The City of Concord, North Carolina is considering $238,000 in incentives to the Simon Property Group to add space to the 1.4 million-square-foot Concord Mills mall for a Sea Life aquarium that is just about the same size as the soon to be completed Greensboro Natural Science Center Aquarium.
Without a doubt the little aquarium will be a boost to Concord but here's what it won't be:
It won't be a world class aquarium.
The Concord aquarium won't contain a research center employing high paying marine biologists, pharmaceutical researchers or nano-tech researchers.
It won't contain the rarest aquarium species in the world.
There will be no penguins.
There will be no mammals.
It might have an Alligator Snapping Turtle but hey, while they're not Alligator Snapping Turtles we've got some 150 pound or better regular Snapping Turtles running around right here in Greensboro. You just have to know where to look.
It won't draw visitors from hundreds of miles away. Greensboro residents might drive 80 miles to the Concord Mills mall to go shopping but if all they want to see is a dinky aquarium they need only drive to Lawndale Drive where some of the rarest fish in the world will be on display. Let me see, should I drive over an hour to see run of the mill fish or 10 minutes to see rare breeds?
And now you can bet no one from Concord or Charlotte will be coming to Greensboro to see the Natural Science Center Aquarium unless say, tickets to a Downtown Greensboro Aquarium included passes and/or a shuttle.
There will be no university campus there. Hey, it's a mall.
No Aquaponics, no fresh fish or vegetables grown locally and placed on grocer's shelves, local restaurants or exported to other parts of the country providing local jobs beyond the walls of the aquarium.
No water sales from the Randalman Dam to put money in Greensboro city coffers.
No tourists flying into PTI.
No downtown jobs.
No local environmental research.
It won't promote the Natural Science Center Aquarium and other Greensboro attractions.
And unlike the Concord Mills mall, the Greensboro Aquarium Project isn't asking the City of Greensboro for incentives, only cooperation and coordination, the things we all pay our taxes to cities to do.
I don't know if any of this is possible but I do know one thing. All of Greensboro's leaders know about this effort. I told them myself. And as long as they ignore it, it will remain impossible. Perhaps you should tell them too?
Without a doubt the little aquarium will be a boost to Concord but here's what it won't be:
It won't be a world class aquarium.
The Concord aquarium won't contain a research center employing high paying marine biologists, pharmaceutical researchers or nano-tech researchers.
It won't contain the rarest aquarium species in the world.
There will be no penguins.
There will be no mammals.
It might have an Alligator Snapping Turtle but hey, while they're not Alligator Snapping Turtles we've got some 150 pound or better regular Snapping Turtles running around right here in Greensboro. You just have to know where to look.
It won't draw visitors from hundreds of miles away. Greensboro residents might drive 80 miles to the Concord Mills mall to go shopping but if all they want to see is a dinky aquarium they need only drive to Lawndale Drive where some of the rarest fish in the world will be on display. Let me see, should I drive over an hour to see run of the mill fish or 10 minutes to see rare breeds?
And now you can bet no one from Concord or Charlotte will be coming to Greensboro to see the Natural Science Center Aquarium unless say, tickets to a Downtown Greensboro Aquarium included passes and/or a shuttle.
There will be no university campus there. Hey, it's a mall.
No Aquaponics, no fresh fish or vegetables grown locally and placed on grocer's shelves, local restaurants or exported to other parts of the country providing local jobs beyond the walls of the aquarium.
No water sales from the Randalman Dam to put money in Greensboro city coffers.
No tourists flying into PTI.
No downtown jobs.
No local environmental research.
It won't promote the Natural Science Center Aquarium and other Greensboro attractions.
And unlike the Concord Mills mall, the Greensboro Aquarium Project isn't asking the City of Greensboro for incentives, only cooperation and coordination, the things we all pay our taxes to cities to do.
I don't know if any of this is possible but I do know one thing. All of Greensboro's leaders know about this effort. I told them myself. And as long as they ignore it, it will remain impossible. Perhaps you should tell them too?
