| ‘Loan’ to Archer House needs detail |
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Posted: Thursday, July 2, 2009 11:19 pm
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The planned renovations of the Archer House, which will include the installation of public restrooms, is welcome news.
The historic hotel is in need of a bit of a facelift and anyone who has ever attended a downtown event can attest to the need for public bathrooms that aren’t port-o-biffies. Local entrepreneur Brett Reese is to be commended for undertaking the effort.
But the project also raises a few questions, since public money, in the form of a $100,000 forgivable loan from the Economic Development Authority, may be involved.
The term “loan” seems a bit misleading, since the money will not need to be repaid if all the conditions are met. The biggest of those conditions is that the restrooms be made available to the public.
But the conditions don’t appear to be specific enough. The term of the “loan” is 12 years, after which time, the restrooms conceivably could be made private again. The size of the restrooms also isn’t known at this time. While plans call for one restroom facility each for men and women upstairs and downstairs in the building, it’s unclear how big they will be. With few stalls, the benefits of a public restroom in the Archer House would quickly be negated by the long lines that would likely form during bigger events, such as DJJD or Taste of Northfield.
In general, putting forward public funds for private projects isn’t a good idea. This case could be an exception, since the public could stand to benefit. But some of the details of the agreement should be ironed out first before the city approves spending the money.
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