Lubbock Expo Center Enters Boondoggle Territory

The Lubbock Expo Center was supposed to be the "answer" to a lack of a place for rodeo and other "dirt" events. It quickly grew into something bigger, and that's probably its downfall.

I'm very surprised that I was able to call up the word "boondoggle" and its meaning in my vocabulary. When I researched the word, it was spot on for a situation we're now facing:

a wasteful and worthless project undertaken for political, corporate, or personal gain, typically a government project funded by taxpayers-Dictionary.com

In 2018, Lubbock citizens voted to increase the hotel and motel tax from 13 to 15 cents to fund the Expo Center. Any additional funds were to be raised privately. From there, the problems began.

Among the challenges were setbacks due to the pandemic (two years later) and increasing costs. I'm not sure if the people behind the project knew completely what they were getting into, or if things just kept getting added on.

Here's an example of something that I did not know. The grounds for the Expo Center wouldn't be dirt, but concrete with dirt over it. It certainly doesn't seem necessary to me, but I guess they wanted to be able to be a little more than rodeo grounds. My thought would be, let's get the shed built, then make improvements on the way. These type of things have turned a $50 million dollar project, into a $90-$120 million dollar project.

Years On, Lubbock Still Waiting, So What's the Holdup with the Expo Center?

Now the Expo Center faces the ultimate challenge, though a sign remains on North University saying "Future Home Of The Lubbock Expo Center", some local politicians now want the project moved downtown.

It's easy to see both sides of the location argument. Some don't want to lose whatever momentum and/or infrastructure that's on North University, and some want to consolidate the project with other projects downtown.

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Though the Expo Center  "in no way is the Lubbock County Expo Center being constructed or maintained by Lubbock County, or any other government entity", you can't have a project like this without politics and politicians putting their fingers all over it.

So, where are we at? Go back and read the definition of "boondoggle". This project would have been great for Lubbock, but until everyone gets on the same page, it sure looks unlikely to happen.