Lest we forget our Place
Taxpayers of Utah, your state-subsidized religious shrine in Emigration Canyon is safe.
Bear with me as I recapitulate: In the late 1990s, TTPSP, which commemorates the arrival of Mormons in Utah, was turned over to a private foundation (with an $800,000 state subsidy). The foundation, led by Utah political artifact Stephen Studdert, was noteworthy for three things:
Gov. Jon Huntsman, GOP lawmakers and an LDS church official put real estate developer Ellis Ivory in charge. Ivory raised money a
nd paved much of the park (hey, he's a developer) to turn it into a Mormon Pioneer theme park, complete with motorized shuttles.
Ivory's grand idea to make the The Place self-sufficient was to put an office complex in the park. But citizens rose up against what they saw as saving the park by destroying it, and forced Ivory to back off. Read about the citizen revolt here.
To smooth things over, Huntsman promised Ivory yet another one-time subsidy, to make up for what Ivory's office complex would have earned, of about $400,000.
Park needs $1.2 million
Mary Tullius of state Parks recently told me the economic reality is that the park can only survive if it gets sufficient money in equal parts from donations, admissions, and state subsidies. The taxpayers' share of that would be about $1 million to $1.2 million.
Park gets $1.2 million
Add up the subsidies to date — $700,000 base, an additional on-going $100,000 this year and the guv's "one-time" boost of $350,000* — and it comes to about $1 million to $1.2 million. Who wants to bet the Legislature makes that $350,000 one-time grant permanent this time next year and Ivory proclaims himself savior of the the park and a financial genius?
Fun fact: A similar Mormon historic park in Nauvoo, Ill, operates completely without taxpayer subsidies.
*What can I say? $50,000 of the guv's $400,000 leaked out somewhere.
Bear with me as I recapitulate: In the late 1990s, TTPSP, which commemorates the arrival of Mormons in Utah, was turned over to a private foundation (with an $800,000 state subsidy). The foundation, led by Utah political artifact Stephen Studdert, was noteworthy for three things:
- It got venerable Mormon families to donate buildings and artifacts glorifying their ancestors.
- It mismanaged park finances, putting itself on the brink of extinction.
- It utterly failed to get anyone to visit the sun-blasted park.
Gov. Jon Huntsman, GOP lawmakers and an LDS church official put real estate developer Ellis Ivory in charge. Ivory raised money a
nd paved much of the park (hey, he's a developer) to turn it into a Mormon Pioneer theme park, complete with motorized shuttles.Ivory's grand idea to make the The Place self-sufficient was to put an office complex in the park. But citizens rose up against what they saw as saving the park by destroying it, and forced Ivory to back off. Read about the citizen revolt here.
To smooth things over, Huntsman promised Ivory yet another one-time subsidy, to make up for what Ivory's office complex would have earned, of about $400,000.
Park needs $1.2 million
Mary Tullius of state Parks recently told me the economic reality is that the park can only survive if it gets sufficient money in equal parts from donations, admissions, and state subsidies. The taxpayers' share of that would be about $1 million to $1.2 million.
Park gets $1.2 million
Add up the subsidies to date — $700,000 base, an additional on-going $100,000 this year and the guv's "one-time" boost of $350,000* — and it comes to about $1 million to $1.2 million. Who wants to bet the Legislature makes that $350,000 one-time grant permanent this time next year and Ivory proclaims himself savior of the the park and a financial genius?
Fun fact: A similar Mormon historic park in Nauvoo, Ill, operates completely without taxpayer subsidies.
*What can I say? $50,000 of the guv's $400,000 leaked out somewhere.
1 Comments:
My wife volunteered up there for years; I well remember when the manager before Ellis Ivory was brought in, called them all together, and said they were going to make it a "product" like Disneyland. It's been downhill ever since. Once they kicked Mormon Handicrafts out for yet another wedding center, my wife said that's it and quit.
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