How Do You Fund A Downtown Greensboro Aquarium?

The first thing you don't do is force the issue down taxpayers' throats. And while Ed Catalano, who first floated the idea on Facebook, and I both believe Greensboro would support a bond issue to build a state of the art downtown Greensboro Aquarium, we both agree that bonds and tax increases should always be a last resort.

One way to fund such a venture and I currently believe the best way, should be with private money through donations, fundraisers, etc. The fastest way might be to get lucky like Atlanta did and have a rich benefactor foot the entire bill but we're not holding our breath. I'm thinking that perhaps the City of Greensboro should loan the project from $1 Million to $10 Million Dollars to finance a private stock offering to allow citizens of Greensboro to buy shares of the company at the best prices then go on to the IPO when shares can be sold to anyone, anywhere.

Did you know that the Self Help Credit Union, one of the nation's largest, was launched by Greensboro native, Martin Eakes with proceeds from bake sales? Community groups all over Greensboro could pitch in with bake sales. And in return for their efforts they could be rewarded with shares of stock. Walk-a-thons could be held. Fish-a-thons-- fishing tournaments on the City lakes with cash prizes to the winners, donations of junk cars, old cell phones (Having worked in the recycling business I've literally sold thousands of junk cars and cell phones) Concerts, Races... the ideas are endless. And all we need the City to do at this point is stand watch over the money. With enough hard work we might not have to borrow any money from the city at all.

But if we do have to borrow the money, in return for the loan, the City of Greensboro would not only get back it's investment but also a number of shares of preferred stock to be determined. And I'm thinking even if we don't borrow any money from the City we should give the City stock in return for watching out for the money.

Now obviously we shouldn't run straight to the City Council and expect them to loan $10 Million based on no more than an idea but also, unlike the bungled GPAC effort, we don't need to spend $300,000 of taxpayer funding to find out if Greensboro residents want to buy shares in DGA. Thanks to social networking, blogs and e-mail newsletters we have the capability to guage interest and actually set up not the actual sales of shares but the process of sales without investing a cent. And should the time come when we outgrow free online applications then we'll start searching for local web designers who are capable of building what we need and understand the value as well as the risks of getting paid in shares instead of cash. Believe it or not, many of the world's largest and most successful corporations got off the ground trading shares for services and those who took the risk often became rich beyond their wildest dreams.

Disclaimer goes here:

Of course, the GPAC folks could have done the same thing but saving our money wasn't on their agenda.

Another way we could raise money for the Downtown Greensboro Aquarium is by selling advertising on this and other websites, something myself and others have been doing for a decade.

And just so you know, while I will buy as many shares as I can possibly afford and would happily accept as many as any of Greensboro's more well-to-do residents would like to gift me, I will not receive any pay for my efforts in this project and will gladly step aside when a proper management team is put together that does not include Greensboro's "non profits." I think you know who I'm talking about. Besides, who am I kidding, I could never run this thing.

Of course there are other ways and in the coming days myself and others will be exploring those options.