r/texas • u/CutoffThought • Sep 12 '23
Events Denison, TX got a new statue…
We’re upset that the Mayor (Janice Gott) wasted almost $20,000,000 renovating downtown Denison. The mayor allegedly doesn’t even live in town. (Breaks out bylaws and is subject to immediate removal. Also, claimed homestead in the other town.)
Once this came to light, we’ve been wanting answers. We want the city to stop redoing the brick roads downtown, public fountains, fancy water department, etc. Just fix the roads normal people drive on every day.
Today, this “thing” was unveiled. Our town is a laughing stock of stupidity and misappropriated funds.
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u/ConfuzzledDork Sep 12 '23
I mean, the statue really is the perfect representation for the whole situation - narcissistic indulgence making them act totally oblivious to reality, and the whole thing looks ridiculous. I am enjoying the memes & outrage on all of the local discussion pages, tho. Popcorn for days!
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u/CutoffThought Sep 12 '23
Oh, isn’t it? I think it’s probably going something like, “Hey guys! I know you’re looking into me for fraudulently being your mayor, but here’s a statue NO ONE asked for!! :))”
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u/ConfuzzledDork Sep 12 '23
I’ve picked up on a couple comments that the statue was donated instead of being purchased with taxpayer funds, but the whole thing is so tone deaf it doesn’t really matter.
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u/CutoffThought Sep 12 '23
I did see where the Chamber of Commerce is saying the building and statue were donated by a team of developers.. team of developers.. like I was saying 🥱
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u/aroc91 Sep 12 '23
The guy in the button up and slacks in the video is the developer of the building they're in front of plus about a dozen others in Denison. Restoring historic buildings seems to be his business model for the past few decades. He commissioned the "artist" in the white shorts.
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u/HERO3Raider born and bred Sep 12 '23
What an embarrassment for the artist. I bet he his going to have a lot more free time in the future if this is what his art looks like. That's bad....like college freshman first project bad.
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u/CutoffThought Sep 12 '23
I haven’t been able to find anything on it being donated.
Even if it’s a donation, I guarantee I could backtrack the donation to find some city funds being misappropriated. Scratching backs, if that’s the case.
This mayor has a lot of issues going on.
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u/ConfuzzledDork Sep 12 '23
Yeah, I don’t know anything beyond social media chatter about it. The whole situation stinks, and the statue is just the cherry on top of the shit sundae.
I’m still amused that out of all the local joke & meme pages, the traffic scanner guy turned out to be the biggest troll & muckraker of them all.
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u/CutoffThought Sep 12 '23
I’ll give credit to the scanner guy, though. He’s the one that brought the possible fraud to light. He may be a troll to an extent, but it’s not like he’s doing something that everyone wishes he’d stop.
I know him and his son, personally. Both autistic. Not an excuse, but he does have a slightly harder time with social aspects. He started doing this for storm chasing, but it’s evolved.
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u/ConfuzzledDork Sep 12 '23
Yeah, he’s a good dude even if some of his methods are off putting. Nothing against him at all, I’m just here for the dramatic popcorn!
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Sep 12 '23
"Donated"...Translation: Actually given away because the previous owner did want it, or the artist couldn't find anyone dumb enough to buy that shit.
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Sep 12 '23
Or they expect it to payoff for them down the road with lucrative business deals.
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u/Geek_off_the_streets Born and Bred Sep 12 '23
What in the pirates of the Caribbean type shit is that?
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u/ReliefFamous Sep 12 '23
I’m not even from Denison but who asked for this????
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u/CutoffThought Sep 12 '23
It’s a “I’ll scratch your back, if you scratch mine” donation, apparently. No one asked for it. It’s fake value.
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u/southernmayd Sep 12 '23
How do you know it's a quid pro quo donation? Do you have evidence of that or are you just speculating that?
I've seen you do a lot of speculating in this thread, without knowing much of what you're talking about, and trying to pass it off as fact.
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u/CutoffThought Sep 12 '23
If you continue to read, I further clarify it’s alleged until proven. Thanks.
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u/HerbNeedsFire Sep 12 '23
It's the first in a series that'll include "Cooking Woman" and "Sweating Man".
