Down at the bottom of the linked thread below
Following UT announcement, Welcome Wilson canât stop smiling
http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2017/03/02/following-ut-announcement-welcome-wilson-cant-stop.html
The task force that was formed â the one that University of Houston declined to be on â came forth with a plan (for) an intellectual center and things like that, the details of which I have no idea. The picture of the model that they announced a year ago had a baseball field on it, which was ⊠Iâm having trouble stopping smiling.
Uh ohâŠsomeone got upset enough to write an anonymous editorial to the Chronicle:
Google Search Link: Burned orange - Google Search
I find it funny that 1) the author pointed out the political parties of the politicians involved, 2) seemed to have exact knowledge of what the campus was to be and 3) seems to think that what was proposed couldnât be done on existing campuses within the Houston areaâŠlike the UH Energy Park.
Aww poor baby bevo
Yep, Editorial Board at the Chronicle is led by a Longhorn (Jeff Cohen). Guessing he was the one that penned that one.
This is the narrative I heard all along; McRaven needed Abbottâs support because Abbott needs the Houston base to stay governor. Only chance this had a chance in hell of succeeding was if Houston was added to the Big 12 and Fenves wasnât willing to fight hard enough for that because he wasnât on board with a UT-Houston campus either.
What the chancellor didnât mention was that the shared vision also needed to be with Gov. Greg Abbott. It would be difficult, for reasons both political and practical, to succeed in such an ambitious endeavor without the support of the governor. But Abbott never expressed support publicly for the project â or opposition to it, for that matter. His silence was telling.
âIf he didnât say he supported it, he didnât support it,â said one well-placed source who spoke to the American-Statesman on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
What Gov.Abbot did support publicly was the inclusion of The University of Houston in the B12. If the Gov. Doesnât get what he wants,you donât get what you want.
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Why wait until now to release the report? What did an additional 4 months of work give them?
Itâs like turning homework in late. I donât want to hear a story about what could have happened.
My guess is this was an FOIA request from the Chronicle.
Sad thing is that they had no buy in from local companies apparently as none were listed in the report. Iâm guessing thatâs what was taking so long as the committee was supposed to be garnering those relationships for launch purposes. Problem was that this is redundant for most large corporations.
In the end, this would have turned into UT-Houston very quickly just as we all thought.
Expanded article. My question continues to be, why canât this money be given to the Universities in Houston already to implement this idea with existing infrastructure?
Google Search Link: UT's abandoned Houston land deal might have housed data science center - Google Search
Houston developer David Wolff, chairman and president of Wolff Companies and former Metro chairman, said that a more significant presence from the UT system in Houston would diversify Houstonâs economy.
He said heâs talked to lawmakers, task force members, UT alumni and other Houston leaders about potentially reviving the project. Several people agree, he said, but he recognizes that there is opposition to any Houston expansion because of UTâs initial botched rollout.
âA number of people say it wasnât handled properly, but no one says we donât need UT here,â he said.
UT is already here with MD Anderson and the health science center
I have a feeling that Wolff stood to profit off the venture, he had also written a letter to the Chronicle this past weekend blasting UH for killing this deal.
Main thing now is ensuring the land gets sold.
SighâŠ
Google Search Link: Revived vision - Google Search?
Can the plan be revived? We believe the effort should be made. So does David Wolff, chairman and president of Wolff Companies and former Metro chairman. He points out that the nationâs fourth-largest city can accommodate any number of higher-education ventures and that a greater UT presence in Houston would diversify the cityâs economy and boost its reputation as a laboratory of new ideas and innovative thinking.
So who will take the lead? The Greater Houston Partnership? UT alumni? The mayorâs office? Philanthropic groups and individuals? We need farsighted men and women with ambitious ideas about this cityâs future, a future that includes a greater UT presence. The eyes of Texas have been averted, for now. We need a robust effort to re-direct them to the Bayou City.
I didnât make it through that article, the arrogance is just permeated throughout. Itâs ridiculous that weâre the bad guys in this situation when everything about the way UT handled this was shady. As if UT already hasnât done enough to damage us they have to turn what seemed like a big victory for us into another opportunity to trash us.
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Not to mention the hypocrisy. UT and supporters would be just like UH in this situation (maybe significantly more) if A&M attempted to open a A&M-Austin campus in a similar manner UT attempted to do with UT-Houston. I know the people complaining about this loss intended to profit from the new campus, but it really irritates me that this newspaper is supposed to be the paper of the city of HOUSTON, yet they are griping about the university of said city for standing up to an administration with their flagship university in AUSTIN. Havenât read anything from them but I do not believe that the Austin Statesmen trashes their hometown university like our paper does UH.
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UT has a ârelationshipâ with the Statesman and the paper would never cross them to the extreme that the Chronicle would cross UH. Letâs just say that if a writer or editor tried to push the (poorly written) editorial on their readership in Austin, they wouldnât have a job in Austin long.
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Google Search Link: Tilman Fertitta: UT land deal in Houston 'arrogance' - Google Search
Waiting for the next editorial from the Chronicle in regards to Fertittaâs comments.
Google Search Link: Sunday letter: Not about UT versus UH - Google Search
So weâve had 2 editorials and now 2 letters advocating for UT Houston, this one from one of the UT Law Trustees, and yet the Chronicle has rejected any efforts from UHâs side and have refused to publish any UH letters (there have been efforts and letters written from multiple sources).
The sooner the Chronicle dies the better.
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