Should You Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth...
T. Boone Pickens has given a record breaking $165 million dollars to Oklahoma State University.
The money is to go to the proposed "Athletic Village" that is involved in the current eminent domain situation in Stillwater.
All the news accounts that I have read haven't acknowledged that there are people who are opposed to losing their homes to this project. The news stories read like the entire situation and proposed athletic village is already a "done deal" which was only finalized by the generous gift.
Do they know something that the homeowners don't?
Does the media have a stake in this somewhere too?
Maybe I'm not as bright as some folks and the situation really is a 'no brainer'.
With the $165 million in their pockets, eminent domain backing them, I guess OSU doesn't expect there to be any problems.
The homeowners are probably just a nuisance, like ants at a picnic.
Money is powerful stuff.
What all does Mr. Pickens get out of this? The stadium is already named after him from a previous donation.
Does he get to call any of the 'shots' at the administrative level within the university?
Surely there's something that helps a billionaire decide where he is going to stash his extra cash.
I wish Mr. Pickens would ask me where I think some of his money should go.
But the "payback" is probably too high for the folks I'm thinking about.
Whatever it may be.
later...
posted by It's me, T.J. at Tuesday, January 10, 2006
3 Comments:
You may not remember back in the 80s when he donated some land north of Ft. Worth for a new air port, he was able to sell the surrounding land (now zoned commercial) for millions more then what it orignally was worth....... Some of the other land owners in the area where forced to sell out (some of which had been in families for generations) That's call progress......I think., but it still smells like greed of the already wealthy.
No, I didn't know about that. Thanks for telling me.
There are many people who give something away and don't expect anything in return.
But there are those who give things away and expect a 'high return'.
I wonder if the city planners helped out on that one.
later...
I thought this was really odd. Sure, the homes are older, but they aren't falling down and boarded up. That's prime real estate right next to campus.
I wish they would build up instead of out.
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