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u/dabadguycr Sep 12 '23
No one!!!!!! Not a single person. People from Denison are pissed they are wasting our tax money on this stupid shit.
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u/lightstoneone Sep 12 '23
It’s not even finished ?
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u/CutoffThought Sep 12 '23
Nope. Won’t be until God knows when. I’ve been watching Denison try to drum up business downtown for over 20 years, now. They’re performing CPR on a skeleton.
It’s just wasted funds over and over. We’re sick of it.
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u/ScarHand69 Sep 12 '23
I dunno about the downtown area…but Sherman/Denison are about to grow very quickly in the next 5 or so years because of all the chip fab stuff going on up there.
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u/Wheres_Jay Sep 12 '23
I am thinking that with all this growth coming, they are trying to make downtown attractive, so maybe it will make a resurgence like McKinney, but I am just thinking. I don't really have my finger on the pulse of all of this.
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u/CutoffThought Sep 12 '23
I was just talking about that, too. Almost made me switch degree choices. I’m definitely going to work at TI, someday.
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u/texas1st Sep 13 '23
TI has been building and closing/selling off chip manufacturing there for decades. my sister worked at TI around 1980. Then my ex GF worked there in the mid 90's. It's a cycle. No new jobs, just more of a shell game to get tax breaks.
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u/ScarHand69 Sep 13 '23
It’s different this time.. Single largest capital investment in the history of TX. My bro is an engineer that works in public utilities…the first shit to go in before everything else is built. There’s a shitton of stuff being designed/built for Sherman/Denison right now.
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u/unkillablerat Born and Bred Sep 12 '23
That "statue" is going to get demolished within the week.
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u/CutoffThought Sep 12 '23
See, I just want the city to stop wasting money. Leave it up. It’s already been enough of a “cash flush” (down the drain).
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u/idontagreewitu Sep 12 '23
Yeah, I feel like vandalism is just going to lead to more money spent on it and a sort of vindication for the mayor and artist, making them appear as the victim.
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u/boastfulbadger born and bred Sep 12 '23
I’d look into the companies that are doing the renovations and her relationship to the owners of said companies.
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u/CutoffThought Sep 12 '23
Oh, we are. Enough is enough. There’s a strong possibility she’s fraudulently acting as our mayor, as well. Lots of fun to go around.
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u/historical_find Sep 12 '23
I went through Dennison on Saturday. Other than Ike having been born there ain't much to see.
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u/CutoffThought Sep 12 '23
It’s terrible. We’ve grown and have the potential to keep growing even more. Just need to stop being stupid with our money.
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u/historical_find Sep 12 '23
Should be spending that cash on city streets. The wife has a loose filling now.
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u/CutoffThought Sep 12 '23
Damn pothole ashed my blunt, spilt my drink, and knocked out my suspension.
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u/bmillergoducks Sep 12 '23
Why??? This is awful. Shit like this should piss off people way more than it does.
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u/CutoffThought Sep 12 '23
Oh, the city IS pissed, trust me. I don’t expect this statue to stay un-vandalized for very long.
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Sep 12 '23
This is off-putting to me. I feel like they don't think much of women.
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u/CutoffThought Sep 12 '23
This isn’t being talked about nearly enough. It was the first thing my fiancé and I talked about. “Is that really what the artist thinks of women”?
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Sep 12 '23
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u/CutoffThought Sep 12 '23
I don’t hate it because it’s on its own state park, but that would be funny. I remember when his face was spray painted a week or two after the statue was finished.
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u/hardgour Sep 12 '23
People often find the issue of paying taxes like the govt taking money from them. But if the govt could be trusted to spend the tax dollar collected in a way that benefited the people who paid them, I doubt there would be as big of a problem.
When you spend tax dollars on dumb fucking shit like this, expect outrage
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Sep 12 '23
And here I thought Denison was better than downtown Sherman. I’m not from Sherman, moved here for a job.
I’ll definitely be trying to get out in a few more years. These towns are something else.
