The Journal Star included two articles today — I’m sure we’ll be seeing many more in the coming weeks — championing the proposed riverfront museum. One was an editorial (“Boost museum with old-fashioned political campaign“), and the other a Paul Gordon business article (“Museum would be true local project“).

First up, the editorial. Here’s their take on why the museum doesn’t have broader support:

Our read is that most locals are not exactly against the museum so much as not emphatically for it. They’re skeptical that The Block will draw visitors beyond this immediate area, that it won’t require ongoing tax support for operations, that this is “absolutely critical” to the region. Remarkably, some even doubt whether central Illinois’ history merits remembrance and celebration.

That’s all true, but they’re missing the bigger point. This museum is a bait and switch. We were supposed to be getting a Peoria history museum as part of a new-urban-style development. Instead, they’re wanting to move Lakeview Museum to the riverfront, add a token amount of “regional” history to the permanent display area, throw in a bunch of other stuff, and house it in a downsized, inefficient, suburban building — and they want our tax dollars to fund it.

It’s not that people are against a museum — it’s that they’re against this plan for a museum. It’s too much money in too small a space for too little value added. Instead of spending their wad on a big marketing campaign, they would be better off spending that money to rework their plan for the Sears block.

As I have suggested before, I propose that they leave Lakeview where it is and keep it as the art and science museum. We already have it, and there’s no compelling reason to move it to the riverfront on the public’s dime. Then, on the Sears block, they build a new history and achievement museum (with an IMAX theater), but they build it on a small portion of the block in a multi-level, urban-style building. This will reduce the construction costs considerably while simultaneously giving them additional space. The rest of the block would be put out for proposals from developers for mixed-use development, including residential and retail urban development. This would infuse the block with activity around the clock, benefiting not only the museum and IMAX theater, but the riverfront and the rest of downtown. I bet they could do that without even having to go to the public to request a tax increase.

Moving on to Paul Gordon’s column, he focuses on a memorandum of understanding “between Caterpillar Inc., the Museum Collaboration Group and the West-Central Illinois Building Trades Council.”

The memo […] spells out the responsibilities of each of the partners in getting the project built if the funding goal is reached in the next three years.

But it’s the bottom line numbers that will bring people together for the project.

It will keep 250 to 300 construction workers on the job each month for two or more years (an estimated 420,000-plus man hours), keep the projected $77 million in total construction costs – including an estimated $45 million in wages – in central Illinois and serve as a renewed commitment to Peoria by its largest employer.

That sounds great until you remember that your tax dollars are going to be paying the lion’s share ($35 million) of those $45 million in wages. And you’re going to paying those taxes forever — long after those two years of construction jobs are complete. Why? Well, first of all, because taxes, once established, never get rescinded. Witness the HRA taxes for the Civic Center which Peorians were promised would only be temporary. Secondly, the museum has a projected annual operating budget of $4 million. That means they’d have to get 1,000 visitors a week paying $10.95 admission (for reference, Lakeview currently charges $6 admission for adults, $4 for kids, and according to their website, “The Museum has a membership base of 4,000 and attracts 125,000 visitors annually”). So I think it’s safe to say that they’ll have to use tax revenue to cover their operational costs… forever.

But hey, we’ll have two years of local construction jobs, so that’s a good trade-off, right?

According to the new “Build the Block” website, “The Block will embrace the concepts of new urbanism to encourage a scenic, walkable community where people live, work and enjoy leisure activities.”

Where people live? Where exactly are people going to live on this block? Because I don’t see any apartments, condos, or hotel rooms in their plans. Heck, I don’t even see a habitable second story on any of the buildings. Or are they referring to the homeless who will camp out in the ample green space at night when the block is dead?

You can’t fool people into thinking that this block “embrace[s] the concepts of new urbanism” when it manifestly does not. Just saying it’s new urban doesn’t make it so.

