By: Diane Benjamin
Coliseum history:
The below was printed in the Pantagraph on September 3, 2003. It is available on microfiche at the Bloomington Public Library.
Tom Hamilton, former City Manager now collecting $11,350 a month in retirement, is quoted in the same edition saying the city’s risk is very low because of the numbers of people who will attend and how much they will spend there.
What to know why Tom Hamilton’s performance reviews are still a secret? Because some of the people who loved him are still on the Council and they don’t want you to know!
Obviously these estimates aren’t close to reality. Human behavior can not be predicted, keep that in mind when more estimates are thrown around about a sports complex, aquatics center, and creativity center.
Everything predicted will be wrong.
I found a letter to the editor from October 16, 2003 titled “Are city projects wants or needs?”. It ends with “Is this (Coliseum) the No.1 need for the city or the No.1 want?”.
Funny how history repeats and repeats and repeats again. The Bloomington City Council never asks and answers this question.
According to most, everything is a need.
Note: The construction costs don’t include interest on the bonds.
Interesting to NOTE that even the BIG senders (State Farm, Anheuser-Busch, etc) didn’t even commit to more then 10 years. GEE, is free enterprise smarter then our mayors and council?? NAW, not a chance. It would be very interesting to see how many of these “left column” companies are STILL on board…
Nice find, Diane. I suspect the microfiche will be “unavailable” or “misfiled” in due time. Meantime, will the Slantagraph ask any probative questions? Will the City Council offer this information during discussions of the proposed aquatics center? Reeducation camp, er library? Sportcomplex? The next boondoggle? And the next? Of course not.
I think we NEED another art gallery, or maybe a “Children’s Creativity Center” they could call it the BCCC and spend several million on it touting how it will be a catalyst for downtown, they could supply Play-Doh and Crayons and sheets of “art paper” and other sorts of the kind of things that can be bought online for a pittance but they will have a “supplier” who happens to be a nephew of someone who will provide it for seven times the online cost – maybe open an over-priced vegan ice cream place next door THAT will draw the hordes in from miles around and will be the “right fit’ as well – don’t forget to have a fancy bike rack in front – fancy since it will be in full view all of the time since it will remain unused…