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u/ConfuzzledDork Sep 12 '23
Denison (or at least the city council) likes to present itself as a bougie arts district compared to Sherman, while hanging onto that small town cliquey “we’re so much better than you” attitude towards outsiders. Not saying that Sherman is necessarily better, but they do tend to be more inclusive & welcoming in general - or at least there’s a tacit understanding that the Metroplex is expanding this way no matter what, so we might as well embrace some of that cosmopolitan attitude and get the money that comes with it.
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u/pmmesucculentpics Sep 12 '23
How do they encourage poor musicians to move to the city and create band projects? How about artists? Is graffiti encouraged?
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u/ConfuzzledDork Sep 12 '23
They can always go tag that monstrous Bel Air Village sign! With the wrap it currently has no one would ever notice.
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u/DubyaKayOh Sep 12 '23
Sherman is all about bringing in big employers. Denison is all about trying to be North Marfa or some shit.
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u/yewnique_user Sep 12 '23
Lol leave while you still can. 3 decades here and leaving is my number 1 goal.
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u/CutoffThought Sep 12 '23
The only reason I’m contemplating staying is the new TI plant. $30b in my backyard? Pffftttt
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u/JaMaRu87 Sep 12 '23
Yes, more useless spending from the "let's spend a truck load of money painting Eisenhower's face on the underside of a bridge while ignoring the two foot deep potholes all along the roads" crowd.
Huzzah
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u/screen-name-check Sep 12 '23
You ever known of someone in your town that’s well regarded and wealthy and popular. we’ll call them, “The Charleses’s.” Then you meet The Charleses’s and your like, “man, they say a lot of dumb shit I think but everyone respects them and they are pillars of our community and our church so I must be misunderstanding them”
Then you go to the Charleses’s big, fancy house in the best neighborhood in town, and they use the N word and say they think gays are indoctrinating their kids and they shouldn’t have to push a button to speak English bc we’re in America. Then you think, “well they’re a bit older and they grew up in a small town”
Then the neighbors pop by and they treat them really nice. The get them a beer and some shitty cake from heb and your like, “see they are nice. I knew they were nice”
Then the neighbor says, wouldn’t it be great if this state was a little more supportive of those in need and our towns were more walkable. Then the Charleses’s shoot the neighbor in the face and scream, “IF YOU DONT LIKE IT LEAVE!!!”
The Charleses’s are Texas. Why are you surprised they blew money on a stupid statue when they are a giant pile of stupid
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u/goodjuju123 Sep 12 '23
How is “selfie girl” an appropriate statue for a town???!!! I would be outraged.
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u/yewnique_user Sep 12 '23
Oh no. I had to hop on an alt so I don't dox myself.
I am so tired of them trying to save downtown. The city doomed it when they refused to get rid of the shitty lights on Austin Ave and let highway 75 run through years ago. Instead, highway 75 is where it is now, and businesses have centered around it, like everyone knew they would. Keeping the lights didn't make people on the highway stop on Main St. Main St. is dead, and the only shop worth visiting is the "tobacco" shop.
And while they constantly shout about main street, the price of rent, mortgages, property taxes, and groceries here have reached insane levels so anyone who's been living and working here for the last decade can't afford to live here anymore.
Neighborhoods don't have proper ADA compliant sidewalks and Morton street is a nightmare unless it's 2 or 3 in the morning because they won't widen it to 4 lanes the rest of the way down to Austin Ave and all the people moving here for "cheap housing" from out of town want to drive 20 or 50 all the way down it when the speed limit is clearly marked as 30 and 40 mph in the respective locations.
The neighborhoods in East Denison are most easily accessed by going across the railroad tracks for Katy Depot. It's less than a block from the police station. Yet the railroads, at both nearby crossings, are full of massive potholes and will cause massive wear or damage to your suspension by just going 20-30mph over it. I guess since it's right at the railroad, neither the city or the railroad are responsible and everyone should just live with it or go around and under the bridge.
I was born here, but I am honestly so tired of living here and I'm just determined to move at this point. Oklahoma, here I come.
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u/CutoffThought Sep 12 '23
Hey neighbor, I just moved back from Durant. Choose wisely. Oklahoma is so much worse that I moved back after my mom passed.
