Uptown Instead Of Downtown?

Well the Greensboro City Council sort of let the wind out of our sails when they recently sold the coveted spot on the corner of Lee Street and S Elm Street as a possible site for a Downtown Greensboro Aquarium but then I got to thinking, why not Uptown instead?

Uptown borders Downtown, land is 1/10th the cost and unlike Downtown, access to major highways is measured in seconds instead of minutes. Follow the link to see the map of Uptown Greensboro.

Not only that, but the area is in desperate need of jobs, has a lower crime rate than Downtown (according to GPD) and is not all bound up in the politics of Downtown Greensboro Incorporated, Action Greensboro and the other "non profits" who are netting all the small fry Downtown before they're big enough to spawn.

Anyway, it's just another idea swimming around in my brain.

Congrats To The North Carolina Zoo

From the Downtown Greensboro Aquarium Facebook Page:

"The North Carolina zoo at Asheboro had a record breaking attendance in 2012. Families with kids flocked from all over to visit the zoo since it is the the only one of its kind for miles around. That's what a great animal facility does for an area and that's what a world class aquarium will do for Greensboro. I learned a long time ago that kids make the world go around. Parents and grand-parents will do anything for kids. Build an aquarium with interactive learning games and great exhibits and you will have millions of people flocking downtown Greensboro every year. New jobs plus conservation and medical research done at the venue will bring high paying jobs to Greensboro, too! Think about the local universities expanding into marine biology and veterinary studies; students from UNCG, A&T and HP University and others will intern and help run the venue. It's a win-win situation if done right.

Help bring a world class aquarium to downtown Greensboro and help make Greensboro a destination for millions of people and not just a pass-thru city. Share the page and invite people to the fan page so the local politicians know that this is a serious idea to be looked at. We do not need a GPAC. Every city around us has a PAC and we already have a PAC (granted not the best around but still very usable). We need to have our own identity and being another city with a PAC is not going to help Greensboro have it. Our neighbors to our immediate north are building a PAC, too. The PAC pie is getting smaller so do we want a sliver of a pie or have our own pie? I say let's have our own pie and along with Aquatic Center we can be known as the Aquatic City of the Carolinas! Let's do it!"

Fish Man agrees!

How Do You Get National Media To Downtown Greensboro

And doing stories that don't make Greensboro look like hicks. Give them an octopus and other cool animals to video. And remember: Fish Man told you.

Giving Greensboro What It Really Needs

In recent months ol' Fish Man has been reading of a lot of things that local leaders say are needed in downtown Greensboro if Downtown and the rest of Greensboro is to grow and prosper. The following are some of the things they've mentioned:

A downtown university campus.
More downtown residents. Of course, to get more downtown residents you also need more downtown jobs.
Airport development.
Tourism.
Shoppers.
Parking.

Now think for a second, what one thing can help to bring all those things to Downtown Greensboro? If you guessed a performing arts center you're wrong but if you guessed a world class aquarium that's open from early in the morning until late at night, 7 days a week, 365 Days a year then you're smarter than the average fish.

Aquariums are designed to be places to teach and learn. We wouldn't even think about building an aquarium without inviting Greensboro's colleges, universities and public schools to be a part of the process.

Aquariums bring real jobs paying far more than most jobs.

A downtown aquarium would give people a reason to use Piedmont Triad International Airport more often.

How does 3 Million visitors a year sound for tourism? GPAC is predicting just 300 thousand. That's 10 times the economic impact or more.

You think at least some of those visitors won't shop?

You do understand that we're planning to include a parking garage, right? We can make it big enough to park a few extra cars. And with the proposed monorail or shuttle we can almost guarantee more shopping and dining at Downtown restaurants.

All the things a performing arts center has fallen short on can be provided by a Downtown Greensboro Aquarium if Greensboro wants to build it. The question is: does Greensboro want to build it?

Aquariums Bring Real Jobs

I can't begin to tell you how many jobs a downtown Greensboro Aquarium might bring to Greensboro but I can tell you what some of those jobs might be and what they might pay.

Marine biologists earn from $36,000 to over $100,000 per year.

