Martinsville: Stuck with the check and a worthless building.
You might remember the MZM building in Martinsville. That’s the consolation prize that the city was left with after Rep. Virgil Goode convinced the city to cosign on the state’s incentive package for MZM to move in. The company was exposed for giving hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent donations to Goode, they disappeared, and Martinsville had to pony up the penalty cash to the state. Goode’s supporters thought this was a great deal, because now Martinsville had this great building! Bullshit. “Martinsville: Easy to Leave.” It’s funny because it’s true. Nobody wanted to move into the building, the promised new purchasers never materialized.
Now comes word that, irony of ironies, Henry County wants to move Henry-Martinsville Social Services into the old MZM building. Their need for social services exceeds the interest that any private business has (which is to say none) in buying or renting the building. The structure will require $685,000 in improvements to make it usable. Martinsville got stuck with the bill and they’ve got to pay to overhaul the MZM building.
These kind of shenanigans are why “Rep. Virgil Goode” is about to become just plain-old “Virgil Goode.” He’s holding a press conference as we speak. He’s conceding defeat, I can only assume. The newly-elected Tom Perriello’s press conference is at 3:00pm. He’s accepting that concession, I assume, and describing his transition process.
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