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14 minutes ago, Dr. Beeper said:

Corpus isn’t Midland on the water. I lived in Corpus for 9 years. There is more to do there, but Midland has proximity to Horseshoe Bay, DFW and the mountains. Plus the quality of people in Midland is significantly higher. 

I meant in terms of knowing everybody. You walk into The Bar in Midland or the Surf Club in Corpus and you run into a bunch of your buddies. I miss that part of living in a smaller city. 

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29 minutes ago, Dr. Beeper said:

I once had news cameras on my front lawn because my mom was the Chairman of Bayfest one year. LULAC wanted to sell turkey legs, but they had had a long-standing vendor that sold turkey legs. So she declined. LULAC raised hell. 9 year old me answered the door to TV crews. Fuck Corpus Christi. Moved to Austin 2 years later and have been back there 3 times since - one for a work trip (Manti girls holla) and one for a funeral. 

A Bayfest LULAC turkey leg dispute is peak Corpus. I lived down there post college 2005-2010 and worked in O&G, so I got to experience peak Manti, good times. Apparently it was frowned upon by Encap/Avista to spend all your free cash flow on boats and planes, that party came to an abrupt end when oil crashed in 2008. Glad to see Sabalo have some success though.  

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Having grown up in Big Spring in the 1980s, I will say we considered Midland to be a desert oasis (Chess King & Bennigans, holla!) back in the day in spite of the constant cracks from Midlanders about the state hospital. Yet, there's still a nostalgic tug for West Texas when I drive out there to see my mom.

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30 minutes ago, bolverk said:

Having grown up in Big Spring in the 1980s, I will say we considered Midland to be a desert oasis (Chess King & Bennigans, holla!) back in the day in spite of the constant cracks from Midlanders about the state hospital. Yet, there's still a nostalgic tug for West Texas when I drive out there to see my mom.

Something tells me you're a fan of the Hotel Settles. 

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Actually, my sister flew down from Denver to Austin and then we drove out to visit my mom for Mother's Day weekend a couple of weeks ago. We didn't have the foresight to make reservations for Sunday brunch, so we did Saturday night dinner there. It was really good but not "great" because my medium rare NY strip was a little over cooked.

Still, with that said, it was my first time to eat there and was a helluva step up from when my friends and I would break into it back in high school and the damn building seemed like it was ready to topple over.

So, yeah, I'm very happy with what Brynt has done with the place as it's served as a strong catalyst for revitalizing that downtown. Plus, there are several other downtown projects that are waiting in the wings which could make the place pretty special for that part of West Texas.

 

Edit: I'm obviously a homer but am honestly curious what your impressions are as an outsider. I haven't actually stayed in the Settles. For that part of the state, it seems pretty damn nice.

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Just now, bolverk said:

Actually, my sister flew down from Denver to Austin and then we drove out to visit my mom for Mother's Day weekend a couple of weeks ago. We didn't have the foresight to make reservations for Sunday brunch, so we did Saturday night dinner there. It was really good but not "great" because my medium rare NY strip was a little over cooked.

Still, with that said, it was my first time to eat there and was a helluva step up from when my friends and I would break into it back in high school and the damn building seemed like it was ready to topple over.

So, yeah, I'm very happy with what Brynt has done with the place as it's served as a strong catalyst for revitalizing that downtown. Plus, there are several other downtown projects that are waiting in the wings which could make the place pretty special for that part of West Texas.

I like the Pharmacy and the Grill. Everything was good and priced well. The rooms are pretty nice, but small. I think it's the nicest hotel in the area. 

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7 hours ago, Dr. Beeper said:

Corpus isn’t Midland on the water. I lived in Corpus for 9 years. There is more to do there, but Midland has proximity to Horseshoe Bay, DFW and the mountains. Plus the quality of people in Midland is significantly higher. 

Midland being close to Horseshoe Bay is a pretty good stretch. Corpus is closer to Horseshoe Bay.

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37 minutes ago, billfromlaketravis said:

I like the Pharmacy and the Grill. Everything was good and priced well. The rooms are pretty nice, but small. I think it's the nicest hotel in the area. 

That sounds about right. It's the Permian Basin, so it wouldn't rank up even close with the nicest places in Central Texas. But, if you take into consideration what region it's located in, it's pretty damn nice. As for the rooms, I've only seen online photos but can understand why they feel small by today's standards. Even so, my understanding is that when it was rehabbed, the number of rooms was about halved from 300 to 150 to 65 by combining them to try to accommodate modern expectations. I guess back in 1930 when it was built, people didn't have grand expectations for space.

In its final years before closing in the late 1970s, the hotel was mostly a flophouse for short-term residents and a whorehouse with gambling in the penthouse (primarily for the air force trainees at the old Webb AFB). The dad of one of my best friends, who was a biker, even said that they had some control over the neon sign at the top which they used to signal to drug smugglers from Mexico flying in. They'd turn the letters off to spell "Hot Set" if cops/DEA were waiting to bust them.

