The latest town hall meeting on the county sales tax referendum took place tonight at Dunlap Valley Middle School. The presenters were Brad McMillan for the museum, Erik Bush for the county, and Karrie Alms for Citizens for Responsible Spending. I was pleased to see that tonight’s meeting was a balanced presentation, pro and con. Kudos to the county for now allowing both sides a seat at the table.
While most of the evening was filled with no new information, there was one significant development. As you may know, the museum has set separate goals for private and public funding. The sales tax is supposed to plug the gap in public funding, but there is still an $11 million shortfall on the private funding side. At just about every meeting, the question is raised as to how the museum group plans to close that $11 million private funding gap. And the answer has always been that they’ve gotten a commitment from the CEO Roundtable to raise $8 million of it, and that they’re confident that people will come out of the wings to support the project once they know the public funding is in place. Sounds far-fetched to me for various reasons, but I don’t want to digress on that right now.
What we learned tonight is that they are also trying to plug that gap with (perhaps not surprisingly) more public money from state and federal sources. Mr. McMillan said the group is working with state senators Risinger and Koehler, as well as Congressman Schock to get grants, stimulus money, and any other funds the government might have lying around that could go toward the museum.
This indicates a bit of a shift in strategy on the museum’s part. It would appear that they are now changing their public/private funding goals. Why might they be doing this? Could it be because they don’t really believe they can make up that $11 million shortfall with private donations after all?
(P.S. On a side note, do you remember a comment on another post from “kcdad” where he said today’s schools are set up to teach children consumerism? Well, after seeing the brand new, state-of-the-art Dunlap Valley Middle School tonight, I’m inclined to agree with him. The building looks like a shopping mall inside and out, not an educational institution. Architecture and environment teach you something about what a community values; clearly the value here is consumerism.)
What in particular did you find so offense about the structure of the new middle school in Dunlap? What is an educational institution suppose to look like? What are you really try to say with your comment?
Frustrated: It looks like a shopping mall. That’s what I’m “really try[ing] to say.”
Dunlap is just thinking ahead. If they ever have to close a school, it’s built for resale as a shopping mall. Not like 150, that’s stuck with schools like Irving that have historic, but not resale, value. Ha! I really have to learn how to do those smiley faces.
After all the reading on these blogs about schools over that last few years, I was led to believe that a “new” building didn’t have anything to do with learning. Nothing. Huh, no we have a building that looks like a mall and teaches consumerism??
Some of you just want to rip on anything on this blog. So Dunlap has a nice school building and you think that is bad. I have kids in 150 and it would be nice to have some modern schools also but I am not going to complain about those who do. I am sure the new Glen Oak and Harrison schools will be very nice when they are done.
That’s my point bill h. However you slice and dice it, Dunlap seems to be succeeding and why begrudge them for that. I would like my children to be housed in a new school building without having to move to a failing school within the District.
Mr. Summers, your assumption that the information presented by the Museum Group last evening represents a change in funding strategy is incorrect. I can assure you that the Museum Group has always had a strategy of attempting to obtain as much funding as was possible from various state and federal governmental sources. As elections are held, and officials come and go, the opportunities for funding through Washington and Springfield change and the Museum Group reacts to those changes as they pursue funding for the project. If some of the funding gap after the referendum is successful, could come from Washington or Springfield, it would simply decrease the pressure to obtain pledges from private sources. Surely you can’t be critical of the Museum Group leaders for this effort, it would appear to me that they’re just being fiscally responsible.
Whole Truth:
Just wondering what is the ‘truth’ and difference in definitions between ‘private’ and ‘public’ funding raising for the museum project?
Thank you for the dialogue.
How do the words “private” and “public” differ? I would propose the following definitions:
Private – dollars donated by an individual(s) or group(s) choice.
Public – tax payer dollars. The last time that I checked the paying of taxes was not a choice.
The key is choice. I believe that the new museum is a good idea if it has a combination of private and public support but it needs to have the private component actually be private dollars. I saw a presentation a few weeks ago about the project and came away more in favor than not. I am suprised that after all of the years of raising private dollars (or pledges) that the group is not further along. If you take Caterpillar and Country Companies out of the private side, the results are not that impressive. I wonder how many of the pledges are actually dollars in the bank? Over the past 3 or 6 months how many of the pledges have been confirmed? I really doubt that an additional $10 million dollars (plus) can be raised in today’s economy from private sources.
