How many people voted for the $40 million museum tax referendum in 2009 because they were promised an IMAX theater downtown? No small number, to be sure. Opponents of the museum plan questioned whether we were really going to get an IMAX since no contract was signed. We were assured there would be an IMAX. Their attendance and revenue predictions were predicated on it. The contract with IMAX was sitting on the desk at Lakeview just waiting to be signed once the referendum passed! Remember that?
Well, guess what?
Lakeview Museum’s president/CEO Jim Richerson said while an IMAX theater is not off the table, other alternatives are being explored.
“We want to build the best thing going out there,” Richerson said, adding that ETI 3-D digital screens also are a giant screen possibility for the riverfront museum.
“If it’s something better, we plan to go with them,” Richerson said. “We won’t open this for another two years, but again, we want to make sure we deliver the best thing.”
County Board member Andrew Rand, chairman of the county’s museum construction committee, said utilizing the IMAX brand could be costly.
He said museum officials would have to plunk down $1.2 million in an advance payment in order to utilize the IMAX brand, an amount that is twice as much as what other vendors are asking.
“I don’t think we’re specifically hung up on IMAX, which is a specific brand, for any reason,” Rand said. “The agreement the county has is for a high-definition, giant screen digital cinema. That’s what we expect.”
Huh. Who’da thunk they wouldn’t follow through on their promise of an IMAX? I mean, they’ve followed through on… um… come to think of it, they’ve never followed through on anything they promised, have they?
To all the voters who fell for the propaganda of the museum group in April 2009, I have just one thing to say: Suckers.
For more great updates on the museum fiasco, see County Board Member Merle Widmer’s blog entries: Peoria Riverfront Museum and Peoria Riverfront Museum – Additions.
Mr. Rand’s comment is “bunk”. The Museum Group has already spent over $12 million on other aspects of the project that they apparently felt justified the investment. However, it also appears that this IMAX, which they have been promoting as a portion of the new Museum since Day 1, for over a decade, to lock up this feature of the project, they’ve concluded that the down payment required by IMAX is more than they can afford. Apparently some people have absolutely no integrity at all. Rand might not be “hung up on IMAX”, since it’s just a brand, but I wonder if he can name a single film developed by any other company for a “high-definition, giant screen digital cinema.” What’s the use of building the thing if you don’t have any films to show? Challenge Richerson to provide a list of the films which this ETI company has produced and would be available and compare to the IMAX film library. If the County approves this Agreement with this unresolved issue hanging out there they all ought to be committed to Bellwood.
You didn’t have to listen to anything the PRM or its supporters said to know the IMAX was DOA. Just read the IMAX corporations annual reports, something the PRM didn’t do. Museum theatres are not their area of growth, nor are they profitable for IMAX.
“I don’t think we’re specifically hung up on IMAX, which is a specific brand, for any reason,” Rand said. “The agreement the county has is for a high-definition, giant screen digital cinema. That’s what we expect.”
What about what the people who voted for this expected Mr. Rand? IMAX is more than just a brand IT’S THE STANDARD. Enjoy the convention.
My guess is that Rand has never been in an IMAX.
If not, he will at the convention, Mahkno, it’s held in a 3D Imax theatre.
Mahnko,
I think they DID read the reports but they wanted their museum so damn bad they ignored them on purpose. Keep in mind this thing was not getting the support it needed at the beginning of 09 until Richersen went around doing forums and spewing lies. If you questioned him he turned ugly and you instantly became his enemy.
Additionally, your councilman Ryan Spain was touting this thing very hard out there. He was doing presentations at neighborhood groups and speaking very in favor of this in the media. He is up for re-election this spring.
Justan, you state “I think they DID read the reports”. Why – what information or evidence supports that?
Spikeless,
You are right, I don’t have any evidence that they did or didn’t read the reports, but wouldn’t you think that would be a prudent piece of financial information that needed to be read? It isn’t like it is hard to dig up. So my question is what moron wouldn’t read the reports? If they didn’t then that is just irresponsible and shame on us for not holding these individuals to a basic level of responsibility that should have been met. I am not that gullible to think that with the number of high level people involved in this that they didn’t read the reports. If they didn’t then we as a community are in much worse shape than we think.