Also, from the Journal Star article today:

“Caterpillar has already put $56 million on the table that would all go away if the museum isn’t built,” Brad McMillan, the spokesman for the museum collaboration group, said. “We need to ask: Is it in central Illinois’ best interest that Caterpillar drive deep stakes in this community?”

First of all, it’s interesting that the group has a new spokesman. Is he their first official spokesman, or does he replace someone else? I don’t recall. Secondly — and I’ve mentioned this before but it’s worth repeating — notice that the museum group is now using fear and intimidation to get you to support the museum.

Follow the logic here — if we build it, it means Cat “drive[s] deep stakes in this community.” The implication is, if we don’t build it, then Cat will not have “deep stakes” here, meaning they could go away and take all their jobs and prestige with them. Ergo, we should hand over our money to this museum because otherwise our city will face economic ruin as our biggest employer moves out of town.

I find that line of reasoning offensive, and to hear leaders like Mayor Ardis and Sen. Koehler parrot the rhetoric is very disappointing. What kind of leadership is that? Either the museum on its own merits is good for the region and worth the investment or it’s not. What Cat will or will not do is immaterial. If Cat told us they would leave unless we all stood on our heads or jumped off the Murray Baker Bridge or built a big $100 million golden statue of a tractor in the middle of the Illinois River, would our leaders be encouraging us to do so? It sounds like it.

Not only that, but as astute commenter Dirk pointed out in a previous post, “If the only thing keeping Caterpillar in Peoria is this museum complex, and nothing else, then I would venture that Caterpillar isn’t very committed to staying in Peoria anyway. Why would a museum [solely] keep Caterpillar anchored here in Peoria? Business is business and economics and not about some amalgam of buildings for tourists or visitors.”

It should be noted, again, that Caterpillar is not making any threats themselves. All they’ve said is that they’ll only build their visitors center if the museum is built next to it. They haven’t said anything about this project deepening their ties with Peoria. Thus, there’s no promise of longevity from them if we build it and no threat of moving if we don’t. The only ones inserting fear and insinuation into this matter are the museum cheerleaders.

Finally, there’s this:

“This is the (Peoria) Civic Center moment of our generation,” said Michael Bryant, the president and CEO of Methodist Medical Center….

The only thing that’s analogous to the Civic Center is that it would require a permanent sales tax to support it. Fortunately, this time the voters will get to decide if that tax is levied.

I wasn’t able to attend the press conference today, but here’s the official press release of what was announced:

Peoria, IL – The area’s most prominent business leaders today announced they are backing a new capital campaign dubbed “Build the Block!” Its goal: to raise $8 million and the public awareness needed to help create a building block of our future.

Through a group known as the CEO Roundtable, a Heartland Partnership Organization, these leaders strive to drive economic and cultural development in the region. The multi-faceted project they are supporting encompasses both Caterpillar’s planned visitor center, and the Peoria Riverfront Museum, a collaboration of the Lakeview Museum of Arts and Sciences, Peoria Regional Museum Society, Peoria Historical Society, African American Hall of Fame and Illinois High School Association (IHSA). The development will also include art and history exhibits for all ages, an IHSA Peak Performance Center, and state-of-the-art planetarium and IMAX theatre facilities, all in a park-like campus designed to transform seven vacant acres overlooking the Illinois River in downtown Peoria.

It’s estimated the development will attract more than 360,000 visitors and up to $14 million in Peoria County revenues annually. The funding strategy for The Block calls for 58 percent of the total funding or $78 million to be raised through private contributions; to date $66 million has been committed.

To reach its $8 million private funding goal by early 2009, all community members are encouraged to donate through BuildTheBlock.org. In addition, the Riverfront Museum collaborators are continuing a capital campaign to raise private funds from patrons.

Remaining funding will come from a combination of government sources in 2009. The Block has garnered significant bipartisan political support from U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood, State Sens. Dave Koehler and Dale Risinger, State Reps. David Leitch and Aaron Schrock, and Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis.

