Wednesday, May 09, 2012

Caterpillar Visitor Center Expenditure Drop

The Js first announced that the Visitor Center would be a $51 million project. Then on 4/9/2009, in a Caterpillar "Talking Points" release stated, "Caterpillar is pleased to move forward with Build the block. The budgeted cost of the visitors center is $41 million. Planning for this project will be modified to reflect our current financial circumstances".

Scott Hillyard, JS reporter wrote on May 3, 2012 "The $37 million is scheduled to open the same time the $100 million PRM"..

Hillyard previously wrote the following on 7/29/11, "Construction began on the $53 million Caterpillar Visitors Center.

Hillyard also wrote the following on 4/1/11, " A design change to the $52 million visitor Center....etc.

JS reporter John Sharp wrote the following on 4/13/11, "The $52 million dollar visitors Center is  still on target.....etc.

Somewhere along the line JS Business????  page editor also talked about a $52 million dollar visitors center.

On 2/7/12, Hillyard wrote about work being done on a $90 million museum down from the $96+ museum described by various JS reporters in the past years or so. The media today stated that a new bus stop configuration was going to be added for museum visitors courtesy of the. taxpayer. Money spent on "enhancement" projects will never be known by the public, but the public should be concerned by the deficit being run up by the city; $6 million, and now the county; $2 million, while growth in Peoria County remains basically stagnant.

Same as the ballpark. No accurate figures were ever presented to the publicof the actual taxpayer involvement in this beautiful facility, complete with palm trees added every year since 2002 at an estimated cost of from $10,000 to $15000 each year while attendance continues to drop.(Keven Capie, JS Sportswriter, who recently wrote that attendance this season is off 199 per game after last years extremely low figures. 

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