CJ- do you ever buy generic prescriptions?
Dissenter — Not if I’m paying brand name prices, no. Perhaps we could have a new referendum and see if everyone is willing to pay $40M for generic instead.
This project needs to be “paused” and put into capable hands. So far, all we’ve gotten is BS and empty promises.
This is going to be an expensive lesson for those who chose not to vote.
CJ, Thanks to your blog I know how the museum endowment is far short of being sustainable and how the pledges have failed to materialize. Keep up the excellent reporting.
Anon, Ditto!
Everyone should read Merle Widmer’s blog regarding PRM. Is it just “me” or do our elected officials (city and county..with notably few exceptions and we know who they are) live in a different world than all the rest of us? You know…the one where money grows on trees,”wishing” makes it so, and replete with the money fairies CJ alluded to earlier? Where is the common sense and protection for the taxpayer in all this? Many of us struggle to live within our budget and certainly our elected officials owe it to the taxpayer to do the same, never mind that in their view it must just be Monopoly money. Even in the board game you suffer consequences for over-extending yourself. I voted “no” on the PRM but, if we have to have it, it should come with all the promises that were made when placed on the referendum. In my view, there should be no moving forward on anything until the bait and switch issues are confronted, presented to the public, and resolved to the taxpayer’s satisfaction…even if that means another referendum. CAT should proceed with their Visitor’s Center. They have the common sense/smarts/funding to see it through, and it will be successful.
The only other comment I have is that I attended a function where Jim Richerson (PRM CEO)spoke and continually pronounced Illinois with an “s” on the end. Can’t tell you how much that annoyed me…
i love the money fairies!!! just wish they’d visit my house every once in a blue moon.
I always read with interest your blogs…and always enjoy your posts, especially on the museum…so when I first heard this, I couldn’t wait for your current post…not that I’ve always agreed with you CJ, because I have been a personal supporter of the Museum as a quality of life improvement for the city, county, area…but I respect your views about the way it’s been done…I am getting to the point of becoming tired of the wait and the conflict involved, I almost don’t care anymore…with me personally it’s either let’s do it or don’t…and move on…Really, though, CAT controls the puppet strings, and they want the hole filled…it’s right next to the front door of the Fortune 50 giant…so you know it’s going to happen whether you want it or not or I want it or not…the only issue I have is the current IMAX flap…IMAX was promised, true, but my IT friends say nowadays the best “branded” 3-D product isn’t necessarily the best 3-D product…Kleenex, tissue, Charmin, t-p, etc.,…plus $1.2 million up front…is it worth being held up for that?..it would be like telling your wife you promise her a Frank Lloyd Wright house, but now you have to put down payment of 60% and mortgage, rather than 10% and mortgage…I’d say buy the Victorian next door…it’s probably more functional…she’ll(and we’ll)all get over it…
Outside in accord with your quality comparison – a viewer’s critique and several comments concerning IMAX vs. RealD vs. Dolby 3D can be found at this site
Way to go CJ!!! We are going to get screwed. I knew all along no IMAX and yet these people are going to build this taxpayer sucking money venue. Well, if you are going to screw me, at least pull my hair.
A lot of you are complaining about our elected officials, etc.
Guess what? The voters had the opportunity to shut this puppy down – cold.
I don’t recall the numbers, but the voter turnout was INCREDIBLY low. Many, many people chose to NOT vote.
I don’t really feel sorry for anyone here. The opportunity was in the voters hands. Democracy is a participatory sport.
Peoria – you are getting EXACTLY what you deserve.
from the PFStar:
Other top draws at Lakeview were: “The Passion of Rodin” in 1988, which sold more than 60,000 tickets; “Norman Rockwell: The Great American Storyteller” in 1989; and “Dinosaurs Alive” in 1990. Other major draws at Lakeview included Toulouse-Lautrec, which attracted more than 24,000 in 1991, and “The American West,” which attracted about 15,000 in 1992.
Legos? THAT is the biggest draw in 20 years? Notice how the attendance keeps getting smaller and smaller… oh boy, can’t wait for the PRM.
