Council approves Buskirk funding

The future of the Buskirk-Chumley Theatre finally looks secure, at least for the next three years.\nThe Bloomington City Council preliminarily voted to approve $600,000 to help operate and fund the theatre, which the city of Bloomington will take control of in 2004.\nMayor John Fernandez plans to raise an additional $600,000 through Tax Increment Financing to save the long financially beleaguered theatre. TIF funding is raised through property taxes in the area of the proposed capital project and is authorized through the Bloomington Redevelopment Commission.\nSteak 'n Shake, which holds a share of ownership in the theatre, will donate its piece to the city in April 2004, City Controller Tom Guevara said.\nOver objections from many local residents, the council voted 7-1-1 to approve the funds. Council member Jason Banach voted no on the issue and David Sabbagh voted to pass on the vote, which will have a final tally in September.\nMayor John Fernandez urged council members to approve the measure, which he said would have a lasting impact on the city.\n"We have a reputation in Bloomington as being a great place for the arts," he said. "(Art) nourishes our sense of being, and these are the really good things that help people grow."\nBut many residents raised objections that spending taxpayer dollars on a project that couldn't raise enough money to survive through private support was not in the best interest of the public.\n"Please do not spend this money," said Bloomington resident Tom Butts. "The Buskirk-Chumley is a beautiful facility. But it failed."\nCouncil member Jason Banach said he and his wife are big supporters of the arts but feel that the project doesn't make much economic sense.\n"I don't know how much I buy into the economics," he said. "I think we've gone overboard trying to sugarcoat a lot of this. It's being touted as a low-cost, low-risk investment. If that were true, there would be people fighting to buy the place."\nBut Guevara stressed that the investments would be well worth it in the long run.\n"If you stop to think about what government invests in, and get it down to the most basic level, it's about two things: economic development and quality of life," he said.\n"If people want to come up and oppose this, they really ought to be opposing investments in our infrastructure, investments in our parks, investments in a great deal of our government's function, because ultimately, that's really what were about, quality of life for our citizens and our community."\nBloomington resident Jim Billingsley disagreed and asked council members to vote down the ordinance.\n"What this issue really boils down to is choice, and the freedom of individuals to choose for themselves how they will spend their money on leisure activities," he said. "And what this proposal is in stark realistic terms, is stripping away choice from members of this community on how they want their money spent."\nErin Hollinden, a local Libertarian, sided with Billingsley, director of the Monroe County Taxpayers Association.\n"All my friends who I've spoken with this about, from time to time will say 'But I really don't mind paying money for the Buskirk-Chumley Theatre' and I say 'I don't mind either.' But I do mind being forced to, and I do mind forcing everybody else to as well," she said.\nCouncil President Patricia Cole was quick to defend the theatre and expressed whole-hearted support of the ordinance.\n"It's not a matter of not enough people caring, she said, responding to criticism that the theatre couldn't raise enough private funding to stay alive.\n"Arts are always vulnerable, this is nothing new and the arts always survive. They don't fade or get blown away, the arts always prevail"