By Frank J. Maurizio
For the first installment of the Music Man, it was accurately stated the Houston EarthQuest project declared bankruptcy August 1, 2011. At approximately the same time, Mr. Don Allen Holbrook was declaring to the town board he never had a project fail, nor has he had a dissatisfied client.
Really?
Maybe the East Montgomery County Improvement District EMCID didn’t mind losing $22 million, $7 million of which is public money. Doctor Water’s response was that I don’t have my facts right. Which facts? The amounts owed to creditors came directly from the filing number 11-42400. That Mr. Don Holbrook is involved in EarthQuest is a known fact, touted by Mr. Holbrook himself.
According to an audit conducted on the EMCID, the EarthQuest Institute, of which Mr. Don Holbrook was involved, received at least $1,200,000 from the district related to the now bankrupt project, of which Mr. Holbrook received a reported $328,255.
Here is the rub. Mr. Holbrook is hired to raise money for the town’s project and gets paid by the town to do so as well as receiving a cut from the investors. Mr. Holbrook’s objective is not necessarily consistent with the town’s. The town wanted a “destination” site, while Mr. Holbrook just wants money, anyone’s money.
It doesn’t matter if the project turns dirt or is successful in the long run. That makes the reasoning behind Mr. Holbrook’s hiring even more important. Remember Mr. Holbrook’s own statements about his splendid success.
In fact, as time passes, trickles of information come out that reveal Mr. Holbrook has been less than truthful.
EarthQuest is bankrupt and was filing when Mr. Holbrook stood before the town board claiming success.
Now the city of Huber Heights, Ohio is suing Mr. Holbrook for allegedly performing a substandard economic analysis for that city. They paid over $53,800 on a $66,000 contract. According to the city of Huber Heights, Mr. Holbrook “wholly failed to conform to the terms of the contract and wholly failed to conform to industry standards.”
The city accuses Mr. Holbrook of fraudulent inducement, negligent misrepresentation, and unjust enrichment. The minutes of the executive session indicates “the work product is not at all what was expected nor does it conform to contract requirements. Subsequently, a motion was approved to proceed with legal action.
Mr. Holbrook’s claim about having satisfying clients just went bust.
Mr. Holbrook himself has declared bankruptcy. This despite his stated best seller publications, high demand for speaking engagements, successful projects in every type and satisfied clients. It is a matter of public record in the State of Arizona.
Apparently not everyone recognizes his credentials, or maybe they just see through his self promotion.
It may be time for the Pahrump town board to put aside their collective egos, admit their mistake and end this Music Man’s relationship before any more public money they hold in our trust is wasted.
The work product submitted is a copy of the EarthQuest material. It has been manipulated and rearranged and not worth the paper it’s printed on.
Take your cue from the city of Huber Heights, Ohio before we suffer the fate of EarthQuest. Send the Music Man down the road. We are never going to get any band uniforms.
Maybe the East Montgomery County Improvement
District EMCID didn’t mind
losing $22 million, $7 million of which is public money. Doctor Water’s
response was that I don’t have my facts right. Which facts? The amounts owed to creditors came directly from the
filing number
11-42400. That Mr. Don Holbrook is involved in
EarthQuest is a known fact, touted by Mr. Holbrook himself. ”
And there you have it P-town
Don Holbrook = Looney tunes = That’s all folk’s………
If this guy isn’t toast yet than we have a far bigger problem on our hands than inept Town
management.
it would seem to me that the people that hired holbrook are as much to blame as holbrook himself.
i mean how hard could it have been for someone to get off their lazy butt and make a phone call or two to check out his story that he never had a dis-satisfied client?
anyone who says that they have been in business as long as holbrook has and never had anything but happy clients is suspicious from the start.
holbrook is a crook and those that hired him are incompetent, lazy fools.
Kudos for speaking out! Holbrook sent Mr. Maurizio and I Cease and Desist letters for sharing the truth, facts and our opinions. That is not becoming of a Knight or someone who is pocketing public funds. What on earth could he have to hide that he has to threaten citizens posting and try to end the public discussions concerning the use of public funds for projects he is recommending?
Holbrook lists EMCID as his only income for the past three years. That gravy train is likely over as only one incumbent in East Montgomery County Improvement District got re-elected, even after the bankrupt Holbrook contributed to their campaign funds. Earthquest is extinct!!!