To kick off the Build the Block! campaign, the fence surrounding the currently vacant site of The Block, bordered by Washington, Main, Water and Liberty streets, has seen some colorful improvements. Panels now pop with oversize graphics and informative panels sharing the excitement of what’s to come inside the fence—from “Hang with the Stars” touting cutting-edge planetarium shows and “Feel the Noise” introducing the benefits of the planned stories-tall IMAX theatre, to “Master Full,” previewing the prestige of top Smithsonian exhibits the new museum will accommodate.

For more information about the project, including the latest news and funding developments, check out our website www.BuildTheBlock.org or you can contact Renee Charles at The Heartland Partnership at 495-5905, 229-7791 or e-mail rcharles@h-p.org.

They have consistently, over the years, talked about how they expected to get a certain percentage of the funding from private donors and the rest from public sources. The announcement today was about their efforts to close the gap in private funding. But even if they’re able to do that, they still won’t have enough public funding to make this museum plan a reality.

The public sources were supposed to be the federal government (earmarks from Ray LaHood) and the state (which, if you haven’t noticed, is not doing very well financially these days). The justification was that this is a “regional museum” and would draw people from all over the state and, it’s sometimes claimed, the nation. But, since neither of those public funding sources have panned out as planned, that’s why the museum group is attempting to get those funds at the county level through a county-wide sales tax (or less probably, a property tax hike).

The trouble is, we can’t afford it. We’ve got big expenses coming up in Peoria. The school district is starting on their new school buildings, bonds for the new library upgrades will be on our next property tax bill, construction has started on a new publicly-funded airport terminal, and the $100+ million CSO project is looming, just to name a few things. State and federal funding sources would impact us here in Central Illinois very little because those funds are being drawn from a larger pool of taxpayers. A county-wide sales tax, however, would be a huge burden on a population already reeling from increased taxes on top of inflated fuel and food prices.

Furthermore, polls have already shown that the chances of voters approving a tax increase at referendum is slim. How long are we going to keep beating this dead horse? It’s time to come up with a new plan.

There’s a press event planned for next Tuesday regarding fundraising efforts for the proposed downtown museum. The event is sponsored by the CEO Roundtable and sports a new catchphrase and logo to replace the old “Circle the Square” campaign: “Build the Block.” Here are the details directly from the press release:

Tuesday, September 2, 2008, 10:30 a.m.
On the patio at Martinis, 212 SW Water Street

The CEO Roundtable, a Heartland Partnership Organization representing Peoria’s business leaders, will announce a new effort to raise needed funds to help build the Peoria Riverfront Museum Block. The new museum block will be a component of the overall development of one of the most important properties in Peoria’s downtown. The Caterpillar Experience, retail/commercial offerings and park-like green space are also planned for the site.

Speakers include:
Michael Bryant, Methodist Medical Center
Mike Everett, Illinois Building Trades Councils
State Senator Dave Koehler
State Representative Dave Leitch
Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis
Jim Owens, Caterpillar Inc.
Brad McMillan, Museum Collaboration Group

It’s encouraging that they’re not putting all their eggs in the new-county-tax basket. I can’t wait to hear what their new plan is. It’s also encouraging that they’re still calling it the “Peoria Riverfront Museum,” evidently backing off plans to remove “Peoria” from the name.

Have you seen “Museum Square” lately? Well, if you haven’t, maybe a look at this will inspire you to come downtown and take a look for yourself:

Yes, that’s right — these are the slogans that officials hope will “attract riverfront and Downtown visitors to the site and increase awareness of the project.” It’s a little something I like to call the “ExploraFence” — an homage to one of the museum’s rejected names, “ExploraSphere.” Aren’t they inspiring? Don’t they fill you with a sense that the museum project is “moving forward and that this project is going to happen”?

