http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showpost.php?p=4380497&postcount=28 Three years later, almost to the day, and guess what: I wasn't wrong. Anyone who poured a significant amount of money into this was dreaming. Or as a wise man once said, "A fool and his money were lucky to get together in the first place."
Sometimes, but not very often, it is difficult to prove it was a scam, they can hide behind consultants fees and them really TRYING to raise the other money. These things happen all the time, unfortunately. DD
So when will something happen to the Astroworld graveyard? I thought the reason they tore it down was because the land was "so valuable".
It has almost no value and here is why. 1. HLSR from what I have heard, keeps thwarting attempts of others purchasing the land. Of course the inherent value to them is Rodeo parking. For 18 days out of the year that spot is a goldmine, whether its the 15 dollar charge to park or the additional space people can use who will eventually spend money at their racket. 2. Terribad entry situation from the freeway. Basically 1 freeway exit is used, or a U-Turn from the other side. It really isnt a user friendly location, if you were to build your own parking lot. Which leads me to point 3. 3. What could even go there? Whatever it is, needs to be big enough to justify a lot of that size to purchase. On top of that, whatever it is would have to build its own parking lot or garage...since I am sure Reliant Park would not readily sacrifice parking spots for some other form of entertainment disassociated with its own interests. Its a bezoar...plainly and simply a bezoar. I has no value except as rodeo parking and they only closed Astroworld due to the sharp raise in Gang Violence. (Thank you Coca-Cola for the buy 1 get 1 free promotions ) Itll be empty for ever. Until I buy it and turn it in to a series of gaudy LED billboards
That's the value. Parking lot $ > Astroworld $. We always knew that, nobody expected anyone to build anything there.
Don Lessem, EarthQuest founder As a lifetime dinosaur educator (see Dinodon.com) I had a dream of a dinosaur attraction and then an environment institute/theme park which I looked to EMCID and Marlin/Atlantis developers to make happen. I'm writing to help separate truth from fiction in the many accounts I see of Earthquest, both its charitable institute and theme park. In brief, it's still possible, in my view the institute was badly managed, and there may have been fraud involved by developer of the theme park, Marlin/Atlantis, about which East Montgomery County Development authorities did not do sufficient background checking. But the concept itself is not, and never was, a scam. East Montgomery County remains a great place for a theme park, and a very kind and supportive community. They deserve better in results and disclosure than they've gotten to date from the project leaders. It is still a possibility, as a reputable developer is now teamed with the very experienced theme park design company, Contour Entertainment to acquire land and seek funding for the entire project. This is what should have happened nearly seven years ago. Personally, I received NOTHING but very slow reimbursement of low-budget travel expenses from years of work on the project, sometimes in exchange for forfeiting creative rights as I was searching for, and often finding, top nonprofit advisors, pro bono lawyer, and valuable strategic partners, none of whom were properly used. I put my views of the mismanagement of the nonprofit and recommendations for action into its records, and they were not acted upon. I first resigned the chairmanship several years ago and then the nonprofit board entirely some two years ago and never was paid for serving the board. I don't think it's accurate to tar me or underpaid scientist advisor Matt Gardner with the same brush that should be used on some of the others involved in this project who have profited and lived well on public funds. EMCID's expenses and due diligence are certainly open to question, but they also did their best to encourage investment in this and other projects in the region, and have produced, I gather, results otherwise. I encourage those looking into EarthQuest's managerial history to look further into its records, but also to be careful to learn the facts before making any accusations. I do still hold out hope, as I know many do, that this very worthwhile concept will come to reality in East Montgomery County. If it does, then the community will realize what it deserves - many benefits far in excess of both the money legitimately spent, and irresponsibly misspent, to date on EarthQuest. I'm happy to answer any further questions that readers may have, though I was often not kept up to date on EarthQuest's doings. Best wishes, Don Lessem
Whoever you are (obviously not Don Lessem), will you please paste a link to this statement you copied and pasted? Thanks.
Nice, but I think pretty much everyone in this thread (besides Scarface281) was predicting this would never get off the ground. So you're basically bragging about correctly predicting the Astros wouldn't win the World Series last year. BTW, still haven't heard from Scarface281......
No, it wasn't a mistake. It had become a place that money-spending families AVOIDED, instead of wanting to go. That equaled death for Astroworld. A new park should be built though - a city of this many people is under-served by not having large-scale entertainment facilities like that. However, it needs to be located more centrally, and the statistics show that the 'population center' in the Houston region is in the Katy area. That geographical area would be the most profitable and most likely to succeed.
actually, they (six flags) were in a lot of debt and the land became very valuable. More of their parks were sold around the nation than just AstroWorld, around the same time. AW wasn't doing great, but that was not the biggest reason for its removal.
Dude, whoever you are, try to understand: everyday consumers - ie THE PEOPLE YOU WOULD DEPEND ON TO BE SPENDING MONEY AT THIS PLACE - do not give a rat's a$$ about 'eco-infotainment'. They don't. And they won't. There are already enough churches in the area, people have no shortage of places to go where they can be preached at. Absolutely nobody is going to spend money to go to a pretentious holier-than-thou place to be inundated by insufferable hogwash about how bad human beings are for the planet, how guilty we should feel about being alive and living our day to day lives, and how we are evil if we don't change. That's not entertainment. That sounds like punishment to me. I can see it now - 'Hey kids! Cmon, it's time to go to EarthQuest Adventures!' 'Noooo! Dad please!! We'll do anything! Don't make us go there again! We HATE that place!' I dunno, maybe it's just me. Maybe I am totally wrong, and that place would be a smash hit. How many OTHER successful large-scale 'eco-infotainment complexes' are there in the world? Must be hundreds of em.
