Letter: Let private enterprise do arts center

I bet if polled, most members of Town Council would call themselves conservative.

Do conservatives no longer believe in free enterprise? Our town government was designed to be a “limited-services government.”

The Arts Center of Coastal Carolina board should be creative and raise funds for capital improvements and needed maintenance with creative fundraising efforts. No longer permitting “volunteers” to attend freebie performances would also bring in additional, needed funds. Everyone should pay for tickets. Raise ticket prices or reduce production costs to make ends meet.

Instead, the arts center has been on the dole of the taxpayers for many years, and, like little kids with a rich Daddy, they will continue to hold out their palms for more and more.

I hate to beat a dead horse, but if a new arts campus is “needed,” let some entrepreneurs find the land and build a facility to scale to make it pay for itself, be responsible for staffing, programming, and scheduling. This should not be a project of our “limited-services government.”

Let free enterprise sink or swim.

Just say no!

This story was originally published May 26, 2016 at 2:40 PM with the headline "Letter: Let private enterprise do arts center."