I think it finally closed down for good around 1980 and was later stripped completely bare of anything of value by some out-of-town guy who promised to fix it all up in the mid-80s. For a very long time, the state of that building was largely symbolic of the mood of that town as it stood gloomily looming over everything else in the aftermath of the 80s oil bust. At least it was when I grew up there.

It's a wonder what *free* money flowing from the ground and a big investment did to turn around that downtown over the last ten years. Still, they've got a long way to go.

Edited by bolverk
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Just now, Dr. Beeper said:

Is it worth it for me to stay there and drive to Midland?  I can’t stand the Doubletree. 

Terrific question. It's a healthy 40 miles in the wrong direction. What's it worth to you? The chow is pretty good, the bartenders know how make actual cocktails, the pool/spa is really nice for West Texas, and I'd compare the rooms to something you'd find at the historic hotels in San Antonio. They did a really good job on the renovation. Maybe too nice for the Permian Basin. 

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2 minutes ago, Dr. Beeper said:

There’s a fucking spa there?

I think they claim so but can't speak to it from first-hand experience. Like I said, I haven't stayed at the Settles as I always shack up at the old homestead, but I know people rave about the place considering most expectations for accommodations in the Permian Basin. I would think it'd kick the shit out of the Hilton in downtown Midland where I did stay on a business trip (albeit 15 years ago). I never could figure out how that Hilton smelled musty and moldy in dry West Texas.

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On 5/24/2021 at 4:24 PM, BTW said:

Counter-counter point ...

I’ve lived in Dallas, Austin, Los Angeles and Midland (for the last 14 years).

I’ll repeat, it’s not a bad place to live ... maybe you were doing it wrong?


it’s a damn easy place to get laid. Being from Houston always impressed 

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Colorado has big problems. Their most productive county, Weld is a basically Denver suburb now. People don’t want a oil well next to their new house, and it’s highly unlikely they own minerals. I understand their position. 
 

I would caution these people that those good Colorado public schools they moved in for and enjoy are largely funded by oil and gas tax revenues. 

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9 hours ago, billfromlaketravis said:

I would caution these people that those good Colorado public schools they moved in for and enjoy are largely funded by oil and gas tax revenues. 

That is not true whatsoever. 

http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/understanding_the_state_budget_information_paper.pdf

K-12 funding is 3.8 billion per year. 

https://commonsenseinstituteco.org/senate-bill-181/

Industry says they contribute 1.3 billion per year 

thats 34%

https://www.coloradofiscal.org/2019/03/24/delicate-balance-oil-gas-colorado-economy/

This non profit says they contribute 469 million a year to property taxes. 

That’s 12.5%

Of course you’re assuming every single job lost will not be able to find another job on Colorado. 
 

 

 

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1 minute ago, Neonmoon said:

That is not true whatsoever. 

http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/understanding_the_state_budget_information_paper.pdf

K-12 funding is 3.8 billion per year. 

https://commonsenseinstituteco.org/senate-bill-181/

Industry says they contribute 1.3 billion per year 

thats 34%

https://www.coloradofiscal.org/2019/03/24/delicate-balance-oil-gas-colorado-economy/

This non profit says they contribute 469 million a year to property taxes. 

That’s 12.5%

Of course you’re assuming every single job lost will not be able to find another job on Colorado. 
 

 

 

34% is a pretty big chunk. How would they replace a third of their revenue? 

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9 minutes ago, Dr. Beeper said:

I’ll never understand this line of thinking from Colorado. Texas has literally made that state. 

Well now it is time for the good will of the Texas O&G angels of prosperity to go make New Mexico a better state.

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1 hour ago, billfromlaketravis said:

34% is a pretty big chunk. How would they replace a third of their revenue? 

Again you’re assuming the industry numbers are correct numbers and every job lost would not be replaced. So 34% is probably way too high. But yes, they would have to replace 12-25% depending. It won’t be easy. My point was your assertion that their schools are largely funded by OG was incorrect. 

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Jeeze, I can't figure out why people from CO hate people from TX...

There's a happy medium here for O&G and CO to coexist where both parties continue to benefit from the other.  Reasonable regulation, hammer the bad actors, and allow the good actors to produce without making their lives miserable. 

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10 minutes ago, jeevsie said:

Lithium strip miners would be welcomed with open arms.

Assuming those opposed to developing Colorado's O&G would be amiable to mining is a bit short sighted. Energy production in Colorado is an angry group of people and it doesn't matter if it's for Petroleum or for Electric Cars.

To clarify, I'm not opposed to production where appropriate (stay the fuck out of the national forest/parks).

I get annoyed with patronizing Texans who wander over for a long weekend and expect everyone in Colorado to throw out a red carpet for them because "they made the state", lol. If you want to enjoy Colorado, do so. Don't expect to be treated any differently than anyone living here or visiting from California. 