Again, all of your statements are factually incorrect. I agree completely with Dr. Waters. Your assessment that EarthQuest is dead is incorrect. In fact, Earthquest has a new developer with a new and better development agreement that is when the funding is finalized going to make the tax payers of EMCID 100% whole.
The land had to be purchased from the bankruptcy court in order to allow the new developer the right to secure a purchase agreement for the land that he needs for the EarthQuest project.
In addition, if it had not been for the visionary actions of EMCID to intercede with the BK process and secure these rights for the land purchase and secure a new developer the project would have died with the failed original developer.
All of this was factually explained to the town board prior to any vote on their own desire to consider the development of a major destination attraction for Pahrump. We have never proposed a theme park. In addition, my role in all of these projects is to give advice on what incentives can or should be considered to attract the private sector investment necessary to fund the construction of such projects. I do not do my opinions based on the success of projects getting funded or upon the success of the developer hired by the public sector. My job is to create a recommendation for how to best engage the public-private partnership. That does not mean that all my clients adhere to my advice. EarthQuest is going through a transition from the failed developer to a new developer… many projects during the greatest financial crisis of my lifetime have had to do the same types of mitigation. That does not mean the project has failed.
In addition, the statements and libelous comments made by Heather Dobrott and Mr. Frank Maurizio were not constructive and were not valid… they were misrepresentations on purpose in order to harm my professional reputation and thus illegal. Those types of comments are not protected by the first amendment.
With regard to Huber Heights I am counter suing them for breach of contract as they have no basis for their claims and they are using these tactics to avoid paying their legitimately owed bill for our final product and have taken our intellectual property without paying for it. Therefore we are going to deny any validity to all their claims and sue them for damages. I know why they made such an unprofessional breach of their contract and it will come out in court just what was actually behind this very poor business decision on the City of Huber Heights part, and it had nothing to do with my professional work product and nothing to do with any of their allegations.
The people of Pahrump are in need of more jobs and building additional tourism is a very successful method to achieve those goals that the town board has for their constituents. But in the end, I am not the developer and I am not the financier. I am a public-policy specialist that has given them my opinion on the economic development issues that need to be addressed if they choose to move forward and create jobs and build additional economic benefits for their residents.
Comment removed. No charges have been filed by either party and we will NOT be arguing the cases on this board.
The end
PVT
Mr Holbrook…that goes for you, too.
In addition, Mr. Maurizio has stated falsely that our report to the Town of Pahrump was lifted from the EarthQuest project and that is a complete false statement and a accusation of dishonesty. Perhaps he should have taken my letter of warning I sent him more seriously. He should have been legally counseled on the damages of calling someone a liar and dishonest business person are when you do so intentionally and with the intent to harm someone’s reputation and economic livelihood with malice and specific purpose. I took the high road and sent both of these libelous bloggers warnings, both of which ignored them and choose to purposefully continue to spew misinformation, resorted to name calling, creating a negative image of my persona and professional work product and even attacked my reputation with my industry association colleagues and my social affiliations with allegations. That does not sound like the methodology or decision making process of what most of us would consider appropriate actions. If other people had experienced this type of hatred online that has been directed at me and my family and now my clients, they would more than likely have taken the same appropriate actions as I have done.
Your portrayal of my reorganization bankruptcy was completely not factual as well. You obviously have no idea how such business matters work. My BK was a reorganization because I got stiffed for my final payment by Earthquest, which I was told was forthcoming by the developer. I made the decision to pay my IRS tax bill with that payment and when it did not come I could not mitigate the tax ramifications and workout a payment with the IRS unless I was under this Chapter 11 reorganization plan. There is nothing deceitful about creating a repayment plan that I could adhere to with my income that was available to me and predictable. My speaking, books and consulting projects are not predictable. Therefore the only longterm retainer for work I was able to use was the work I was contracted to do for EMCID. That does not mean that I did not disclose all of my income appropriately as you have stated. You again are factually wrong. Please leave me, my family and my clients alone. People who get online and spew such hatred are in my opinion mentally off and socially unbalanced. In my opinion Heather Dobrott and Frank Maurizio have some type of anger issues that they themselves need to deal with and quit blaming your hatred for your own lives on others. I am sure you have enough problems of your own or shortly will have in my opinion.