Museum Closing

An interesting article in today's JS reads "The Sports Museum of America, which housed a variety of memorabilia on loan from individuals and sports organizations, including the Heisman Trophy, has closed after nine months. The non-profit museum opened in May in New York. It could reopen if a buyer is found, (so could Cub Foods building) but otherwise its collection will be dismantled. Officials had hoped to draw one million visitors in the first year, but the museum was falling short of that goal.

Construction costs also ran over by $5 million."

Not to worry, you museum promoters, this is Peoria, not New York. And besides we are a big sports draw and who wants to see stuff like the Heisman Trophy when we will have pictures and stuff of all Illinois sports heroes.

But unlike New York, Peoria rivferfront facilities promoters are only expecting 360,000-400,000 vistors a year.

Plus, the museum will include the African-American exhibit which will be moved from Proctor Center where it is now free to see. These days, free to see by appointment only because too few volunteered to keep it open during Proctor Center hours.

Our downtown museum will only charge an $8-12 admission fee, plus the cost of undergroung parking, of course.

While promoters say if the our museum, built with largely public dollars, does not succeed, the loss would be borne by the bondholders, not the taxpayers. Sure, just what we need is ANOTHER white elephant in town, especially on the once promising riverfront.