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.

Aquaponics In A Downtown Greensboro Aquarium?

Aquaponics is a process that uses plants to filter the water from aquariums or other containers in which fish and many other aquatic animals are raised. It's beauty is that the fish and animal waste is exactly what plants need to grow healthy and the plant waste is exactly what is needed by the fish and animals to keep them healthy as well. It's the way it works in nature only stuck in a container or small man made pond.

As a rule Aquaponics can be quite expensive and most farmers avoid it because of the costs of building huge tanks or ponds but if you're going to be building an aquarium anyway... Well, it just makes sense that we look less than a mile down the road to North Carolina A & T University and invite them to help us design and run a downtown Aquaponics program at the aquarium. I mean, if you're going to have the water and the tanks and the fish and the other aquatic animals anyway...

But does it really have to end with that. In keeping with our plan to make Greensboro the Aquatic City we thought we should also look at some of those empty warehouses and big box retail stores sitting all over town as places to build year 'round Aquaponics farms raising Tilapia, Catfish, Crayfish, Mussels and other fish for human comsumption along with fruits and vegetables all grown indoors. He's an example of an indoor Aquaponics operation in Chicago, Illinois.



Aquaculture, a form of Aquaponics that only involves plants and not animals, can also be used in water filtration to remove toxins from polluted waters. We might want to look into that as well. You know, to take care of some of Greensboro's runoff into Jordan Lake.

How To Save Randalman Dam

Now ol' Fish Man isn't taking sides on the Dam Scam but as this graph by Greensboro Water Conservation Manager Mike J Baron clearly shows, the City of Greensboro is using a lot less water these days than the City thought Greensboro would be using before the Randalman Dam was built. As a matter of fact, based on the published figures Greensboro has no current need for the Randalman Dam.

But really, isn't that just water under the bridge?

Well. not really. You see, municipal water sales are traditionally the only profit generator most cities have and with bonds coming due in a few years Greensboro's taxpayers are going to be saddled with $Millions upon $Millions in debts and no water sales to pay it off. You see, Greensboro's leaders thought we could attract lots of multinational corporations here if we had lots of water and lots of shovel ready sites and now we have a big hole full of water and lots of empty industrial parks but no multinational corporations. What's wrong with this picture?

But you know what, The Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California uses 50,000 gallons of water a day. Yes, they get their water from the ocean but the Greensboro Aquarium would have to buy our water from the Randalman Dam or the City of Greensboro then add the salt and other nutrients. We're even considering building the world's largest freshwater aquarium.

Now granted, evaporation is a bigger concern in Southern California than in Greensboro and we will do our part to conserve water with our own rainwater collection systems but the fact remains a downtown aquarium could very well become one of Greensboro's largest buyers of water.

But it doesn't end there. No sir. Remember that downtown college campus we're talking about putting at the aquarium? That will no doubt use a lot of water, right. And what about all those pharmaceutical companies that locate near aquariums to experiment on sponges and other sea life? Won't they use a lot of water too?

Come on, Greensboro, we're trying to bail you out here. Did I mention 3 Million tourists a year might want water too? And here's an idea: Instead of selling bottled water at the aquarium we can sell locally manufactured refillable water bottles and water refills. You see, as a fish I'm tired of all that plastic trash in Buffalo Creek. Besides, it just makes sense.

Then there's NC A&T University and the Aquaponics program we hope to host both on site and in empty commercial buildings all over Greensboro that will supply jobs all over town and make Greensboro an exporter of food-- something that everybody needs.

Or you can just wait in your performing arts center until the bills for the Randalman Dam come due and figure out how you plan to pay them. Your call.

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?