This is a great article about New Mexico’s taxpayer-financed Spaceport. It touches on several issues that we have brought up in the past that seem to have been completely ignored by Gov. Richardson and those who foisted the project on us, the taxpayer.
1) The liability issue as it currently stands, puts New Mexico’s Spaceport at a severe disadvantage. If the Legislature fails to act in this session, the unwillingness to protect businesses using the Spaceport could kill the project;
2) We are not alone or even the most advanced when it comes to the development of these projects around the country (and world).
3) Even if the Spaceport suddenly does a 180 and becomes a big success, how many rich people like Richard Branson and Ashton Kutcher are going to want to stay at the Holiday Inn Express in Truth or Consequences or will stay in New Mexico long enough to drive the kind of economic developed that Richardson and others promised?
Only time will tell, but there is no doubt that the Spaceport is very much at risk more than 7 years after the Legislature went along with Big Bill’s big idea.
There are at least nine other states with SpacePorts, perhaps 10, and more could be on the way.
What is unique about the NM Space Port? How much business is out there now? And in five years, 10 years, 20 years, and so on?
Remember the Wells Fargo Pony Express? A great business which died when the telegraph was invented? Remember the US Post Office? A great business until FedEx, the Fax Machine, and then the Internet came along.
The Point: Just what is the NM business model for the Spaceport and why will it be successful?
To date, $ 209 Million is on the table courtesy of tax payers, plus on going operating costs.
What are the expected outcomes?
Once again George, you make excellent points. Good going.
“New Mexico’s Sydney Opera House”
The business model seems to be mostly “tourism”. Since only a limited number will actually make the flight, there seems to be an expectation that the iconic architecture alone will be enough to draw thousands of non-flying tourists spending untold thousands of dollars.
The emphasis needs to address the needs of the commercial/non-passenger potential, which cannot be managed out of the Tourism Department.
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