Hilarity in Huber Heights

A recent Dayton Daily News headline read, “Huber expected to OK $1.25 million in music center upgrades”. Of course they were. The boondoggle isn’t even built yet, and Huber Heights’s rulers are already upgrading it. But this was a fait accompli. The history suggests Huber’s rulers met with Music and Event Management, Inc. executives, the boondoggle’s eventual manager, smoked $100 cigars and drank 90-year-old scotch purchased with taxpayers’ money, and agreed to use this music venue boondoggle to soak the taxpayers of Huber Heights for every penny they could loot from them before proposing the project.

The article’s sub-head reads, “Supporters say additional work will pay for itself”. Of course they do. They always say that. They said the same thing about their aquatic center boondoggle. The DDN tells how that is working out, “Attendance at the Kroger Aquatic Center at The Heights has dipped again for the second year in a row...” It also reports, “In 2013, the aquatic center — 8625 Brandt Pike — had a net loss of $35,159 and drew 29,282 people with 201 season passes.” So it lost money two years in a row, two out of three it’s been in existence. Rulers blame the weather without mentioning the inherent inability of socialists to perform economic calculation and therefore to effectively manage any project. Taxpayers are the gift Huber’s rulers force to keep on giving.

Sure, this summer was cool, as was last summer. If an investor lost his own money on a pool project because he didn’t do his homework to determine the Earth was entering a cool climate cycle, nobody else would get hurt. But since rulers steal money from taxpayers in the form of taxes, every taxpayer in Huber Heights is getting hurt by this pool boondoggle and now the music boondoggle.

After reviewing how Huber’s rulers hoodwinked taxpayers into paying for this boondoggle, the evidence it was a scam from the beginning is overwhelming. First, the rulers misled taxpayers about the cost. On Dec. 7, 2012 the DDN reported, “A $10 million music center has been proposed to anchor the $220 million Heights development here, and construction could start as early as next year, city officials said.” Three days later the DDN reported the price mysteriously nearly doubled to $18 million. It’s not credible Huber’s rulers learned the real price immediately after publicizing a grossly wrong one.

At the same time they compared it to Riverbend Music Center in Cincinnati. They allocated $100,000 to a management company to determine feasibility which turned out to be the same company that ran Riverbend and now manages Huber’s boondoggle. That’s a shameless conflict of interest. You’d have to be hopelessly naive not to realize this deal was pre-determined before anything was reported. Every meeting, every so-called debate on this boondoggle, has been a sham.

On March 5, 2013, the DDN reported Goodsports Enterprises would build a hotel and sports complex next to the boondoggle. Rulers led Huber’s taxpayers to believe the boondoggle was already producing benefits. That turned out to be phony too. The reality is rulers secretly paid for Goodsports to be part of their boondoggle, but Goodsports never committed to show up. The DDN reports, “Huber Heights officials are investigating why the city spent nearly $300,000 to prepare a building pad for GoodSports Enterprises’ $22 million fieldhouse/hotel — when the development agreement did not require it.” So the same rulers who made and paid for the deal are supposedly investigating themselves to discover why they did it. This scam is so transparent, they should be embarrassed. Meanwhile, Goodsports is a no-show. I apologize to Huber‘s taxpayers who are being robbed, but I can’t help but laugh.

The subsequent “scandal” regarding the “proposed” $1.25 million VIP upgrades makes me laugh out loud. While pretending they hadn’t yet decided to fund the upgrades, Huber’s rulers were already secretly paying for them. The DDN reports, “The two change orders totaling $323,751 impacting the two main concession stands and the VIP concession stand were approved in May and June of this year.” City council subsequently, unanimously approved the additional spending. Big surprise. The outrage and debate exhibited over discovering those payments was another scam. This boondoggle was going to cost $19.25 million, that we know of, all along.

Huber’s rulers have Romanesque delusions of grandeur. In a region where extravagant looting by local rulers is the norm, Huber Heights stands out, and there are negative consequences. The DDN reports, “Huber Heights officials are in the early stages of looking to revitalize the center of town that city leaders say points to a commitment to the entire community and not just the growth north of Interstate 70.” Baloney. This shows Huber’s rulers have looted Huber Heights into decline to enrich themselves and their cronies, and they plan to continue, using the town’s center next. Nobody can loot others into prosperity.

I compliment the DDN on dozens of articles conveying Huber’s rulers’ perspective. Unfortunately, it hasn’t reported any other perspective, let alone the full story.