The Internanational Civil Rights Museum will press on without bond money.
Two quotes from county commissioner and museum board chairman Skip Alston jumped out at me.
One was very clear, an indication that Alston actually understands the mood of voters right now:
“Voters turned down the coliseum (bonds) twice. They turned down War Memorial Stadium twice. What’s the reason for that?” asked county Commissioner Melvin “Skip” Alston, chairman of the museum’s board. “It’s not to say they don’t want it, but they prefer not to pay out of their taxes for it. That’s the only thing I can take from that.”
But this quote was slightly confusing:
“If it took the (civil rights) museum in Memphis, Tennessee 14 years (to open), and we’re in our 12th year, we’re nowhere near the norm for opening up a museum of this nature. We don ‘t have a timetable. When we open up, it will be open for years and years. It will never close.”
When I first read that, I thought Alston was saying that, compared to the time it took to open the National Civil Rights Museum, then Sit-In Inc. was operating within the norm. Hey, any reasonable person assumes these things take time.
But the fact that the Greensboro museum is “nowhere near the norm” tells me that even 14 years is an unreasonable timetable. Should we just pencil in February 2014 for the opening?
Patience, people. Extreme patience.
