civic centerTammi,
I had a very good meeting with Joe U. (aka chamber guy) late Friday
afternoon. He was very excited about your initiative on a
conference/civic facility. To combat the concern of the Hilton, it
sounds like using the term civic center may be less threatening.
Joe provided a good bit of information on the performing arts piece:
this was a last minute piece of the last plan and one in which the
Glacier symphony people ran away with the project till it became totally
unworkable. He didn't feel this would be a major player this time
wither but that we should be careful not to get in bed with them too
quickly. I think going back to the plan of having spaces that could be
utilized in a wide array of ways would be best. If the symphony wanted
to buy equipment that would provide performance space, that could be up
to them. Joe did say that CTA did all the schematics for the last
building and would probably still have a great deal of information if we
wanted to touch base with them.
Joe also felt very positive about the airline incentive discussion. I
indicated I would try to set up a meeting with you and Cindy Martin. An
outcome of that meeting could be a large regional leadership meeting
sponsored by the airport that could propose using Port money for the
reserve line of credit. Joe felt having an application to the Port with
a support letter signed by all the political jurisdictions, chambers,
event centers, etc. could be the thing it would take to get the Port to
agree.
Jane