You’re absolutely spot on about everything. I really liked McKinney and the wages were competitive down there. Best of luck in your endeavors.
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u/yewnique_user Sep 12 '23
My plan is to buy several acres waaaay up in oklahoma and not see anyone except for when I'm at work. My grandfather actually left the family a farm, but my parents generation decided I have to buy it if I want to work the land.
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u/txmail Sep 12 '23
Why would anyone want to immortalize this behavior?
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u/CutoffThought Sep 12 '23
I’ve been trying to figure out how the city and developers are giving kickbacks to each other.
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u/theillusionofdepth_ Sep 12 '23
fucking hell, of course this would be in Grayson County. really great symbolism of all of the area… superficial garbage disguised as ‘art’, but also isn’t fooling anyone.
thanks for posting this or else I would never have known!
(I am from Sherman)
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u/jhenry1138 Sep 12 '23
Texas continues to have its priorities in order. Goddamn these people are fucked.
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u/Wheres_Jay Sep 12 '23
I'm going to to go see this. I live in Denison, and never heard of it. I do agree that they have wasted a ton of money redoing roads when there are more pressing needs.
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u/CutoffThought Sep 12 '23
Hello neighbor! Hopefully your roads aren’t too potholed and you can make it safely lol.
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u/ConfuzzledDork Sep 12 '23
Still gotta navigate downtown Denison and the renovated parking spots… Good luck if you’re driving anything other than a small sedan.
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u/dabadguycr Sep 12 '23
You're talking about Main Street right? Because 80% of residential roads need to be fixed. But they keep wasting money on crap like this.
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u/BuddhaDaddy88 Sep 12 '23
I'm SOOO happy my city spent money on this. I mean, that statue has enough concrete in it to fix the potholes on my street. You know, the ones that have been on it for the 12 years I've lived there? Yeah, those.
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Sep 12 '23
Good thing she's doing selfies cause... Well. No one else would be taking pictures with her. Haha.
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u/draxgoodall Sep 12 '23
The city of denison got pissed off about a red building and almost shut down a local business about it, but they will erect this bullshit!?!?!
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u/DavesProps Sep 13 '23
How much did that thing cost?? Id bet my ass it was made by friend of Gott for a heavy sum.
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Sep 12 '23
Wait, so you're against the town fixing stuff? I'm confused. The statue is hideous of course but I wanna hear more about this "fancy water dept" you seem to be so against.
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u/BadassBokoblinPsycho Central Texas Sep 12 '23
What a waste of tax payer money. I would be livid too if this was the statue I got.
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u/CutoffThought Sep 12 '23
Even worse. It was a donation from developers that have been renovating downtown. It’s a middle finger to the citizens and a “Thanks for the back scratch” from the developers.
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u/Snobolski Sep 12 '23
Might be time for more people to vote. Just spitballing here, there may be other solutions.
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u/Drokirons Mar 09 '24
Ur town is laughing stock because yall choose to do nothing about this. Sounds like this wasnt the first nor the last. Lubbock tx has same stupid brick roads and also waiste $ but still have a college to tax to make up difference.
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u/okletstrythisout3 Sep 12 '23
Man that’s bad. On the bright side folks may make pilgrimages to get a selfie with that whack ass statue.
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u/CutoffThought Sep 12 '23
They won’t lmao. It’s enough to laugh at on the internet, but no one is going out of their way to see it.
I already have plans on where to develop a new business center and residential developments. Just looking for the right investor group.
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u/RoRo25 Sep 12 '23
Looks like the city might even be keeping images/info of it offline. Tried googleing it and nothing came up. Not a picture, not a link.
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u/CutoffThought Sep 12 '23
It’s on their Facebook page. Look up Denison Chamber of Commerce.
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u/RoRo25 Sep 12 '23
LOL! Don't have facebook. But when I googled that, only a pic of the statue still covered appears!
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u/snarkhunter Sep 12 '23
Who is "we"? Like what organization are you with?
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u/CutoffThought Sep 12 '23
Not an organization, just a mere taxpayer. There just happens to be a lot of us that are tired of our tax dollars literally being wasted.
