SHOW ME CENTER: LEAVE BEAUTIFUL BUILDING ALONE

To the Editor:

We were members of the City Council when plans were made for the multipurpose building. Mayor Howard Tooke and others carefully designed a method of financing, and we came to see the wisdom of it. So did the citizens of the city, after much discussion and argument. The plan calls specifically for money from the restaurant and motel tax, and some real estate tax, to be used to retire the debt incurred for the building.

We are now asked to amend the plan and make another use of the money. This seems to us to be unwise.

A. Any other use of the money violates the spirit and letter of the promise made to the voters. It is wonderful that revenues are accumulating more quickly than planned. But obviously that money should be used for its intended purpose to retire the indebtedness.

B. A mayor and council make sensible plans, hopefully, realizing that their actions will extend further into the life of the city than their own terms in office. They act on the assumption that these plans should not be changed for all but the most serious reasons. This is especially true if the plans are directly approved by the voters. We find no compelling reasons for the changes suggested.

C. This city recalls with sadness the bitterness and controversy attending this entire project. Just when we begin to feel that time has healed these wounds, a plan is suggested which might very well revive the old animosity. And why not? If the voters have approved a plan, why should their actions be questioned?

D. If the city of Cape Girardeau is more fiscally healthy than Illinois or California, it is because it has followed a thrifty and prudent policy. This public policy has grown out of the personal policies of the leaders and voters of the city. Part of this wisdom is certainly a prompt repayment of debt, even including repayment ahead of schedule.

E. When the building was planned, certain citizens felt that it should be larger perhaps as much as 50 percent larger. Time has shown that it is not undersized.

Although we are no longer members of the council, we have retained a lively interest in the affairs of the city and a deep concern for its welfare. Leave the beautiful building alone; do not molest its architectural integrity. It does not belong to the present board.

Robert K. Herbst, Curt Smith,

Don Strohmeyer and Peter Hilty