I also question the reality of State of Illinois funds actually being available for this project as promised. For the last several years the State has been broke and many promises that have been made have not been honored.
C.J., I am flattered but it wasn’t my original idea… it came from Gatto’s book and lectures. I do happen to agree with him, though.
Is there a fund in place somewhere right now for the money that has been promised? If so, who is in control of it?
anp: private money is what people voluntarily give from their own pockets, public money is what people get taken from their pockets by the government. It is the same money and comes from the same place… does that sum it up ok?
anp hits the nail on the head. Karrie, well done as usual.
Whole Truth LLC is looking for a ‘silver lining’ here. As anp wrote “If you take Caterpillar and Country Companies out of the private side, the results are not that impressive.”
The PRM’s inability to raise the money from the ‘private’ sector, is yet ANOTHER indication that this project DOES NOT have the public support it had hoped for. Decreasing “the pressure to obtain pledges from private sources” is another way of saying “we can’t depend on the ‘public’ to cough-up the bucks and get behind us on this thing…..”
It is easy for Risinger, Koehler and Schock to make promises. Schock now goes by the nom de guerre Mr. ‘Stick-your-Stimulus’! I think he had better look into dealing with CAT, if not actually doing something about Dist 150 [for a change!]. Earmarking funds for a local project that does absolutely NOTHING to stimulate the local economy is foolhardy.
$136 million!
kcdad,
When you get out of prison, you should consider writing a book!
How has the latest attempt at removing your body tattoo been coming?
Frustrated: I don’t begrudge them their success or their new building. I’m simply observing that it looks like a shopping mall. That was the reaction from several people, none of whom (including me) had axes to grind about it. Just an observation that ironically coincided with statements made by kcdad earlier on this blog.
CJ… here is another voice on the same subject… from 1992!
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=education+video&oe=UTF-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wv&ei=tgnBSbj8HZTIMqH72K0N&oi=property_suggestions&resnum=0&ct=property-revision&cd=1#
Just watch the first 4 minutes….
NV: I have gotten about half of it removed… now it only says “ewvoic”
HAAA!
My new ‘KCDAD’ tattoo is cool, but now it hurts when I sit down.
A building that reminds you of a shopping mall translates to teaching children consumerism?
That one’s stretched tight.
nontimendum:
Each storefront was dedicated to a different theme … art store, library, diner, and so on . It looked like a mini-mall with a central food court for eating. There were price tags on items in the art store window. The display reminded me of a jewelry store. It was very attractive. My husband walked me over to bulletin board with a large (almost lifesized) vinyl coated Ronald McDonald telling children to not eat this DQ product rather that DQ product because it was healthier. Other name brands like Kraft Mac & Cheese and Spaghetti’s were also displayed on this ‘healthy eating’ bulletin board. My husband and if you knew him well remarked, “Well, at least this building would have a … what is it that you talk about that the museum does not have — an adaptive reuse as a mini-mall.” I was rolling with laughter. Alas, he was correct. He stated that he felt it taught the children to be consumers.
About the museum. I also was present and noted that the museum does not have any committed dollars to build if the referendum passes. With the economy in a major recession $11 million is no small task.
Peoria also has a proposed zoo expansion and Bradley with their new constuction. These 2 fined groups also want donations. This community is on the verge of donation weariness.
on a side note, I was on a filed trip with my daughter yesterday to Springfield to the Lincoln Musuem, State Museum, Lincolns neighborhood & tomb. Was surprised to hear a few of the other parents talk down about the PRM. the common point was if the schools take the kids on filed trips, they would be less inclined to do so as a family because the kids had already been there. and granted our schedule was pretty structured with all the visits we made, but the kids practically ran through the state museum- I could hardly stop to read 1 poster without losing site of the 3 kids i was assigned to.
To add a little information to this. The schools have been ordered to cut back on field trips to save money, so where is the educational information from the museum going to benefit them? There are only so many dollars and so many field trips allotted. There is no guarantee that the riverfront museum will be one of them. And even if by some miracle everyone of the 39,000 students in the area attended the museum they are all allowed in free. So where is the revenue? As mentioned above once the kids go via a field trip the parents are not going to pay to take them again.
This question was posted in reference to the latest J Star article on the museum [tax]. I have always wondered about this.
“Another issue: was the determination that Lakeview would operate the museum open for competitive bidding?? or were they just picked because it was lakeview along with these shifting entities that seem to have congealed into the Peoria Riverfront Museum Group are the folks bringing the idea and cramming money into the advertising push?? just a question.”