"The average yearly wages of chemists were $71,070 in May 2008. Materials scientists had average yearly wages of $81,600. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, beginning salary offers in July 2009 for graduates with a bachelor's degree in chemistry averaged $39,897 a year." --BLS.gov

Pharmaceutical engineer earn an average of $84,000 per year

According to Payscale.com, college professors like those who might be teaching at the Greensboro Aquarium earn from $57,350 to $104,260 a year plus bonuses. There would also be skilled trades involved in maintaining the aquarium that would require specialists in HVAC, welders, pipefitters, electricians, computer technicians and more. None of these skills come cheap.

Of course, these would all be full time jobs. There would also be other lesser paying full time jobs as well as part time jobs with wages I can't begin to discern. And how does this compare to some of the best paying jobs a downtown performing arts center might bring us? From Salary of a Theatrical Technician

"According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, set designers in the theater company industry earned an average 2010 salary of $39,620 per year. Audio, video and sound engineering technicians typically earn higher salaries than set designers. Federal statistics report that audio and video equipment technicians in the theater industry earned an average salary of $45,020 per year as of May 2010. Sound engineering technicians, who record the tracks needed to be used during a theatrical production, earned an average salary of $47,110 per year in 2010.

Construction technicians are employed by theater companies in order to create the sets, lighting plots and sound design constructed by the design technician staff. Carpenters and electricians involved in theatrical construction both earn better average salaries than technical design staff. Federal statistics reported that the average 2010 salary for carpenters employed by theater companies was $51,800 per year, while electricians earned $55,730 per year. Painters employed by theater companies earned much lower salaries among construction staff members, averaging $30,930 per year as of 2010."

In other words, there is no comparison. And that's without making mention of the businesses that will grow around the aquarium, restaurants, shops, hotels, truck and bus dealers, shuttles, food trucks owned by Greensboro restaurants, garages, body shops, distribution warehouses, feed suppliers, agricultural industries and hundreds of other locally owned small businesses that a performing arts center could never bring to Greensboro.

Hello From The Downtown Greensboro Aquarium

Ol' Fish Man is betting most of you reading this didn't even know the Downtown Greensboro Aquarium existed until you found us on Greensboro101.com but that's okay 'cause now you do and we're more than happy to welcome you to our humble abode here in the heart of Downtown Greensboro, North Carolina.

Of course, we're not really an aquarium yet but if Greensboro really wants us we will be. You see, unlike those other guys, we'll not be forcing any bait down your throats or asking the City of Greensboro to spend money it doesn't have. And to gauge support we've added a user poll in the left column of this website and you can like us on our Greensboro Aquarium Facebook page. Already we have more likes than those other guys and we didn't spend any of your money to make it happen.

As a matter of fact: to date, we haven't spent any money.

We'll happily answer your questions on our Frequently Asked Questions page. And if the answer you seek isn't there we'll be happy to add it for you. All you have to do is ask. Getting in touch with us is easy, just e-mail us at GreensboroAquarium@gmail.com and we'll get back to you ASAP. On that you have ol' Fish Man's word.

So why do we want to build a Downtown Greensboro Aquarium? Jobs, prosperity, education, learning, medical research, wildlife research, fisheries research, aquaponics, water purification... Oh, and did I mention 1-3 Million visitors a year?

Don't forget, this isn't our first blog post, just our first on Greensboro101. We've already filled several pages with ideas, suggestions, answers and questions of our own. Look around the site and get a grasp of what we're trying to do. Tell us what you think, your questions and concerns. The more questions we're forced to answer now the fewer mistakes we'll make later. And the more time we'll have to figure everything out.

Besides, if it turns out that Greensboro really doesn't want a Downtown Aquarium then who are we to try and force one on you?

About That Airport

Fish Man here. Now I don't claim to be the smartest paraphyletic organism to ever swim around Buffalo Creek and without a doubt all those toxins you people have been putting on your lawns all these years have taken their toll on me and my kind but when I go online thanks to that fallen Time-Warner cable laying in the creek and read of the Mayor wanting to invest more money in Piedmont Triad International Airport I can't help but gurgle, "Why?"

I mean, it's not like people or airlines will have more reason to use it just because you spend more money on it, right?

But what if you gave people a reason to fly into and out of Greensboro? Something they needed or wanted to come to Greensboro to do? Give people more reasons to come to Greensboro and more people will fly into and out of Greensboro. And if more people start flying into and out of Greensboro then airlines will add more Greensboro flights. If airlines add more Greensboro flights then the airlines become more competitive and prices come down. You see, even fish know that's how economic development really works. The fish catches the worm, then the angler catches the fish, not the other way around.

