Local: If museum dies, it dies
Caterpillar says its visitor center scheme will die if voters don’t approve the museum tax:
One questioner thought Caterpillar’s “this plan, or no plan” sounded like a threat.
Mark Johnson, the project manager for Caterpillar, responded.
“We’ve operated for 85 years (in Peoria) without such a facility. It’s not critical to us and it’s not going to return a single penny to a single stockholder,” he said. “It would be nice to have,” Johnson said, adding that it is now up to voters to decide whether the project has value.
First, there’s not one single molecule in my body that gives a flying rat’s butt if Caterpillar build’s this or not. And apparently they don’t either. If they can get the taxpayers to cough up money to build attractions next door, they are all for it. But otherwise, no big deal. Right?
Feh. I don’t buy it for a second. This is the pre-vote soft-sell. The strategy is to NOT turn off voters with threats (the usual tactic is to imply Caterpillar will pull up stakes and leave people). But I have no doubt these people will just keep coming back with one scheme after another.
I suggest the City of Peoria stop fooling around and put a “for sale” sign” damn lot, and sell it to anyone who will build on it and pay property taxes.
No requests for proposals. No TIF agreements. Just a big “for sale” sign.
And if Cat wants to make a bid, let ‘em. But no more special deals for the Great Yellow God.
March 10th, 2009 at 6:53 am
The PJS today says there is no “Plan B” if the tax increase does not pass. I say wonderful! Sell this white elephant and put it on the tax roles where it belongs.
March 10th, 2009 at 7:56 am
Over here in Bloomington, our White Elephant is on track to lose $2.3 million this year. AGAIN.
A current headline in our Twin City news partner, The Pantagraph:
http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2009/03/10/news/doc49b5da4baecac455141952.txt
This was a project that was sold to the taxpayers as a “sure thing” – profitable right out of the gate, by gosh.
We didn’t buy it and voted against it in a referendum by a 70% “NO” vote. The City Council and Mayor ignored that referendum and built it anyway. Since then, I’m proud to say that every council member that voted in favor of the project has since been voted out of office.
But ultimately that’s a small consolation when we’re left holding the bag for over $2 million a year.
It’s not that we thought the coliseum was a bad idea in and of itself. It’s just that we didn’t trust our elected officials and their cronies to, well, not screw it up.
Block the Block.
March 10th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
It’s high time the sappy nostalgic boobs in city hall drop the idea that downtown Peoria can be revitalized to the Block & Kuhl days when it was a retail center in the ‘50s & 60s. Those days are gone forever so forget the nutty idea that a museum of any type will attract more than a handful of really bored people, the occasional grade school field trip and Willy York searching for a warm place to nurse his hangover.
March 10th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
I suggest the City of Peoria stop fooling around and put a “for sale” sign” damn lot, and sell it to anyone who will build on it and pay property taxes.
No requests for proposals. No TIF agreements. Just a big “for sale” sign.
Amen, Bill!!
March 10th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
I hope it is a resounding NO vote for the tax increase (temporary until H*LL freezes over). I agree with the For Sale sign.
March 10th, 2009 at 8:05 pm
If the CAT visitor center won’t return a single penny to CAT shareholders then why the f*@k build it at all?! Government funding or not? Museum or not? How damned stupid would that be?