.

Against the backdrop, though, of the dismantling of the machinery that set this process up, it is fair to wonder whether the city and its affiliated agencies have the know-how to finish the job that others have started.

The city is looking for a permanent city manager. DAI’s future is cloudy at best. The AEDC’s mission might be reconfigured as the city looks for a new executive director.

Moreover, the City Council itself will have to find someone to succeed Dr. Brian Eades, who’s leaving office this summer. Eades has been a stellar champion of downtown’s revival efforts and has been a staunch supporter of the multi-faceted apparatus that has been so critical in moving those efforts along.

I remain hopeful that the city will be able to take this process to the finish line.

I also am getting mildly nervous about the potential hazards that lie ahead and whether the newly created apparatus will be alert enough to avoid them.

 

business news, national news, political news

Release the tax returns already!

tax-return-form

Here’s how you give birth to rumor.

You refuse to do something that others in your position have done for decades. You then offer lame excuses for the refusal, which then start to breed gossip around the country about the alleged real reasons for the refusal.

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump is refusing to release his tax returns. He says the Internal Revenue Service is in the midst of an audit; the IRS responds that an audit does not preclude someone from releasing the returns.

Other candidates for the presidency have routinely released their returns for public review. It’s part of the examination process to which the public is entitled as they consider who should become the nation’s head of state and government and commander in chief.

Trump should release the returns. Now.

I am not going to weigh in on what’s been said by those who think Trump might be hiding something. Such allegations have come from, say, 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

This might seem like a diversion. It really isn’t.

The refusal to comply what’s been customary among presidential candidates speaks to the character of the candidate.

Recall that Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders balked initially at releasing his returns, and he faced questions from an inquiring public. He said his wife prepared them and he described the findings as “boring.” He finally did.

Trump has been bellowing for decades about his immense wealth. He’s boasted about what a “world-class businessman” he’s been.

Well, OK. Let’s open up the books and let the public see for itself.

The world is chock full of equally world-class certified public accountants and tax lawyers who can parse the details for us.

 

 

 

business news, local news, Sports news

Amarillo to make bid for AA baseball

baseball

I love it when public officials seek to remove doubt about their commitment.

A bit of doubt removal has taken place at Amarillo City Hall, where the City Council and its appointed Local Government Corporation appear headed toward building a better future for the city’s downtown business district.

http://www.newschannel10.com/story/31825077/amarillo-to-move-forward-with-bigger-costlier-mpev

The LGC has come up with a formula to build a baseball park downtown that won’t cost property taxpayers any more than what they’re paying now for municipal services.

The multipurpose event venue cost has been revised downward a bit, from $48 million to $44 million. Yes, it’s more than the $32 million stated on the city referendum ballot measure that voters approved this past November.

The payoff, though, well could be a AA minor league baseball team that would play in the shiny new MPEV set to be built across the street from City Hall at the site of the old Coca-Cola distribution center.

LGC officials are going to pitch the idea of hotel occupancy tax footing the bill, along with money There will be those who do not believe the city can support a AA baseball team.

I remain hopeful that the city is able to move this project forward and bring an Major League Baseball-affiliated minor league team to a city that has supported such an activity in the past.

As Mayor Paul Harpole has noted, there remains a lot of work ahead to make this deal come to fruition.

Some of us had concerns about the council’s commitment to continuing all the work that had been done to this point. Voters elected three new council members a year ago, all of whom had expressed some reservations about the MPEV and whether the downtown redevelopment proposals were worth the effort.

The LGC board, which bears the stamp of the new council, appears to be looking hard for ways to keep the momentum going.

As Harpole said: “When we look at the economic impact of this in our city and what it could bring,  it’s really an important way for us to move forward. I think we are looking at a bit of an historic day this day and next week when this is ratified.”

Let’s keep moving this project along.

 

business news, media news, national news, political news

Journalist shows his chops … and quits

2 Comments

a-review%20_0

John L. Smith had a problem I never encountered in my 37 years as a print journalist.

He worked for a media mogul who is far more than just a mere newspaper titan. Smith was a columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Then he quit when he was told his boss was off limits. He couldn’t comment on his doings.

Is that fair? I don’t believe so.

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/media/2016/04/8597612/las-vegas-review-journal-columnist-resigns

And just who was this man’s boss? Sheldon Adelson bought the R-J in 2015. He’s also a big-time casino owner and a political money man for Republican politicians.

Smith thought that he could comment on Adelson’s casino business and his political activity.

No can do, came the directive.

At one level, I’m somewhat relieved I never encountered that problem while working as a reporter and editor for three corporate owners.

The first one was in Oregon City, Ore., where my corporate boss was Ed Scripps, owner of Scripps League Newspapers. Then I moved to Beaumont, where I worked for the Hearst Corporation, which bought the paper late in my first year on the Gulf Coast; the mogul then was William Randolph Hearst Jr. Then I went to work in Amarillo, where the Globe-News is owned by Morris Communications; the head man there is William Morris III.

They all had tremendous influence within their spheres. The issue never came up on whether I could comment on their outside activities.

Although …

The current Globe-News publisher’s involvement with certain civic activities has raised questions in some quarters about whether the paper could look critically at those activities. Yes, I worked there during some of that time, but the issue didn’t present itself so directly that I ever considered quitting over it.

John L. Smith’s dilemma is quite interesting, given Adelson’s huge impact outside of the business he owns. It’s his political influence that ought to make the R-J’s owner fair game.

It’s not to be.

The case isn’t entirely simple. Smith had written about Adelson before and the casino mogul sued Smith for libel. The suit was dismissed, but Smith went bankrupt defending himself. The two men had issues.

Smith wrote in a letter to his colleagues: “In Las Vegas, a quintessential company town, it’s the blowhard billionaires and their political toadies who are worth punching. And if you don’t have the freedom to call the community’s heavyweights to account, then that ‘commentary’ tag isn’t worth the paper on which it’s printed.”

My hope for Las Vegas is that other media organizations will fill the vacuum left by John Smith’s resignation.

I applaud the man’s guts in quitting over a journalistic principle.

 

business news, national news

Tubman is a suitable symbol on the $20 bill

la-ed-tubman-20160420

Move over, Old Hickory.

Harriet Tubman is going to become the well-deserved face on one U.S. currency bill.

It’s not that former President Andrew Jackson wasn’t a consequential man during his two terms in the White House. He does, however, have a checkered history. Yes he was a war hero.

However, the Trail of Tears got its name for good reason. Jackson was responsible for driving Native Americans from their land, causing the deaths of countless numbers of Cherokee citizens. Is that a legacy to make one proud? No.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-harriet-tubman-20-bill-20160420-story.html

Tubman’s contribution is quite different. She was a leader in the Underground Railroad that helped lead enslaved Americans to freedom. She was a tireless fighter for African-Americans’ rights at a time when such advocacy put its champions — such as Tubman — at enormous risk of death.

Old Hickory will be continue to have his face on the back of the $20 bill. Tubman, though, is going to be on he front side.

In a related matter, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew also announced that one of his predecessors, Andrew Hamilton, will remain on the $10 bill. Good call there.

As for the $5 bill, do not even think about replacing Honest Abe Lincoln with anyone else. My goodness, the 16th president’s face is carved into Mount Rushmore.