A proposed language, literature and literacy-themed attraction in Coralville could earn more than $4.5 million a year, officials said today, and draw 500,000 people annually.
“The Stories Project,” to be located on the Iowa River Landing Area, made its official debut at the Old Capitol Friday morning. Local leaders who have spent the past two years planning and researching the concept released details about its size, features and economic feasibility.
The $90 million attraction would need about $6 million a year to operate. A professionally managed fundraising program could cover what direct revenues don’t bring in, officials said.
500,000 people annually? In Coralville?
That's about how many people Adventureland near Des Moines attracts (source).
$90 million? Where are they going to come up with that sort of money?
Who's going to come up with the $6 million a year to run the joint?
Bob Rogers, founder and chairman of the Burbank, Calif.-based BRC Imaginations Arts, Inc., said Stories would be an unprecedented combination of education and entertainment.
BRC consultants worked with city of Coralville, the University of Iowa, the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce, the Iowa Language & Literacy Institute and a host of other organizations to develop the idea.
What a bunch of nonsense.
These consultants just pull a number out of the air!
Look who's involved here. The Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce. Who runs that outfit? Nancy Quellhorst, the same person who used to get paid to cheerlead the Earthpark Rainforest scam, and who was likely paid from the $3 million in taxpayer money that Senator Chuck Grassley allowed con artist David Oman to spend before the $50 million pork grant had gone through final approval (which failed, of course).
Current plans indicate a 125,000 square-foot complex with three major components. The Stories Center will have live actors and storytellers, “flying video screens” and holographic projections. The Hall of American Literary Achievement would become a nationally-recognized facility to honor writers from all over the country and their contributions. The Iowa Language & Literacy Institute would take the third spot, and would combine research and an experimental school to help test and improve efforts to help students learn to read.
Flying video screens?
Holographic projects?
Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi! You're my only hope!
And look at this. An "experimental school" to help people to read. Don't they have regular schools for that sort of thing?
This sure smells like Rainforest II, doesn't it?
If you remember, the original David Oman $280 million Rainforest plan was to have a school attached to it.
Gee, we've heard all this before, haven't we?
...you were saying something about "best intentions".....?
Updated:
More at the Cedar Rapids Gazette, whose President and CEO Chuck Peters is a "core group member" of the Stories Project. That should allow for a complete lack of objective reporting. Right?
A core development group — representing the city, the UI, educators, tourist and business groups — declined to release any financial details before today's meeting...
...State and federal funding will be sought, and a national fundraising campaign will be undertaken, organizers said.
This thing has "Taxpayer SCAM" written all over it.
You know, I don't have any problem with it if a bunch of authors and writers get together and fund the thing out of their bank accounts. But asking taxpayers to fork over more money for such an expensive boondoggle is insanity!
Prepare for war.
Actually, there might be a market for this in the Iowa City area. The University of Iowa Writer's Workshop has attracted promising writers for decades. This might be a good fit for Iowa City and the university, celebrating language arts. Who cares if private fund raising is used to make up the difference in annual operating costs? It sounds like that is the plan anyway ...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.uiowa.edu/~iww/about.htm
ReplyDeleteI can definitely see this becoming a mecca of sorts to those who love to write, and a valuable resource to the writer's workshop.
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ReplyDelete"I can definitely see this becoming a mecca of sorts to those who love to write, and a valuable resource to the writer's workshop."
ReplyDeleteYou are on drugs.
The workshop brings in, what 24 writers a year? And maybe each year ten thousand people in the world are interested enough to go out of their way for this thing. That's generous... Add the, what 10,000 or 20,000? localish school kids who will be forced to go to this thing. Where are the other 469,976 people coming from?
That's more than a thousand people a day! If you made every single person in the 380 corridor go, you'd only be halfway there. You wouldn't get that many people there if you paid them each $10. Much less charge them to look at books.
It would be hard work to keep an Iowa City coffee shop open with this target market. A $90 million egghead coffee ship? Whatever these people are smoking must be good stuff.
ReplyDeleteIts typical People's Republic of Johnson County socialist BS.
ReplyDeleteLet's take as much money from the taxpayer as we can so we can all feel really good about ourselves and if we can't make any money off this, we'll just blame the poor unwashed masses and call them ignorant for not patronizing our little boondoggle.
Keep in mind that this is a county that instead of building a county jail..(that's desperately needed, btw)..they decided to spend 20 million + dollars on a "Health and Human Services" building that's twice the size of the County Administration Building is in Johnson County.
The leaders here have been one set of nitwits after the other for the past 30 years..and the sad part is..more and more keep coming.
Who should be put in charge of this big Fuckin library? Why, Honorary Dr. Basu, of course.
ReplyDeleteShe's alread been reprimanded in print by the Ragister for screwing up an essay about Viginia gun control laws, and gave us the details of her rejection for a big scholarship to an Ivy League writing seminar. Let her raise the money from the dumbo illiterates of Iowa, which we all are--according the the 7th Street news institution.