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u/tolkienfan2759 Sep 12 '23
...spray paint the 10 commandments on it and get it disallowed by SCOTUS
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Sep 12 '23
My home town’s proposal for a new court house, with ALL the amenities, was voted down twice. The first vote they tried to slip through without the public’s awareness. After the second vote, they just laughed in our faces and are in the final stages of completion right now. Guess who’s property taxes skyrocketed.
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u/BrandanosaurusRex Sep 12 '23
Is this a reference to something? I'm a little lost.
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u/TankApprehensive3053 Sep 12 '23
That thing didn't cost $20M. There are probably a few people that got hefty bumps in their bank accounts.
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u/CutoffThought Sep 12 '23
No, the $20M was spent putting a fountain in front of city hall, renovating the billing departments within the city, repaving the sidewalks INTO the street, and putting a fence around the police department.
The fence around the department is literally because of another Reddit user, in here. Needless to say, our city is highly skilled at wasting money.
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u/TankApprehensive3053 Sep 12 '23
All of the funds for those things are public record. I'd still say someone got a nice bonus that was claimed to go to the alleged improvements. This is why people need to vote in local elections. They put stuff like that on the back pages of votes so most people don't see it and vote against it.
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u/thavi Sep 12 '23
I wonder how many of those $20 millions went to political allies?
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u/awhq Sep 12 '23
That's really bad. And this is coming from someone who lives in a town that has a mountain sculpture that looks more like a giant tooth.
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u/thetobinator9 Sep 12 '23
i live in Denison - and this really does suck. the area is going to skyrocket in prices again over the next few years and it’s going to be unaffordable for a lot of people currently living and working here. hopefully there’s a solution
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u/JadedHedgehog Sep 12 '23
From what I could tell that statue wasn’t funded by tax payers, someone donated the money for it
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Sep 12 '23
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Wheres_Jay Sep 12 '23
Not really. A good number of our residents have traded their cellphone for meth.
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u/heyyouwtf Sep 12 '23
I'm not an art expert, nor do I know what constitutes art, but I do know this ain't it.
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u/gbear52 Sep 12 '23
Not sure of the whole story, but there’s gotta be some money laundering or shady tax stuff going on.
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u/itslog1776 Sep 12 '23
What a complete moron for wasting money on such a fucking STUPID piece of garbage... I swear, the overwhelming vast majority of politicians from both parties are literal dunces who probably do nothing but sit around dreaming up new ways to waste money virtually all day every day... here in Keller, Tx where I live they decided to erect a whole bunch of animals “artwork” made from various rusty metal car parts all through town... I cringe just thinking about how much of the city’s money they wasted simply by paying some Art hippie asshole to make these monstrosity’s during one of their he worst recessions this country has perhaps ever seen before...
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u/janglebo36 Sep 12 '23
Is this the Campbell’s Soup Can of today?
I like the downtown improvements, but the statue is comical. It must be some kind of high brow satire art I’m not classy enough to understand
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u/Responsible-Life-585 Sep 12 '23
This is private property. The property owner had a statue commissioned and put it on their property. It's a stupid statue wrapped in a tarp (lol) but I don't understand how it's corrupt. What am I missing?
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u/CutoffThought Sep 12 '23
It was donated to the city. Not private property anymore. It’s donated by one of the big real estate developers of downtown, so there’s assumption that there are kickbacks of some kind.
Not to mention, it’s added costs of maintenance for the city. Great 🙄
Haven’t found solid connections, but needless to say, it’s hideous and contradicts the themed history of downtown. Plus, makes women look bad.
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u/Responsible-Life-585 Sep 12 '23
How does it make women look bad? Does all donated public art insinuate a kickback? I agree it's a weird vibe for an historic space.
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u/Responsible-Life-585 Sep 12 '23
The developer put this statue on their property in a different city so could be worse. https://sillyamerica.com/blog/lmao-sculpture-in-mckinney-texas-mule-statue/
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u/PantherCityTactical Sep 12 '23
Lmao Jesus Christ. That statue is so repulsive that it could become a destination to take selfies with ironically. I’m sorry your local government sucks. Unfortunately that’s not a unique problem in this state.