Another sucker steps up
In Blount County, the powers that be want to build this fantastic boondoggle known as the Civic Arts Center. The scam was supported last week by the city (my the city) of Maryville who agreed to waste $9M of tax payer money on this fiasco. Now, the city (not my the city) of Alcoa has decided to pony up nearly $4M. All that’s left is convincing Blount County to foot part of the bill of $11M. It looks like that will happen:
“Three unanimous votes, the college, Maryville and Alcoa have all been totally unanimous. The (Blount County Commission) budget committee passed it unanimously, even without recommendation, to the full commission for a vote,” said Carolyn Forster of Citizens for a Civic Arts Center. “Now all the (county) commissioners will have the chance to vote on it.”
If you feel the need to contact the County Commission, their number is (865) 273-5830. Make sure you ask them:
Why is our government willing to fund a project to be turned over to the local college?
The Knoxville Convention Center is a failure and their calendar of events may as well be blank. Why do you think people would come to Maryville for an event?
Also, are there plans to build convenient hotels to the center? Right now, there’s nothing particularly convenient.
Do you really believe this thing is going to bring industry into the county? Other than the jobs of staffing the place, of course.
The people selling this thing are really convinced that this will bring high tech jobs here. Seriously:
City Manager Mark Johnson said the center would be more than a cultural jewel to the county, it would help bring industry.
“I think it’s an important asset to have on your balance sheet when you’re trying to offer the community as an attractive place for high-tech research and development firms.”
According to Johnson, high tech research and development industries are the focus for the future of Blount County.
Manufacturing jobs the United States has enjoyed over the past 100 years are going to other countries with cheaper labor.
“If we don’t get our act together and capitalize on our technical ability, we’re going to fall behind other countries in the world,” he said. “We’re going through a paradigm shift. We’ve got to emphasize education and look for that niche of being able to maintain our hold on technology.”
According to Johnson, the Oak Ridge National Lab is going to make this area a focal point for high tech industry. Blount County has to be ready to participate in that industry, he said.
Yes, come to Blount County, where we have a building.
November 10th, 2005 at 11:03 am
if you want tech, you need great broadband.
that is all techworkers care about. I could live anywhere if i had great broadband and amazon to deliver.
November 10th, 2005 at 11:17 am
Powers that be? I thought you wrote about “… Politics on SayUncle.”
🙂
November 10th, 2005 at 11:26 am
huh?
November 10th, 2005 at 12:21 pm
Learn from the mistakes made in Knoxville. Build your “Convention Center” with failure in mind. Do not built super high ceilings. Five years from now after this fails you will need to do something with the building. Try to build a structure that can be used for something else.
In Knoxville we are just screwed. Our Knoxville Convention Center cannot easily be used for anything other than a convention center.
Is it possible that real end game for this is for Maryville College to get a free building five years from now? Is that just a little bit of fraud?
November 10th, 2005 at 2:43 pm
We’re going through a paradigm shift
fancy words for high tech future eh?
Anyone researched who is going to build/finance the boondoggle? Anyone connected to the city/county et al…?