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41 minutes ago, Dr. Beeper said:

Florida is pretty kickass in the right spots. And, I go to CB and BC regularly. And, like most Texans, I have been exposed to periodic unnecessary aggression by small-peened douchers like you. It hasn’t stopped me from proudly entering your beautiful state with my Texas plates. 

You sure you didn't go to school in College Station? This sounds an awful lot like what someone from that school would say. I mean you could change out Texas plates for class ring. Quickly chatting about penis and using the word douchers.

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On 5/24/2021 at 5:29 PM, MoJames said:

Sweet so they turned stadium sports into a coffee shop.

I hate that so many towns don't have golf courses, tennis courts, horses or shooting ranges.

The only reason Midland exists is O&G. It was at it's origin a post office halfway between Fort Worth and El Paso. It developed into a railroad stop when my Grandfather was there as a kid. It used to have some charm of a small West Texas town. It used to have home town flavor and a feeling of community. I remember walking to Memorial Stadium to Highschool football games with my friends through neighborhoods sneaking a beer in on Friday before the Friday Night Lights with purple and gold against maroon and white. I remember going out on a Thursday afternoon with my dad and brothers to play 9 holes of golf on Ranchland as the sun set without anyone else around.

It's digressed into a Midland Odessa clusterfuck full of transient workers without anyone to stock shelves at Target, take a simple order at Texas Burger or even someone to do work on your house as there isn't the workforce there once was. You travel down Andrews Highway and consistently get run off the road by 4 Raptors. You are certainly correct that their is plenty of "opportunity/money" in the town. There was 70k people in that town growing up. I'd fathom there are 350k in the Permian basin now.

I'm glad you have decided Midland is good for you. I'd argue you are in the minority.

Looking at Midland when you're living in Durango isn't exactly fair...

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16 hours ago, Dr. Beeper said:

They will. They don’t understand how crucial it is to their economy. I presume they care about the value of their homes. 

O&G makes up a much smaller part of our economy than it used to.  And the value of our homes is already out of control.  We can take care of CO, you take care of Texas.

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4 hours ago, The Royal We said:

Jeeze, I can't figure out why people from CO hate people from TX...

There's a happy medium here for O&G and CO to coexist where both parties continue to benefit from the other.  Reasonable regulation, hammer the bad actors, and allow the good actors to produce without making their lives miserable. 

That's way too rational to happen these days.  

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3 hours ago, MoJames said:

I get annoyed with patronizing Texans who wander over for a long weekend and expect everyone in Colorado to throw out a red carpet for them because "they made the state", lol. If you want to enjoy Colorado, do so. Don't expect to be treated any differently than anyone living here or visiting from California. 

No shit.  We get visitors from all over the world, but it feels like only Texans want to have their asses kissed for 'making' us and for spending money in our state.  Thankfully the Dr. Beepers of the world are pretty easy to identify.

To be clear, I love visitors from Texas who act like normal people.  This sentiment is reserved for the Dr. Bs out there.

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4 minutes ago, Dr. Beeper said:

Y’all are imagining Texans want their asses kissed, and I think you want it to be like that. I suppose there are and it’s a defense mechanism to combat the aggression they know they’re gonna get. I’m not that way; this is message board bluster. Anyway, it’s discussion for some other thread I won’t participate in. 

Let me say that I regularly run into Texans for whom it is not message board bluster, but reality.  I'm sure Mo does as well.

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I usually spend about three weeks a year in Colorado between Crested Butte and Telluride.  In general, I haven't felt or seen much of the aggression against Texans that others have reported.

In fact, I bought a place in Crested Butte earlier this year and I would say that when I'm up there, the reception to me by the locals has ben quite warm.

I've heard some stories about Texans being treated poorly, but like Chewbacca mentioned, it may be against people rolling in with the "we made you, so you need to lick my boot" mentality.

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14 minutes ago, BTW said:

I usually spend about three weeks a year in Colorado between Crested Butte and Telluride.  In general, I haven't felt or seen much of the aggression against Texans that others have reported.

In fact, I bought a place in Crested Butte earlier this year and I would say that when I'm up there, the reception to me by the locals has ben quite warm.

I've heard some stories about Texans being treated poorly, but like Chewbacca mentioned, it may be against people rolling in with the "we made you, so you need to lick my boot" mentality.

Sounds like you don't act like a douche, so you don't get treated like one.

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1 hour ago, BTW said:

I usually spend about three weeks a year in Colorado between Crested Butte and Telluride.  In general, I haven't felt or seen much of the aggression against Texans that others have reported.

In fact, I bought a place in Crested Butte earlier this year and I would say that when I'm up there, the reception to me by the locals has ben quite warm.

I've heard some stories about Texans being treated poorly, but like Chewbacca mentioned, it may be against people rolling in with the "we made you, so you need to lick my boot" mentality.

Have you joined any of the Facebook groups yet?

 

https://www.hcn.org/issues/53.1/south-economy-when-covid-hit-a-colorado-county-kicked-out-second-home-owners-they-hit-back

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