Build it and they will come

...or not.

The city of Houston recently spent $81 million on a cruise ship facility at the city's port, but they kind of forgot to line up any contracts with cruise companies before they went ahead and built it.

Meanwhile, the nearby port of Galveston is constantly busy with cruise liners, but it seems none of them are willing to change their routes to stop at Houston instead.

Wade Battles, the acting executive director of the Port of Houston, has this to say: "We're very, very confident that we're going to have a customer."

Can you imagine if the CEO of a private company said something like that? I doubt it would make anyone feel much confidence at all.

Here's the best part of the story, from Channel 2 in Houston:

Right now, port leaders say the only way cruise ships will begin to use the Bayport terminal in the near future is if another hurricane or other unforeseen event shuts down another cruise terminal that already has ships.

"Basically, in the next year, if there's not another weather event, do you see passengers here?" asked Local 2 Investigative reporter Robert Arnold.

"I do not," said Battles. "No. Not in the year 2010."

Oh, so that was their secret plan. Spend a ton of taxpayer money and then close their eyes and hope a hurricane wiped out Galveston (or another port), so cruise ships had to come to Houston instead. Sounds like a foolproof business strategy to me.