http://www.ci.league-city.tx.us/documents/Finance/lc-bld1.gif Was home over the weekend and took a drive down to Galveston, and on the way, I noticed this new complex they are building on the Gulf Freeway in the LC. It looks awesome. Why didn't they have things like this when I was a kid? For those that don't know, its replicas of 6 parks, I think Ebbets, Wrigley, Sportsman PArk, Yankee Stadium, Fenway, and the Old Detroit stadium. Max, try to get your kids in a game here when they get old enough will you?
It's a f***ing ripoff for us citizens in League City. $19 million dollars for a sports complex. Oh look!....across the freeway! It's another sports complex, the one the city of League City built 6 years ago. Get this....$19 million dollars, and when it's built, we turn the operation over to the Big League Dreams company (out of California) to operate. They will get to keep 94% of the profits, and the city gets 6%. A lot of serious political pull was used to ram this thru, and heads will roll at the next election. I just want to be related to some of the city people who must be getting a huge kickback from this. More to come, busy right now.
Dreams for Big League audit strike out By Sarah Viren The Daily News Published November 9, 2004 LEAGUE CITY — Despite cost overruns of more than $5 million, it looks there will be no official audit of the Big League Dreams sports park. Councilman Keith Dill, who first pushed for a comprehensive review of the project, said no other city council members want to put the item on a meeting agenda. In July, at least Councilwoman Katie Benoit and Councilman Jon Keeney voiced support of the idea. Neither returned calls for comment Monday. Community members have also asked for an outside review of the Big League deal. The 40-acre sports complex off Interstate 45 near Calder Road will include six replica baseball fields built to look like historic ballparks, two restaurants and other amenities Last month, the city council approved $343,000 in additional costs to the $15.76 million construction contract with Linbeck Construction, the project manager for Big League Dreams. City council members today will be asked to approve another amendment of about $282,947 to a contract with Brazos River Constructors, a company working on infrastructure and road costs for projects in or around Big League Dreams. Both of these amendments were part of an associated storm water detention facility and pump station approved this spring. The city will spend about $2.3 million in outside infrastructure costs associated with Big League Dreams The total cost for the park itself is $18.8 million, $5 million more than the original $13.8 million approved in May 2003. The city had already spent about $6 million on the project when, in April, the city council learned it would cost as much as 50 percent more than expected. At the time, Finance Director Monica Kohlenberg said a spike in construction costs — especially steel — was the problem. City council members later learned that Linbeck contractors had warned Mayor Jeff Harrison in November that the project could costs as much as $20 million to complete. City council members this spring voted to give Harrison a vote of no confidence. Some city council and community members also began discussing an audit of the entire deal, but that never came about. Dill said he put an audit proposal in city council members’ boxes and got no response. Kohlenberg said some of the tasks the city council had proposed for the audit were actually jobs already being preformed by Linbeck. “They were basically talking about having a project manager on top of a project manager,” she said. A financial audit, she added, would duplicate spending reviews done annually by the city’s auditor. Dill said he disagreed with some city council members who say they don’t feel they need an audit because they trust Linbeck. “I would like an audit of the whole thing from the beginning to the end, and if you don’t include Linbeck in that, you are not going to get all the answers in my opinion,” he said. Big League Dreams is different from other contracts in that it includes a “construction manager at risk” contract. This form of agreement allows work to be done piecemeal as the project moves forward. Other construction projects are planned first and then approved for construction in one piece. “We approved a construction manager at risk to expedite the process,” Kohlenberg said. “You start working on parts to be worked on while other parts are in design.” Linbeck was chosen from a list of eight other bidders, said Kohlenberg. At the time the company submitted its qualifications, there were no fast and hard project cost estimates. The planning was half done and the contractor had cleared the land before it went out for bids on the construction work. That’s when the city got the actual cost estimate. The city had to issue $18 million in certificates of obligation to cover the project. Another $800,000 was put forward by the 4B Industrial Development Corporation. The park is scheduled to open in February 2004.
League City has always been a corrupt city. My dad designed this first complex and then the city used his drawings for free. I didn't realize the mighty denizens were getting such a raw deal.
Funny (and sad) story relating to Delva...about a month ago, my wife and I took our daughter and one of her friends to a fall festival at the elementary school that is on South Shore Blvd. So the set up goes like this...you purchase tickets, for about twenty-five cents a piece and you get to use them on games, face painting, air walks, etc... Well guess who is there pimping Polaroid pics of themselves with their limo??? Delva, her hat, scarf, and all associated glory!!! I believe it was 8 tickets to get this most wonderful souvenir. Needless to say, my wife and I sorta stood back from afar and watched the clones go up to her for pics and (gulp) autographs. I started to get this feeling like she was a stray cat and you never feed a stray cat because they'll never go away. Well, these people kept feeding her ego and it was hysterical. As annoying as your gigantic billboard is, you're still clockin' lots of dough...YOU GO DELVA!!!
i don't spend much time in League City...but i can assure you that my son (and I ) would relish playing in a ballpark like that! we spent all weekend playing baseball in the backyard. lots and lots of baseball!! woo hoo!!!
boomboom That picture above is taken at another LC elementary, so what you saw was not an isolated case. And for those billboard lovers: MadMax, Get your son on a team, because most of the fields are already booked for use by Little League, Pony League, and select teams. There won't be any time for friendly games on those fields.
You guys may think I'm nuts, but seeing Delva all alone in the back seat of that limo is turning me on.
What's so funny about Delva is how she carries herself...I was eating at San Lorenzo one night and she was in there...with her posse. It seems like she has a handful of "Yes Men" always around. Faos...you're scaring me.
Behad -- we live on the west side of town...i don't see me driving all the way to League City for little league games! he'll play out here on the same fields i played on.
LOL... That's not what I meant. League City LL will continue to play at the LC Sportsplex, across the street (the complex the citizens of LC have already paid for.) Little League Assns from across the area are signing up to play a game or two at the new facilities (the complex the citizens of LC are also paying for). My point was just get your kids into a Little League, then get that league to sign up for time at BLD (Bloated Linbeck Development).
Here's their website. No pictures of the new place, but you can view what other BLD complexes look like http://www.bigleaguedreams.com/
