The Lubbock Cheese Factory, Redistricting, & the Downtown Park

Wednesday on Sunrise LBK with Dave King and Tom Collins, Lubbock City Councilman Steve Massengale joined Dave and Tom to talk about yesterday's city council meeting, the plan for redistricting, how they will accomplish it, the impact of the cheese factory coming to Lubbock, the street bond, the Lubbock downtown park, and more.

Massengale started the discussion by saying that it is time for redistricting that will affect which area each council member represents. He explained that every 10 years, in alignment with the census, the council has to redistrict to make sure that the population is equally distributed between each district within a 10% margin. Currently, his ownmoz district 4 is sitting at a 10% difference, and Councilman Christian's District 5 is sitting at a 32% difference. Massengale was then asked how they go about this process, to which he explained that they do so with the help of a consultant, which they share with the county, who is also redistricting. The consultant will ask the council questions, gather some information, and then start drawing some maps. Then, around November, the council will get to look at the maps and pick one. The council has no choice but to come to a decision on the issue, although he says it is not usually very difficult to do so.

The Councilman also talked about the large cheese factory that is planned to be constructed in Lubbock on the East Loop, North of 19th Street. It is known that the factory would require massive amounts of water to operate, and so Massengale was asked if it will raise the city's water bill to fulfil that need. He explained that it will not raise any bill, and that while it is true that they will require over a million gallons of water per day, they will actually output even more water than they take in. The water will then be sent to the canyon lakes, which he thinks will be advantageous to the city, especially down the road as they plan for city lake 7. When asked where they will get sufficient milk to supply the factory, he explained that there are enough dairies around here to support them, which is why they are opening here in the first place. Additionally, he suspects that even more dairies will open as a result.

Finally the Councilman was asked to speak about the downtown park. Massengale is aware of various complaints and concerns that citizens have about the park, but he has still made it no secret that he is in support of the park. The council has already voted for the park to be built at the site of the old LP&L building, and a million dollars has already been raised privately for the construction, on top of the 2 million dollars from the TIF. Massengale believes that this will be a good catalyst project for downtown, like the Buddy Holly Hall and South Plains College are, and will keep people around.

Listen to the full interview with Steve Massengale in the audio above.

Sunrise LBK with Dave King & Tom Collins airs weekday mornings live, from 6:00 AM to 8:30 AM on News/Talk 95.1 FM and 790 AM KFYO, online at KFYO.com, & on the free KFYO app.