Yeah, me neither. It’s a fence. Whether you put amateur artwork or professional artwork on it, it’s still a fence around a big concrete slab that should have been developed four years ago. The museum officials are holding the block hostage until we pay the ransom to the tune of some 30 million dollars in sales tax money.

Here’s the thing — the museum folks have missed the deadlines specified in their redevelopment agreement with the city. They’re going to miss them again at the end of this year. In the past, the city has extended the deadlines. But the time has come for the city council to put the kibosh on this project at the end of this year.

Why? Well, I could go on and on, but let’s just limit things to three reasons:

1. The project design is not what was originally presented. What started out as a museum of 110,000 square feet has dwindled to 81,000 square feet. That’s a 26% reduction in size from the original plan. The Journal Star reported in October 2003, “The 110,000-square-foot museum is expected to open in 2007 with areas for Caterpillar Inc., art, history, science and technology, a Childhood Discovery Center, a large-format theater, domed planetarium, auditorium, cafe and outdoor park with sculpture garden.” Now Caterpillar is no longer part of the museum, but will be building a separate visitors center. And the children’s museum is also a separate project now, in a different location, overseen by a separate organization. There have been a couple of smaller components added in the meantime, but nothing of the size and scope of the Caterpillar or children’s museum components. Despite these reductions, the price is going up.
2. Costs are significantly higher than originally estimated, and still rising. Even though they’ve cut the square footage by 26%, removed two large components of the project (Cat and the children’s museum, as mentioned previously), and redesigned the exterior to lower costs (by making it uglier), the price of the project is going up. The original price tag in October 2003 was $65 million. In February of this year, Lakeview Museum CEO Jim Richerson said the price tag was estimated to be “$65 million to $75 million,” which means it’s most assuredly more than $65 million at this point. Museum officials attribute this to rising construction costs. Perhaps they should look at redesigning the museum to save money instead of looking for ways to confiscate it through raised taxes.
3. The funding mechanism is not what was originally proposed. The plan was to raise the money through private donations, state and federal grants, and city perks (such as TIF funding, lease of the Sears block for $1/year, city-funded infrastructure improvements, etc.). Now they want to add a county sales tax to their public funds ledger. That’s not part of the deal. We already pay a never-ending sales tax to the Civic Center; we don’t need a new one for the museum.

And then there’s the fact that under the original plan, they were only going to use a portion of the block, leaving the rest for mixed-use development. They slowly chipped away at that over the years, until now they have the whole block, except for a proposed tiny strip of retail storefronts along Water Street, which they’re also trying to quash. And I haven’t even mentioned the Heart of Peoria Plan, which is a whole separate topic.

It’s simple. The museum didn’t hold up their end of the bargain. They didn’t meet the deadlines. They didn’t raise the money. Case closed. Five years is long enough. They don’t need more time; they need a new plan. If they are unable or unwilling to come up with a new plan, then it’s time to move on.

The Journal Star reports the latest plan to generate excitement about the proposed downtown museum that’s been languishing for about four years now:

Panels of the construction fence around the property, recently rebuilt and painted solid black, are being painted anew with slogans that are intended to educate the public about what’s going to be inside the museum and Cat visitor’s center…. Officials hope the signs will attract riverfront and Downtown visitors to the site and increase awareness of the project.

Slogans will include, “Play it again, Peoria” to promote the history portion of the museum, “They Had a Dream” to promote the African American Hall of Fame, and “Hang With the Stars” to promote Lakeview’s planetarium.

Here now are the top ten rejected slogans for the museum square fence:

10. “Shhhh — We’re still in the ‘quiet phase’ of fundraising”
9. “The only ‘Lake View’ here is one block east”
8. “Welcome to the ExploraFence!”
7. “Either you cough up the $40 million or this becomes a permanent surface lot. What’ll it be, people?”
6. “Used Cars For Sale”
5. “Due to escalating construction costs, patrons for the planetarium show now have to sit outside at night and look at actual stars”
4. “Look at the bright side — this block already looks better than Riverfront Village”
3. Number 3 eliminated last year when museum was reduced from 110,000 to 81,000 square feet.
2. “So far, we only have enough money to put up this fence”
1. “Coming soon: Higher Taxes!”

