THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 27, 1995 TAG: 9501260180
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 49 lines
The amphitheater cleared a major hurdle Tuesday when City Council approved up to $600,000 for engineering and design of the facility and the roads to serve it. That approval moves the amphitheater toward its highest hurdle: Council's approval of the $7.8 million in cash the city will add to Cellar Door's $6 million.
Bill Harrison, lead Council member in negotiating this public-private partnership, summed up the pluses of the deal so far: A quality partner in Cellar Door. A prime location in Lake Ridge. An agreement-in-principle that by conservative estimate could repay the city's investment in less than seven years, and pay at least $1 million a year in direct revenue to the city thereafter.
Councilman John Moss noted some minuses: The city's share could be spent elsewhere - on school parity and technology, say. And the return on the city's investment isn't guar-an-teed.
Assessing priorities is getting needed attention at every level of government. But schools consume 45 percent of city income now. The better question than how schools could use this $7.8 million is how to reprioritize the schools' budget - some $370 million for operating and capital funding this year - to meet parity and technology needs. As for guarantees, they'll arrive shortly after Godot. The city's investment is a calculated risk, a risk eight members of Council are inclined to take, and not only because of the projected increase in revenues that the city can put to other uses.
The amphitheater offers an intangible plus: It readily attracts families, those with kids and the (many more) families without, from among this region's 1.2 million residents, from the millions who live a short radius beyond, from the 2.5 million tourists who visit each year. It figures, too, in decisions by businesses looking for locations that offer adult amenities along with good schools.
The amphitheater deal appears good enough for Cellar Door, which isn't in business to lose money. Yet it's tough enough for praise from Council's hardest bargainers. True, the best bargain would a wholly private amphitheater. But that isn't an option. Council's choice is whether to invest in a facility that will prof-it the city, financially and otherwise. So far, Council chooses right. by CNB