“Many, many people chose to NOT vote.”
That’s YOUR political system at work… propose something and if the people don’t get all riled up and reject it, OKIE DOKIE you can go ahead and do it… don’t say a majority of people have to approve it, only a majority that have the spare time available to have an opinion matter.
“I don’t really feel sorry for anyone here.”
Well, aren’t you a saint.
I hope we will still be able to bring in the BILLIONS this ‘thing’ was supposed to generate over the years.
I do have a brilliant idea…of course. What we do is forget having a theater all together. We add a small public library…maybe a swimming pool with a water slide,……and……..maybe a skating rink!!!
BINGO!
Of course, we will have to charge ten times more than that…’other place’ across town. Gotta pay the bills?
HELLO!
Peoria Proud…are you out there?!?
Speaking of a swimming pool with a water slide, does anyone know why Lakeview Aquatic Center closed for the season last Sunday and why they were only open 4 hours a day mon-fri. If you are a working parent you can’t take your kids to the pool because it closes at 4 and 5 on the weekends. Are there any outdoor pools that are opened all day? To me they are losing money.
Charlie.. charlie charlie… the same people who do exhibits now will be doing exhibits in the PRM. Only now they are a little lame. With more space they can be largely lame.
They could do a lot more with the space they have but don’t for (insert a reason).
There is nothing about the current museum that points toward a smashing success in a new building.
Ardis said he thinks it will get approved anyway, but he wants to know if there is going to be an IMAX. What difference does it make if it is going to be approved anyway?
“Only now they are a little lame. With more space they can be largely lame.”
One of your best, Mahkno!
This thinking can be expanded to describe much of what we encounter in politics, these days.
The Anti-pundit writes on his blog: “Vote out the incumbent!!!”
He left out a very important letter; the “s”. Vote out ALL the incumbents. The devils we don’t know CAN’T be any worse than the the devils we do. Tell these people they have to get a job and see how fast the economy improves.
It isn’t just the IMAX that is the problem. Sure, maybe going for a different type of theater might be the better choice. Its the fact that item after item is being changed. From dollars needed to dollars raised, to dollars pledged and different footage and landscape and on and on. We said the plan was flawed in the beginning and no one wanted to believe us and called us naysayers. Well item after item change has proven us to be correct. It is a flawed plan and its true facts are being brought out one at a time. And as usual there is always a supposedly rational excuse for the change. How long are we going to let them get away with this mismash? What is wrong with the people and leaders in this community that they can’t see the road in front of them? I thought we took the blinders off the horses decades ago. Peoria people stand up and look at what is happening in our community and demand that they stop sucking our tax blood by the gallon. Demand new refferdum, demand new accounting for everything from the PRM to the hotel to Cub Foods, etc.. Enough is enough. We’re mad and we aren’t going to take it any more.
Want to know who said what about an IMAX coming to the PRM? Read my latest blog. My fellow board member, Andrew Rand is, of late, drinkng the Kool-Aid. After all, Rand is a Democrat appointed by a Democrat County Board Chairman who wants to push the agendas through tomorrow night and get on to other problems like barking dogs at night.
Rand also runs a business????
Why hasn’t someone been indicted by now.
The grand LIE about the IMAX theater(still!) appears on the official build the block website. Go to http://buildtheblock.org/riverfront-museum-plans.html then click on the IMAX link. Not an IMAX knock-off, not a “giant screen digital theater”, but an IMAX!
Even the new strategic plan admits that if the PRM must go with an “alternate vendor”for IMAX,it “will result in significantly lower attendance”.
Does the PRM have enough money in reserve to cover operating costs if there is “significantly lower attendance”?
“Does the PRM have enough money in reserve to cover operating costs if there is “significantly lower attendance”?”
What?!? Of course they do! It’s called TAX PAYER’S MONEY!
Merle has my vote for Grand Conspiracy Theorist Of The Year!
Merle, you may be right, but for God sake must you blame this museum thing on Democrats. I like what you write but sometimes you come off like the old man that yells at the neighborhood kids; “Get off my lawn you little shits!” Rand may be a Democrat but he spends and thinks like a Republican. The poor don’t know what’s good for them.