In July 2006, downtown museum developers with city approval kicked off “Picture Museum Square.” For a fee, anyone — artists, schools, businesses, etc. — could paint one of the panels of the plywood fence surrounding the old Sears block downtown. The idea was to raise money for the museum project and make the block more attractive while waiting for construction to commence. Each panel cost $500. Many participated as several of the panels were decorated with various styles of artwork.

But it’s all gone now.

As PeoriaIllinoisan shows with his trusty camera, the plywood fence surrounding so-called Museum Square has been painted black. It’s unclear whether Caterpillar or the City painted over all the artwork. You may recall that Caterpillar recently was granted a lease by the city to use the block as an employee parking lot while their parking deck is getting some maintenance work done to it.

The lease agreement specifically states that the outside of the fence is the City’s responsibility to maintain, and that additional artwork can be painted there, although Caterpillar has the right to approve the artwork first:

5.5 … In addition, the City shall maintain the exterior of the existing fence surrounding the Premises. The City shall have the right to grant additional licenses to community groups to paint or attach artwork or graphics to the exterior of the fence surrounding the Premises, provided that Caterpillar shall have the right, in the exercise of its reasonable judgment, to approve all such artwork and graphics. The attachment of such artwork and graphics shall not negatively impact Caterpillar’s use of the Premises.

I’ve written to Interim City Manager Henry Holling asking for an explanation for the painting over of the artwork. I’ll update this post with his response when I receive it. I agree with PeoriaIllinoisan: inquiring minds want to know.

UPDATE (6/10): Here’s the response I received from Henry Holling:

Mr. Summers, the fence painting was worked out between the Museum Group and Caterpillar. The artwork was not painted over, it was removed for future use.
Thanks for your inquiry.

Also, the Journal Star has an article today about plans for the fence. I’m glad to hear they didn’t paint over the artwork.

In 2006, over 5,000 people participated in a poll to name the museum proposed for the old Sears block. Over 2,500 — over fifty percent — of those participants voted for “Peoria Riverfront Museum.” That would not be a big deal if there were only two names on the ballot, but there were five. In a five-way race, “Peoria Riverfront Museum” captured over half the total votes. It wasn’t a plurality; it was a majority.

There was no small amount of controversy over the naming of the museum. You may recall that the museum officials at first trotted out a series of ridiculous names (like “ExploraSphere” and “AMAZEum”), that were met with scorn by the public. None of their original batch of names had “Peoria” in the title because it supposedly “didn’t test well.” Yet, when public pressure was put on the museum folks to reconsider, the name that got the most votes was “Peoria Riverfront Museum.”

Now WCBU’s Jonathan Ahl reports that museum officials have decided that the public’s choice for a name is “too long,” so they will be shortening it to “Riverfront Museum.”

Too long? Based on what? It’s shorter than “Discovery Depot Children’s Museum” and even “Galesburg Railroad Museum.” What about the “WonderLab Museum of Health, Science & Technology” in Bloomington? Or the “Metropolitan Museum of Art” in New York? Or the “Museum of Science and Industry” in Chicago? Do they seriously expect us to believe that “Peoria Riverfront Museum” is too long?

And even if it were too long, why take “Peoria” out of the name? Why not shorten it to “Peoria Museum”? My guess is the real reason they want to strip “Peoria” out of the name to make it easier for them to pitch it as a “regional” musuem, and thus (they hope) get surrounding cities and corporations to donate.

The problem is not the name. The problem is the design and the cost. Rather than changing the plans to a more urban design — which would be easier and less expensive to build, and which Peorians wanted in the first place — they’re going to change the name. That name was the only thing on which the public got what it wanted. And now it’s gone, too.

Of course, they still want your tax money regardless.