As long as they build them with 100% private money I'm all for it. Especially being that in doing so that knocks down the plans to build a hotel on the corner of Elm and Lee where supporters of the Downtown Greensboro Aquarium Project (facebook group) have been pushing to build a world class aquarium for some time now.
As a matter of fact: while being completely and deliberately ignored by the entire Greensboro City Council since before Council voted to sell the property to the South Elm Redevelopment Group and refused media coverage by Frank Mickins and WFMY (I have e-mails to prove these statements.) the Downtown Greensboro Aquarium Project has become more popular than any proposal ever put forth in Greensboro.
The Lee and Elm site was the chosen site for a public-private aquarium project that will rival the Tennessee State Aquarium and Georgia State Aquarium which both see millions of visitors each year. And no, it won't hurt the Sciquarium, we actually worked out a way to boost attendance there and at the NC Zoo in Asheboro.
But it doesn't end there. The Downtown Greensboro Aquarium Project (blog) wants to partner with NC A&T University to build an Aquaponics program that will produce fish, seafood and vegetables so that Greensboro can add hundreds if not thousands of jobs and become an exporter of food to the entire nation if not the world.
Not to mention the fact that the City Of Greensboro desperately needs to sell about 50 million gallons of water a day to pay off the soon to be due bonds for the Randalman Dam.
Sadly, the current Greensboro City Council ignored and refused our requests to talk about the subject but several of the challengers are discussing the projects with us now. Maybe now that Bob Isner, Bob Chapman, Dennis Quaintance and others are getting out of the downtown hotel business the next council will be smarter than the last. That is: if you are smart enough to vote the bastards out.