This whole Museum downtown crap begins and ends with well to do Republicans. The got their clan out to pass the referendum which they bank on so heavily. They are wealthy or well to do, they are united, they are the arts people, the symphony crowd, they can get things done with their pocketbooks. Cat will bow out of this charade if the finances are not right-they need a museum to show off their company like I needd a Cadillac to drive to the grocery store. Don’t bank on them you museum supporters. You got the library thru out in the cornfields where it will have no use for twenty years, but I don’t think Peoria (City Council people)will let you do it again with the Museum. I hope not. Best to everyone.
wacko: It appears that the whole museum project is at least a D & R project and probably includes Greens and independents. Just think referendum, our very own stimulus project — jobs for the trades, LVM’s planetarium director and so on.
Emtronics: Agreed — it is a flawed project regardless of party affiliation.
Karrie,
Agreed. I think party politics has very little to do with this. This is more a case of local ‘politicians’ who cave under ‘pressure’.
Can anyone say…NO BACKBONE?!?
Go read merle’s newest blog about an email from IMAX.
Dear Anne,
Thank you for contacting IMAX Corporation. At this time, IMAX Corporation does not have a client interested in opening an IMAX theatre in Peoria.
This just in from the Journal Star…….
”This is not a perfect product, but perfect is the enemy of good. This is a good product that substantially protects the financial interests of the taxpayers of Peoria County,’ said board member Steve Morris…'”
– Can someone please tell me what the hell he just said? Is he talking about the museum? “Perfect is the enemy of good?!?!?”
– I think he meant intelligence is the enemy of the idiotic….?
FYI … I found this post at the PJStar website.
Check out ‘No Imax, No Museum on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/pages/No-Imax-No-Museum/144973208866145
I sez: “Many, many people chose to NOT vote.”
Charlie sez: That’s YOUR political system at work… propose something and if the people don’t get all riled up and reject it, OKIE DOKIE you can go ahead and do it… don’t say a majority of people have to approve it, only a majority that have the spare time available to have an opinion matter.
I now sez: Yup – that is the political system we have. It involves and ENGAGED electorate.
I sez: “I don’t really feel sorry for anyone here.”
Charlie sez: Well, aren’t you a saint.
I now sez: Who exactly am I supposed to empathize with? You get the government you deserve.
New Voice,
A good plan executed violently today is better than a perfect plan executed next week – General George Patton
The meaning is that a good plan can be dawdled upon for indefinite amounts of time trying to make it perfect.
anon e mouse…
The government creates the electorate it wants.
“Who exactly am I supposed to empathize with?”
The voter who feels so powerless and misinformed that they can’t drag themselves to the polls to make an intelligent choice.
Why vote? We have seen it doesn’t matter. No matter how wrong Caterpillar is they will get what they want. No matter how many people BP kills or how many violations of EPA rules they will ONLY be fined a percentage of their profits. Hey! Fine me a percentage of my profits!
No matter how many times people vote things down, special interest groups (corporations) will continue to bring them up over and over again under new names (see Education, PRM, Hotel, Civic Center, Stadium, etc) until they win.
Charlie sez: “No matter how many times people vote things down, special interest groups (corporations) will continue to bring them up over and over again under new names (see Education, PRM, Hotel, Civic Center, Stadium, etc) until they win.”
I sez: How many times was the PRM voted down? ZERO! There has been no referendum on the Hotel nor was there one on the Stadium. I don’t think there was (I was a little young to know) for the Civic Center.
Charlie then sez: “The government creates the electorate it wants.”
I sez: You’ve got it Bass-Ackwards. The electorate creates the government. By NOT voting you are handing your choice to others. By not making a choice you are making a choice. You cannot MAKE people care. You cannot drag people to the polls.
This is what a (generally speaking) lazy electorate gives you.
Anon,
Yes, I got the good vs. perfect thing…
I should have been more specific. What REALLY threw me was Morris’s reference to the PRM as “a good product that substantially protects the financial interests of the taxpayers of Peoria County.”
THAT is what I was hoping someone would explain to me….!!