wolfe lake

or is it wolf lake?

anyway, what do people think of the new rda project? http://nwi.com/articles/2008/12/16/news/top_news/doc7ba166877b5a69e6862575210013b4d5.txt

i really know little about it except for the ampitheater part. the cost is of course concerning, but imo its good to see the rda would apparently start funding something in the city through this project. except, i have to admit, i dont see a lot of transportation merit in the project, but i guess with the rda building things like beaches in portage thus far, transportation somehow has fallen lower on their priority list.

whether the rda funding comes through or not. this project seems very likely to qualify for 'obama dollars*' in the spring, and could wind up costing the city very little in the end.

*obama dollars - term coined by hsd member ken jakubcek to refer to shovel ready projects that the new president has requested to see on his desk when he takes office for consideration of federal funding in his soon to be proposed stimulas package. here to fore, when i refer to obama dollars, this is what i am referring too.

honestly i dont think the casino is worried at all about venue competition. in fact they might like the idea of a larger arena bringing more out of towners into the area.

most of the venue acts at the casino are comps anyway. i think they are happy if they break even on the ticket sales for the cost of the acts.

i think long term, thats the plan downtown. i believe a lot of whats left of the older buildings will be gone in the future...and more locally viable installations....along with an expanded hospital and the federal building will be there. mainly office properties such as legal and engineering firms... city hall...maybe a liscense branch...etc will be in that area...and less of a reliance on retail businessess drawing from outside the city in that area besides a few restaurants.

but with finances as they are...it could be 10-20 years before that comes to complete fruition.

as for wolf lake. i agree. if all they can build on that swamp dump to the south is a parking lot. fine lets build one...and then have an arena, golf course, and maybe even casino hotel nearby connected with some type of direct transport (monorail like?)!

The bridge they talked about is actually a way to extend the bike and walking trail to tie in with Whiting and their lake front.

From what I have seen so far, the projects listed don't add up to $53 million dollars. What else is being planned there? One thing that I think would be crucial to a developement like this is a restaurant.

A place to eat would be nice, as long as it isn't a chain

A good Italian place would be nice but I like TGIF and Apllebee's too...I dont think they should get any of the RDA money naturally!