So, after months of hemming and hawing, of telling the general public one thing and its political supporters something else, on Monday morning Villa Muse studios took their potential bat and speculative ball, and said they were leaving.
But guess who they forgot to tell? Mayor Will Wynn and assistant city manager Laura Huffman, the people they were supposed to be doing all these good faith negotiations with. Villa Muse’s lawyer said at the press conference that they had “delivered a message” to the city earlier that morning, but it turned out that delivery didn’t involve the simple courtesy of giving the mayor a call.
But this still doesn’t answer a bunch of questions about Villa Muse – like, what are they planning to do with all that land they still have options to buy? Why try to move the development into a municipal utility district, so all deals with the city would be non-binding? Are they really thinking that the movie industry wants to move to Bastrop (no offense, Bastrop), or that Bastrop really wants a huge development on their back door? And, as Wynn wondered, if it was so important that the studio happen outside of the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction, under the lax planning rules of the county, why try to put it inside the ETJ in the first place?
This article appears in May 2 • 2008.
