Hold off on moving museum

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Hold off on moving museum

Opinions

Friday, 22 January 2010 08:38

We respect our military veterans as much as the next guy but we believe the Osceola County Commission should delay for the sake of further study a decision to buy the Alan C. Starling property on West U.S. Highway 192 for use by the Veterans Tribute and Museum, now housed at Osceola Square Mall.
The proposal is for the county to buy the former auto dealership site and convert it into a museum to be run by the Osceola County Veterans Council.
The price tag for the site would be about $4 million, with an additional $1 million to develop it into a museum. The county would issue bonds to cover these costs, and then use tourist tax funds to service the debt.
We are worried that the deal could end up costing us more than expected.
Before proceeding, the county should have a comprehensive business plan from the Veterans Council detailing how it would not only survive at the new site, but thrive – without continued public subsidies, which are not assured because that support must be voted on every year by our local governments. We are worried that the number of visits to the museum, which averages 15,000 to 18,000 visitors yearly according to the veterans group, may not be enough to sustain a new facility or justify the investment.
County Commissioner John Quiñones at a recent Tourist Development Council meeting said the dealership would take a lot of work to convert into a museum, especially the façade. We would have to agree.
Several years ago, an audit of the Kissimmee Convention and Visitors Bureau recommended a master plan be developed outlining how the bureau could best use its resources and the lodging tax to bring tourists here. The suggestion at the time was to put a priority on sports facilities. While the operation of the visitors bureau was improved as a result of the audit, we are still waiting for that overdue master plan.
Also, instead of the veterans going it alone at a new site, perhaps it ought to consider partnering with some other organization such as the Osceola County Historical Society, which also needs a new facility to house its museum collection.