Guest Post: The Derecho
de·re·cho/dāˈrāCHō/
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Disclaimer: All guest posts are the opinion of the poster and do not necessarily represent the views of moonhowlings.net administration.
M-H
Two articles published in the morning papers demonstrate the stark differences between the pragmatic and the tone-deaf, the realistic and the desperate.
The Prince William Extra of the WAPO carries an article by Jeremy Borden that details the reason nobody can find funding for the Americans in Wartime Museum. Allan Cors, unlike county staff and the BOCS, demonstrates that he and the museum’s leaders recognize the current political climate and increased scrutiny of the County budget. They have decided not to ask for an additional $1 million from Prince William because of the ongoing controversy surrounding allocations to nonprofit groups. Regardless one’s position regarding the museum and non-profit allocations, one must give credit to Mr. Cors and the museum’s directors for recognizing current circumstances and withdrawing their funding request.
Conversely, Chariman Stewart’s letter in the News and Messenger illustrates is typical of the delusional and tone-deaf. Many will recognize his stale assertions, “statistics” that have been debunked yet remain the basis of the BOCS budget charade. Surely I’m not the only fatigued by their constant claims at having cut our taxes and county spending, while maintaining a focus infrastructure. My real estate tax bills don’t reflect their”reality” and in fact the tax rate shell game is one perfected by Connaughton. I’m weary of hearing our “fiscally conservative” BOCS crowing about reducing our tax rate without disclosing that assessed values have rise by a greater percentage, an intellectually dishonest exercise that I find personally insulting.
Mr. Cors recognizes the potential impact of the public outcry, something Corey seems incapable of recognizing. Spending carryover funds on nonprofits while leaving core responsibilities underfunded isn’t “a model of how fiscal conservatism works”. It is the hallmark however of career politicians more concerned with padding their campaign warchests than governing responsibly.
One last thought– Corey, leading the nation in economic growth is meaningless if the vast majority of the jobs created per earn near the minimum wage and can’t afford to live in or support PWC. The current PWC economic development model doesn’t afford sustainable economic growth and is not the model most jurisdictions aspire to.
AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well at least Corey can’t be charged with pandering for the Hispanic vote as one top politician has been doing nation wide. Giving a little credit where credit is due.
Yes, Romney and Obama have both been courting the Latino vote.
And the old vote, the black vote, the young folks vote, the women vote……
So what will become of the War Museum? Will they scrap the plans? Private museums are having a hard time. The D-Day Memorial down in Bedford has had a real difficult time staying afloat. I think they want the National Park Service to buy them out, which probably would be a good idea.
The recession and some controvery over Stalin hurt the D-Day Memorial badly.
If I had to guess, they’ll run silent for the rest of the year. Better to stay under the radar than get shot at in what seems to be a circular firing squad.
Good way of putting it.
@Moon-howler
The City of Bedford has been having a rough time all together….they have been in discussion with the County to revert back to town status. Part of the “breaking”of the City was that D-Day Memorial.
They went out on a limb thinking that tourism was going to be a real drawing card. That’s really too bad. Often those decisions happen decades before…
Look at Gettysburg. Why is it different from Sharpsburg? Manassas? Gettysburg lives because of the battlefield but there is more to it. In the first place the battlefields in the south don’t have all those monuments and statues. Secondly, Lincoln didn’t come there. No big town gathering. The towns didn’t make names for themselves back in the day. Johnny come lately won’t work.
I am not sure any place in the United States can capitalize on WWII mainly because the mainland wasn’t invaded. But I digress….
That really is too bad about Bedford. It is like they have been hit twice. Rather than me ramble…what exactly is their problem?
I still don’t like the way the Wartime Museum deal was handled – land rights swap for the benefit of the Hyltons that put the land in a non-profit so that the Hyltons no longer had to pay real estate tax. There was absolutely nothing “generous” about anything the Hyltons did. Also, this deal had Corey’s and Jenkins’ fingerprints all over it.
With that being water under the bridge, I wish the Wartime Museum people success, as long as they don’t reach into my pocket for money, which Alan Cors has apparently decided is not a wise idea. I applaud him for that decision. It seems now that he and the other backers of the museum were not the drivers of the land-swap shennanigans.
I still don’t think this museum is an idea that can suceed given all of the other similar museums in the area. If you are visiting from out-of-town, are you going to the Manassas Battlefield, or to Dale City to see some old tanks? Most visitors don’t spend a lot of time in PWC, if at all, when they visit the Nation’s Capitol.
However, to the Wartime Museum people, good luck and best wishes if you can make this project work with private funds as you promised when the PWC Board approved it.
It never made sense to me. Sort of like putting 2 McDonalds on the same block.
I am SURE the county must have done its due dillegence before agreeing to such a venture. I would be thrilled to see the cost/benefit anyalysis for the War Museum (sarcasm button on FIRE fight now)
The War Time Museum is just a bad idea of someone who has an interesting collection as a hobby. D Day is a good example but so is the Carlisle Army Museum. They have created these “outdoor museums spaces” by making fake Vietnam, WWII battlefields etc… And people just are not coming. AND they have the Army War College there and the Army Research Center…War Time would not have any of that. With the Army Museum in Belvoir going up, I think their market is flooded. Look at their plan and expected attendance…it is over exaggerated. I respect Mr. Corrs for caring about history and collecting such a wide variety of military vehicles…but the War Time Museum is just a bad idea. Ask anyone in the museum field.
Museums just have a lot of trouble sustaining themselves without help from government. I certainly am not suggesting that is a bad thing. I just don’t think our local govt. can sustain it in this area. Soemthing like the War Museum would probably be great out in the middle of nowhere or still better, in the middle of no where off an interstate with lots of signage and advertizing in travel guides.
One person who had to be very fond of the proposed museum was the former executive director who got almost $3/4M in compensation in 3 years. That’s more than the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Secretary of Defense or State, or the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff or Federal Reserve earned.
To NK, I guess it depends on if you’re more interested in a civil war open field with a few canon, or a WWII through today museum with multiple vehicles. Probably very different crowds.