So what would attract more people to Greensboro? Fish, that's what! Fish inside a world class downtown Greensboro aquarium would attract more people to Downtown Greensboro. And when it comes to performance art, we perform night and day and never the same show twice.

Could it be fish really are smarter than a mayor? Or do fish just have bigger vision?

Don't forget to like us on Facebook where in just 2 weeks we're already more popular than GPAC. If enough people like us we'll come.

This Could Be Downtown Greensboro

Imagine this in Downtown Greensboro, a city that is situated on the Mountain to the Sea Trail, along Interstates 85, 40, 785, 840, 273, US 421, the North Carolina Rail Road, the Downtown Greenway and already has a downtown Depot just blocks away from our chosen location at Lee & Elm, which, by the way, has direct access to Interstates 40, 85 and 273 via Lee Street and High Point Road plus alternate access points.




View Larger Map

But people of "vision" would rather settle for just a downtown performing arts center. Well whose to say we won't also include a performing arts center that will put GPAC out of business before the bonds are even paid off?

And please don't forget to like us on Facebook.

So What Else Can An Aquarium Do?

Sure, an aquarium is a great attraction but being the kind of guy who won't plant a flower I can't eat I tend to look at things from a practical point of view. Seriously, I have Rosemary bushes in my front yard and I'm slowly eliminating the grass so I can replace it with Chives, Parsley and other perennial edible plants.

At the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Maryland they're doing research in the Gulf of Mexico on the effects of the BP oil spill. Millions, perhaps Billions of Federal Dollars will be spent on that project alone and Greensboro missed the boat. The National Aquarium also works to protect harbors, bays and waterways, wild dolphins, and spotted eagles. Perhaps our aquarium could help protect the Bald Eagles nesting above Greensboro's city lakes. The Bald Eagle is our National bird you know.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute is studying the greenhouse gas, Methane, that is rising up from the ocean floor. In case you didn't know, Greensboro has it's own unresolved Methane issues at the old White Street Landfill location.

The Georgia Aquarium seems to concentrate its research efforts on animal conservation. Is there anyone in this day and age who isn't behind animal conservation?

The Vancouver Aquarium has concentrated on marine mammal research since its founding 56 years ago. It also works on killer whales, fisheries, rockfish and lingcod, sea lions and more.

At the New England Aquarium located in Boston-- not our fair city-- they are working on Endangered Species and Habitats, Climate Change and the Oceans, Sustainable Fisheries, Bycatch and Aquaculture, Conservation Medicine and Ocean Health, Marine Animal Rescue and more. These are some of the most important fields of research in the world and there's no reason why some of this research and the economic development it brings shouldn't be done right here in Greensboro, North Carolina.

That is, unless you believe a performing arts center is somehow going to save the world.

And did I mention the City of Greensboro is loosing money because they can't sell enough water from the Randalman Dam? Come on Greensboro City Council, we're trying to bail you out here!

So please, help us work from the bottom up and don't forget to like us on Facebook.

So What Should An Aquarium Include?

Why kinds of ideas should we incorporate into the Downtown Greensboro Aquarium? For starters: I don't speak for anyone but myself, nothing is set in stone and I'm really just pitching ideas out there in the hopes that some will stick and others will inspire Greensboro, Guilford County, the Piedmont Triad and all of North Carolina to pitch in your own ideas.

I'm thinking the normal stuff world class aquariums are known for, sharks swimming overhead, moving sidewalks, artful displays of jellyfish, lots of colorful fish, you know, the usual. But what if we also had a monorail that doubled as a submarine and took visitors on an underwater voyage through a freshwater lake outside the aquarium while paddle-boats floated overhead and fish swam past. Maybe a few professional divers, smart enough not to get too close to the monorail, could dive nearby while interacting with the wildlife as the passengers watch?

