San Angelo City Councilman Tom Thompson said at the last Council meeting in regard to a $41.7 million Coliseum bond project that will go before voters in May.
Justin, I think there's some key things here that are in the elements of the presentation that the Association does, and I have institutional knowledge working with y'all for ten years, taking this position in 2017 to be on Council, a lot of the goal of that was just for this one decision today.
Thompson went on to ask about skyboxes, suites and meeting rooms. He talked about the foundation which provides scholarships to rodeo/stock show related youth.
There are many positives about the planned Coliseum improvements and voters will decide on the proposed bond.
Voters will also decide on Thompson's replacement and San Angelo's next mayor. Hopefully, Mr. Thompson will highlight any similar goals for his Mayoral candidacy.
As for Thompson's replacement it's John Bariou, once the face of San Angelo economic development, vs. Joe Self, Jr. Thompson took over Marty Self's seat in 2017. Both Marty and Joe Jr. work for Automatic Fire Protection. The amount of business the city did with AFP became an issue for Marty during his time on Council. I imagine there will be significant fire suppression work in the Coliseum renovation, but that will be dealt with at the appropriate time, hopefully.
There's a lot of chess pieces on the move given how hot West Texas is for economic development. San Angelo is in the sweet spot for oil/gas, renewable energy (wind/solar/battery storage) and not far from major crypto/data center activity.
Bariou has a history of doing economic development work on the up and up. That may or may not be wanted by our local powers that be.
Voters will decide many things come May. Although I live in a neighboring county, I look forward to learning more about the candidates and the two bond issues, SAISD and Coliseum expansion/renovation. Twenty five years of living there leaves a mark, mostly the good kind.