Posted: Wednesday, March 5, 2014 6:45 am
You never get something for nothing. That’s a lesson we learn over and over in this life and leads up to a question that Waynesboro residents have to answer. Namely, is a museum worth $50,000? When they signed off on creating a master plan last Saturday, the board of directors for the Virginia Natural History Museum gave that one condition. If the city of Waynesboro wants to be the place to house a satellite facility, then locals need to show their support by funding the master plan.
It wasn’t an easy sell for museum director Joe Keiper, convincing his board that Waynesboro is the right place to house the facility. Some questioned if the city could financially sustain it. Some still do. As a way to demonstrate the area’s viability, the board agreed to give Waynesboro, in one way or another,the full bill for the master plan. The city has already committed to pay $25,000. The second half of that will be raised from private donations, once the bid is in place. It could cost $50,000 or far less, depending on the price the winning firm settles on.
And that’s where the question comes in. In talking with people around the community over the last few days, we’ve noticed some irritation and in some cases flat out anger that the Natural History Museum wouldn’t chip in the second half of that $50,000.
Recruiting companies. museums or any type of attraction into an area is much like the free agent process in sports. Most of the time, they’ll go with the proven winners, the cities where success is basically guaranteed due to larger populations, other venues already operating and yes, the amount of money the local community is willing to chip in. If we want to recruit large projects like this to the area, we can’t be surprised when we’re asked to pick up the check.
A museum in Waynesboro would benefit both parties. For the city, it means an estimated $1.35 million in new revenue each year. That comes from looking at 65,582 people visiting the area and spending a combined $20.60 on their visit, between food, gas and possibly a room for the night. Some may spend more, after seeing what other shops are in the area. That also doesn’t take into account the new jobs created both permanently in the facility and the temporary ones during construction. For the Natural History Museum, it means higher visibility. Rather than asking people to drive down to Martinsville, the museum would be sitting in the heart of an area with multiple universities and school districts that would take advantage of it.
But again, there is a price tag for those benefits and in Waynesboro’s case, it costs $50,000. It seems cheap, compared to what we’d be getting. Also keep in mind that there are penalties involved in cases like this as well. If we refuse to raise the extra money, then it’s not just the Natural History board that’s watching. Other groups would remember that we balked and when it comes time to shop their proposal, maybe Waynesboro doesn’t get as hard a look as other places.
One member of the museum board has a husband who operates a business in Staunton. She raised the question if Waynesboro could sustain a museum or if it would fold. Waynesboro now needs to show both the board and other companies out there that that yes, this community can sustain not just a museum, but other operations currently looking for a home. If we succeed in recruiting one, it can lead to others following after. We wanted the opportunity to see an attraction come to the city and now we have the chance to bring it in. The question is, what are we going to do with the opportunity?