On a more practical level, are you aware there is a looming worldwide shortage of edible fish on the very near horizon. Aquariums do research in those areas and more including medical research and lots of other stuff that will bring high paying jobs to Greensboro. One thing the Greensboro Aquarium Project could do with the help of the professional staff that would have to be hired would be to retrofit several of Greensboro's empty big box retail buildings and other abandoned commercial buildings into indoor fish farms and packing houses producing Carolina Brand (If there are no trademark issues) fresh and frozen Tilapia, Catfish and other breeds to be sold through wholesalers, restaurants, retailers and grocers throughout the Carolinas and beyond.

Will stores and restaurants carry our brand? Believe me, if enough people walk into any one store and ask the manager for a specific brand that store or restaurant manager will figure out a way to carry that brand. Pretty soon, by building a downtown Greensboro Aquarium, Greensboro could become the largest fish exporter on the east coast producing lots of jobs and products people really need.

And don't forget the byproducts. All the byproducts from commercial fish farming right down to the water in the tanks and the sand in the filters has well known agricultural uses for farming and growing crops and animal feed. Even the bones are a needed dietary supplement for chickens and turkeys to ensure egg production and healthy bones. (I raise chickens.)

In reality, we don't even have to wait for the aquarium to be built to retrofit old buildings and start raising and selling fish. We just need people to get involved. Greensboro not only has empty buildings but it also is home to several regional restaurant chains and seafood distribution companies who would love to add locally produced products to their lines. Then the profits from raising fish for food could go towards building the aquarium.

How about a small hydroponic farm display managed by NC A&T University that draws its nutrient filled water from the lake teaming with fish, uses the plants to filter the water then returns the filtered water to the lake? I'm working on the very same thing on a much smaller scale in my own backyard farm. It can even be powered by updraft wind mills above parking lots on the sides of taller buildings and solar panels on walls and roofs.

Simplistic? Yes, but not impossible. As a matter of fact: everything I'm discussing is proven to work.

And while it's off the subject of what an aquarium should include I want to leave you with my thoughts about what the Downtown Greensboro Aquarium Corporation or whatever its name should come to be, should, in my opinion, be. From the beginning, I hope this corporation will ba a corporation about giving, a corporation that puts people over profits, employees over stockholders and community over the bottom line. In the beginning, because we have no money for donations, I would like to give shares of stock to non profits that help the hungry, homeless, the needy, animals and others who cannot fend for themselves. In the years to come those non profits can sell those shares to continue their works. Yes, that will water down stock prices in the beginning but it will also make it possible for more poor and working class citizens to buy into the company. Some will say this will drive potential stockholders away and they're probably right but I'm betting most of those who would be driven away are the dangerous speculators, banksters and corporate raiders who jump in and out quickly destroying everything they trade. I'm betting there's enough people who care about people and animals to make this dream float if only Greensboro will believe.

So How Much Will The Greensboro Aquarium Cost?

For starters, I'm far from qualified to answer that question but my guess is we can build it for $120 Million Dollars. Ed believes the cost will be closer to $80 Million and to be honest he has spent more time on this than I have.

Yes, that is a huge chunk of change. I can't even imagine that the aquarium would hold $120 Million Dollars. Nor do I like the idea of asking the public to pay for it with bonds and other forms of taxes. Now in the long run, if that's what Greensboro decides to do then so be it but I've made mention of a means to private funding and I'm sure that's not the only way private funding can be achieved.

Several people have mentioned to me that since Home Depot, a Georgia company, contributed heavily to building the Georgia Aquarium that Lowes Home Improvement, a North Carolina company might do the same here. But what if we offered Lowes a better deal? What if we offered Lowes all the perks of having their name associated with such a great project while at the same time, instead of accepting their donations, allowing Lowes to buy shares of stock in the project? That way, if the project turns a profit then Lowes sees higher profits and if the project fails then Lowes is out no more than they would have been had they just donated.

I mean, seriously Greensboro, would it bother you if Lowes Home Improvement were to make a profit while bringing Millions of Dollars of economic development to Greensboro annually? Let's not forget Mack, Volvo, Coca-Cola, Honda, FedEx and many other corporations have a big presence locally and would probably want to be involved.

And there's no reason why lots of other businesses from Greensboro and across the State of North Carolina couldn't be invited to buy in as well. Well managed businesses round out their portfolios by buying stock in other businesses every day as a way to protect themselves from unexpected downtowns in their own respective markets.

Of course you're probably wondering why if this is such a good idea, why is it that Greensboro's "movers and shakers" never came up with it. I know the answer but I'll be nice....

