Rotten Local Government: A Downtown Parking Structure

There is something rotten and foul smelling in the City of Bowling Green. It is this. Ever since it was discussed and then built it had a reeked of crony capitalism and the worst form of governing. It in the end mismanaged funds of the citizens of Bowling Green and promised too much that could never be delivered. It is poorly designed and has been a failed experiment.

Bowling Green did need a parking structure downtown. There were more events down there and several new venues. The Mills Family Reality Group (MR Group) came to provide this service to the city while getting government binds to help fund the proposed development. Everyone was on board. The city gets free parking, the MR Group gets new office space to sell and a place for Hitcents.com to have offices, and the taxpayer gets paid back with interest from the revenue generated. The family who owns MR Group started Hitcents. As with most joint ventures this was a fairy tale and a poorly designed one too.

The new restaurants were touted to be delicious and a new wave in Bowling Green. They even bought an old bastion of Bowling Green dining Mariah's and moved it to anchor the block. It became clear that the parking lot was of poor design. Making it hard to get out and to the restaurants or for that matter just out of the parking structure. They had several car break-ins there and which they did not have security cameras plugged in to catch them even though they had the functioning hardware to film any illegal activity. Problems persisted with not enough traffic to keep the restaurants alive and not renting enough office space.

When MR Group decided to not pay the builders all of the problems were suddenly exposed. The Mills Group disputes that it owes money and that actually money is owed to them see here. It is a big mess and with several million dollars in dispute they can't decide who owes what and who can sue who. At one point the County Attorney Amy Milliken said she was unsure that liens could be placed since the government was involved. Since then there have been liens placed and it looks like the city is trying to get everyone paid.

The city though to make sure everyone gets paid is taking out $30 million more in bonds. To pay off the old bonds and pay money to the builders. This is ridiculous. The city should stay completely out of this mess and really should never have gotten in bed with industry. It made MR Group act more reckless and take risks because the government was funding the bill and screwed the taxpayers out of several million dollars without an offsetting benefit. In the article mentioned above the city government decided to lose $280,000 a year with these new bonds and plans. Yes, we the taxpayers should have to pay for this mismanagement of funds of a private citizen. Let MR Group pay for all the bonds and the costs they incurred building their monument to themselves.

If the city commissioners do decide to vote this plan into existence I will have to support all new candidates for the commissioner positions. It is a gross mismanagement of tax money and they should not continue the problem. I will stand for Mayor Bruce Wilkerson though as he was the lone vote. This was illegal and just shows us the taxpayers again that business should not nor do they need handouts from us. It creates too much drama and loses the taxpayer money that could have gone to building roads or funding schools.

Diversification into Foreign Markets

For the modern investor it is necessary to diversify risk with bonds, cash, stocks, and other forms of investments. This does not mean putting all your eggs in one area of the world. There are opportunities for expansion and great reward in other markets besides your national one. It decreases risk because one area might be struggling with higher inflation and the other country is booming. Now when investing it is still prudent and wise to go ahead and research everything you can about the foreign firm and how the market operates. Due diligence is a must. It is still your money and information is out there about these firms. Just because it is in a different local does not suddenly make it a fountain if wealth or even the exact opposite of what is happening at home.

Foreign companies can be valued differently. A company in the US has average price to earnings of maybe 18-20 while in Eastern Europe it might be closer to 4 or 5 because of the known corruption that will take place. So because it might look like a bargain with American eyes an investor has to put on the correct lenses to value and understand the company.

The investor should also not put more than 25% in foreign stocks and bonds. You want to be well diversified but the home turf is still the better place to invest. It saves transactions costs and the possibility of losing the money with a sudden change. The Ukraine recently had a revolution and those old bond investors might not have a claim to money anymore. Things can happen rapidly and too much abroad might hinder your overall return.

That being said lower risk with probability of higher profits is always a good thing. Investing in foreign markets is an easy way to diversify risk and boost return. Happy investing and start researching those new firms.