COSI ON THE BALLOT AGAIN

I interviewed COSI chairman, David Waterman, on July 23, to find out about the levy that will be on the ballot this fall. Basically, they’re putting the exact same levy on the ballot that voters have turned down twice already.

In the interview below you’ll hear:
Why the levy is on the ballot again.
What the COSI board has learned from the previous two attempts.
If there has their been an effort to get private funding for the science museum.
Whether or not the museum will repay the city for picking up the utility and security tab.
Why Mr. Waterman thinks this time around the levy will pass.

Two things from the interview stick out to me. The first is Mr. Waterman’s response to why he thinks the levy will pass this November. “Being a presidential election, we will have about triple the turnout of the voters we’ve had in the previous two attempts. We feel this will give us a much better feel of what the community really wants and whether they’re willing to support this effort.”

The first two elections didn’t give you a feel of how the community felt?

The second thing that stuck out to me is Mr. Waterman’s response as to whether or not the museum would repay the city for picking up the tab for utilities and the security system. “We haven’t talked to them about that, but we could. What they’re (the city) doing is really very modest and on a temporary basis.”

$6900 A MONTH IS MODEST?

Okay, in the grand scheme of things in the city’s millions of dollars in budgeted projects, $6900 is a small percentage. However, riddle me this. How many taxpayers a month does it take to earn the city $6900? Do those taxpayers think what’s taken out of their paychecks and given to the city every two weeks is modest? Probably not.

I do understand the importance of those bills being paid and that it is necessary in order to keep the building under the city’s ownership. Just don’t downplay the city’s generosity. And by city, I mean its taxpayers.



Thanks for watching.
-Billau