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.

Why A Downtown Greensboro Aquarium?

Look, while we point to Atlanta as an example for Greensboro's downtown aquarium let's be real, Greensboro is no Atlanta. But Greensboro is a far bigger city than Chattanooga, home of the wildly successful Tennessee Aquarium. And no, we don't have a river which means we'll not need to spend $10 to $30 Million Dollars each time we need to build a bridge across the river. You think buildings are expensive, try building bridges.

So why build an aquarium downtown? From Lisa Ashmore's Aquarium as Urban Savior: Is it Time to Redesign the Aquarium Model?:

"But regional aquariums don’t all have to have blockbuster, budget-crunching buildings. “We’re seeing a lot more $30 million aquariums than $100 million aquariums,” Kuttner said. They can outperform zoos, according to the architects, since their footprint is smaller, there are more species comparatively, and they’re usually convenient to a lot of people. And they’re inside, something that makes a big difference for summer travelers."

So what did the Tennessee Aquarium cost to build? Yes, I know we'll probably have to spend more but the total cost of building the Tennessee Aquarium came to $75 Million Dollars just $3 Million Dollars more than the original and most likely most accurate GPAC estimate we've heard to date. And did I mention our Aquarium could be designed so that it could be built in stages so that the earlier stages could finance the construction of the latter stages?

But Greensboro is already building an aquarium at the Natural Science Center? So, Tampa, Florida has 4 aquariums and Kansas City is considering a second aquarium. Look, we all know you want to attract people here, right? By working together the Natural Science Center could display fish that aren't found at the downtown aquarium or other aquariums and the downtown aquarium could offer discounted passes to the Natural Science Center to drive visitors there as well as to other area attractions. Compliment, not compete. After all, there's more than one way to make money with a boat and there's more than one way to make money with an aquarium.

Did I mention aquariums employ a lot of high paid scientists and technicians? Or that they work with the chemical and pharmaceutical industries in producing new drugs, chemicals and other high tech products? Did I mention aquariums attract university programs? And while I don't know for sure, I'm even betting my friends over at the nanocenter could find uses for a state of the art aquarium. What's that? I never told you I have friends in very high places at the nanocenter? I've known them since long before there was a nanocenter.

I called up my last boss yesterday and mentioned what I was up to. The first words out of his mouth, "Now that's something I would take my family to." He and his family were vacationing out of state.

Without dropping any names, my last boss is in his 30s, owns several successful Greensboro businesses that he and I built during the recent down economic period and a couple that didn't fare so well. He employees about 30 Greensboro residents, is a really nice guy, has 3 young children, married and lives in a big paid-off home in one of Greensboro's high end neighborhoods. And he made it before he inherited his daddy's substantial chunk of money. He went on to tell me that the only thing his family ever does in downtown Greensboro is to visit the Greensboro Children's Museum.

Now I don't know for certain but I'm thinking my last boss and his family (He has a successful brother here as well.) are exactly the demographic Downtown Greensboro has been desperately trying to attract for years but has never managed to reel in. Wonder why?

If you draw a circle around the Piedmont Triad that covers everyone within 3 hours driving from Greensboro you get 4-5 Million people. If you can draw 1/4 to 1/5 of that number you get 1 Million visitors a year. If we network with the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro we can boost attendance to both attractions as well as the areas many other lesser known attractions. Now where are the closest competing aquariums? Fort Fisher, NC, 224 miles and Ripley's Myrtle Beach, SC, 196 miles. And unlike Fort Fisher, you won't get bitten by fire ants in Downtown Greensboro. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Of course, we shouldn't build a downtown aquarium unless Greensboro wants a downtown aquarium. And unlike GPAC, we shouldn't spend $300,000 of City money to find out if Greensboro wants a downtown aquarium. And we don't have to. With social networking tools like the Greensboro Aquarium Facebook Page we can gauge if Greensboro wants a downtown aquarium. 137 likes in 2 days? Not bad considering that the GPAC Facebook page got 194 likes in almost a year.

And finally, as I pointed out yesterday, I believe it can be done with private funding if it is determined that Greensboro really wants a downtown aquarium.

So instead of why build a downtown aquarium, the question becomes, why not build a downtown aquarium?

And about that identity Greensboro has been searching for...