$5 Million Facility Being Called A Federal Stimulus Boondoggle

Last summer, the Fulton County Commission in Georgia approved borrowing five million dollars from the federal government to build an "aviation cultural center" to honor the Tuskegee Airmen, located on a vacant patch of grass in a blighted neighborhood adjacent to the entrance of Fulton County Airport-Charlie Brown Field. The plan had its critics, especially given a county budget gap projected to hit $100 million in 2012. But a $26.4 million bond measure to fund the "Aviation Museum and Community Center" and other projects passed.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports the facility, at 13-15,000 square feet, was scaled down from an earlier vision for a museum on the scale of the College Park Aviation Museum in Maryland or the San Diego Air & Space Museum in Balboa Park. But when the scaling back happened, apparently some county commissioners missed the fact that the new facility was now a community center with no gift shop or admission fees. See also, no tourists, and no opportunity to bring in revenues.

Commisioner Emma Darnell, who represents that county district, and who pushed for the project, said revenues were never the point, and that the purpose of the project is to use the stimulus money to help surrounding communities hit by the recession. Regarding the confusion among her fellow commissioners on just what the facility would be, she commented, "It was sort of unfortunate that the term ‘museum’ was used."

The hefty federal loan will have to be repaid by the county with interest. Annual costs to maintain the aviation-themed community center are estimated at $350,000 per year. For that, the county will get a building with meeting rooms, performance space and classrooms, and possibly a fixed display with information about the Tuskegee Airmen.

The project is moving forward, and is expected to be completed by early 2013. Proponents hope the new facility will provide constructive activities for kids, and a lift to a neighborhood known for cheap motels and graffiti. But Georgia State Representative Lynne Riley, who voted against the project when she was a county commissioner, says, "It was represented as a museum. If the use is going to change from that, I think the taxpayers need to know."

Regarding the budget dillema, she adds, "Anything that is outside the scope of mandatory government services should be off the table."

FMI: www.fultonarts.org