Museum Musings

On 3/2/05 the JS ran an article titled “Dubuque Museum Driving Development”. Yesterday I made a trip up to Dubuque, Iowa to see this museum first hand and to gather information as the County Board of Peoria may soon ask Peoria County property owners to help finance our Peoria Museum. The County where Dubuque is located donated $1 million of the $5 million asked for. The JS article continues “Dubuque will need to meet its $3.2 million operating budget”. (Actually it is $4 million a year according to Terri Hawks Goodman, Development Director of both the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium and the National Rivers Hall of Fame.) The museum cost $47 million to build, according to Ms. Goodman.

The Museum opened on June 28, 2003 and drew 301,000 visitors the first 12 months. It’s estimated to have 250,000 paying visits this year. Within walking distance is the Grand Harbor Resort located on the riverfront with unobstructed viewing and the resort also has a water park. A 130,000 square foot Education and Conference Center next door, just opened. A total of approximately $111,000,000.00 was invested in the entire complex, including the museums. The State of Iowa donated $50 million to this overall project and the Feds donated $15 million. The State of Illinois is being asked to donate $12 million, the Federal Government $12 million and Peoria County $6 million to our “Regional Museum”. Taxpayer dollars, of course.

The adjacent levee boasts a beautiful 44 mile long heritage trail. In the same area is a Casino along with riverboats. The east side of the river has not as yet been developed so the view to the east is more scenic than Peoria. Also the bluffs are closer to the river in comparison to Peoria.

Entrance to the two museums cost a total of $9.95 for adults, $8.95 for seniors and lesser amounts for children and groups. The museum has 3700 members paying $70.00 for a basic family membership up from $60.00 last year. The National Museum Hall of Fame is housed on the 2nd from of the Museum. Each entity offers different levels of expanded membership’s benefits programs starting at $125 to $1000.

A fund raising drive is in the offing to help offset other costs and an IMAX Theatre may be considered. The first fund raising drive was well accepted by the community, according local conversations.

Dubuque appears to be a city transformed. It was named the best of “10 great places to discover Midwest charm” by the newspaper USA Today in the travel section of its June 3 issue.

The proposed Peoria Regional Museum has similarities to Dubuque. But one of the biggest differences is that Peoria has much more on its plate that can drastically affect the taxpayers than does Dubuque. How much of what is planned in Peoria or has been built or should be built, is subject to much conjecture. No one is quite sure how property taxes in Peoria will be affected if projections of visitors and dollars expended in all these areas fall short of expectations, Most Peoria residents I’ve talked to, see some dramatic tax rises in the not too distant future if, all projects on the drawing boards come to fruition..

Peoria leadership and its moneyed patrons dream big. Nothing wrong with that, I did too, but even though I didn’t have the money, I seem to have had some success with more realistic dreams. Unfortunately the major big dreams that have already been built in Peoria have not lived up to expectations. Peoria does not have a good track record and the Med-Tech district is no more of a guarantee than was the disappointing One Technology Plaza.

The hierarchy of attractions listed by the experts is as follows:

1. Zoo/Aquarium combination.
2. Children’s’ Center
3. Science Center
4. Living History
5. History
6. Art

I believe Aquarium concepts are not currently in the planning for the Peoria Museum. If not, this probably is a mistake. Few regular museums break even. I know this Peoria Museum is planned to be more than a regular museum, and the Caterpillar museum will be a big draw. However, most large museums are backed by large endowments. Therefore, more commitments will need to be made by those who would most benefit from this new museum, so that future property taxes are not further increased by possible overbuilding with the resultant picking of reluctant local taxpayers pocketbooks.

Dubuque has far less demographic problems than Peoria. Less than 1% of the population is black. This is a fact and you may read anything into this fact that you want to. Also the Illinois River is not the mighty Mississippi; nor does Dubuque have the problems such as financial problems facing School District #150. Also, Dubuque does not have one Fortune 500 company calling the shots as does Peoria. Dubuque Packing which once employed 3,000 is gone. John Deere, which once employed 10,000, is down to 1500. Caterpillar’s work force in Peoria, once in the 30,000’s, is now down to around 14,000. Almost all other industry has fled Peoria and Keystone appears to be on a year to year survival basis.

Ticket prices for the Peoria Museum as mentioned by my friend Jim Richerson, are to be in the $7 dollar range. In comparison Dubuque high is $9.95 to visit both museums. Also parking is free around the Dubuque museum. It will be difficult if not impossible to have free parking on the riverfront in downtown Peoria because of the mix of restaurants, ect. If parking will be free, why are we being charged to park now? If the Peoria Museum reaches the projected 350,000 paid visitors, that amounts to only $2,350,000.00 in admissions income. These shortfalls will need to be made up in concession and food sales, and grants. Dubuque’s less costly museum operating cost are in the $4 million yearly range.

Please correct me on any errors I have made in this article. And, yes, Jim, I would like to meet with you and review your business plan and ask questions such as what is meant by your “giant screen”. Is that to be an IMAX theatre?

On my way up, I visited Moline and Davenport. I will cover my observations of the Deere Pavilion, the Putnam Museum, the Children’s zoo and the arts centers in my next blog.