'Test of wills' takes shape over RenSquare democratandchronicle.com Democrat and Chronicle
So many misconceptions. AJAY has it right. Yes we will have to subsidize the theater. They've admitted it, but for the traffic it brings into the city, the hope is there will be more tax dollars coming in. Some even say the theater will make a profit in the long term. There are plenty of shows (Wicked for example) that could run much longer and with larger audiences with a new theater. Off season, MCC and other groups can use it.A bus station near the train station actually doesn't make sense if it you check it out. What else is around the train station? You would have to walk for blocks to get anywhere. There have been studies done (http://www.renaissancesquare.net/faq.htm) that don't support the train/bus station idea. I used to be for it, but have changed my mind since.On the third component, its my understanding that if Renaissance Square fell through, MCC was looking for a major change for its downtown campus anyways. A lot of students, faculty, and staff take the bus downtown, and the area they are building in is one of two (Midtown being the other) in the central downtown area that really needs work.
As far as Bauman is concerned, why after 20 plus years of slow deterioration, is he all of a sudden in an uproar? This is the same guy whose son used to go around MCC and change all the home pages on the computers to his "famous" web site. Nice family. It seems more like a ploy for attention.Why are people so against fixing up downtown? The worse you let it get, the more its effects spread out from the city. If The City and The County show that they are willing to invest in downtown, that may give confidence to other businesses as well.Finally, as far as public support, there is plenty out there, including Mayor Duffy. He just wanted a back-up plan in case the theater falls through. I understand there are people who are against it. I too feel we got burned with the fast ferry. I felt we needed to work on our image before we bought a big boat to get people here. If we did Renaissance Square first, the ferry would have been a more sound (though I can't say necessarily sane) idea.
