“I think we have a 19th century government structure in a 21st century world.” -- The Garner Study paid for by the Greensboro Partnership and the City of Greensboro
"We cannot do this in a small way. To make a true catalytic difference, you have to think big." --Micheal Tabb of the Tabb Study paid for by the City of Greensboro, speaking at the East Greensboro Summit.
So what's Mayor Perkins' idea of thinking big? Shopping centers and a performing arts center when we could be setting our goal towards something really big like a public/private, world class Downtown Greensboro Aquarium pulling in over a million visitors a year combining downtown college campuses, research facilities, a major tourist attraction and literally $Billions of Dollars of new investment in Greensboro. Suddenly the Mayor's big vison and 300,000 visitors a year isn't looking so big, is it?
Chattanooga, Tennessee has a downtown aquarium and Chattanooga is 1/3 the size of Greensboro. Chattanooga also isn't loosing millions on the water they planned to sell from the Randalman Dam but aren't selling because of falling demand. Falling demand and money lost that the Greensboro City Council doesn't want to talk about. An aquarium would buy a lot of water and pay a lot in taxes.
I can't say how it will finally shake out or if Greensboro will even get behind Fish Man's dream of finally giving Greensboro an identity but my thinking is that with a downtown aquarium we would no longer be talking about competing with Durham, Raleigh and Winston-Salem. With a downtown aquarium Greensboro would be in a league of our own making. Even Charlotte would envy us. As much as I hate to admit it, Jim Melvin's dreams would come true.
Of course, reality is, Mayor Perkins hired Micheal Tabb to tell Greensboro what the Mayor wanted Greensboro to hear but as these experts so often do when forced to put on dog and pony shows, Micheal Tabb actually gave the Mayor some helpful advice when he said, ">"We cannot do this in a small way. To make a true catalytic difference, you have to think big.".
Too bad, Mayor Perkins had already made up his mind and wasn't open to bigger ideas than his own brain was capable of dreaming up.
