The Beacon's Opinion

posted Nov 5, 2009 - 10:49:50am

BEACON EDITORIAL

Anyone struggling to understand people’s general distrust of big government need look no further than the Athens Theatre.

There, workers are replacing the acoustical ceiling, installed during the historic theater’s renovation, with a cloth ceiling made to look like a plaster ceiling.

Don’t worry; it’s only costing about $50,000, not to mention the cost of closing down the theater for three weeks, just as it might have been gaining some momentum as an entertainment venue.

The problem, it seems, is the federal government helped fund the Athens restoration by giving tax credits to one of the project’s donors, through a historic-preservation program.

The program has preservation standards, and officials demanded the Athens’ new acoustical ceiling be replaced with a plaster ceiling like the theater’s original ceiling.

The acoustical ceiling was specially designed to deliver audience-pleasing concerts played on electronically amplified equipment that wasn’t even invented when the old vaudeville house was built.

Tough, said the feds. It doesn’t meet our historic-preservation guidelines. The ceiling must be plaster.

You’ve got to be kidding, said the volunteers who are working to preserve the Athens Theatre by making it financially successful as well as historically accurate.

A compromise was reached: A fabric ceiling made to look like plaster would be allowed. It shouldn’t interfere with the acoustics.

Unfortunately, it does interfere with our notion that good old-fashioned common sense could come from the federal government. In short, it’s stupid.

The theater restoration project was complete. The Athens was open. The ceiling was finished.

The historic-preservation grant was awarded to the Athens late in the process. Usually this type of problem would be avoided during the qualification process, by matching the renovation plans to the federal requirements before the first hammer hits the first nail.

In this case, if the federal government deemed the finished project qualified, it should have accepted ceiling and all.

To offer the money, demand that a well-designed acoustical ceiling be replaced, then end up accepting a faux compromise, is too absurd.

The ceiling was finished. The theater was open.

Maybe the feds could have required Athens volunteers to stage 10 free programs on historic preservation, or write “I will not tear down plaster ceilings” 100 times on a chalkboard. Maybe someone could have even paid a fine.

Anything, anything, other than making this nonprofit venue come up with yet another $50,000 to create a historic look that’s a fake, anyway.

Are these federal officials not aware that the lion’s share of the Athens renovation was paid for by tax dollars, and that by insisting on this silliness with the ceiling, they are endorsing the waste of those dollars?

Is it any wonder the public is hesitant to believe government can ever function as well as private business? Or that citizens become apathetic about taking an active role in governmental processes?

Government is not all bad, certainly. It can function quite well. But when government acts like it recently did at the Athens, that truth becomes a pretty hard sell.

Reader Comments

The comments posted below are posted by readers, not by The Beacon staff. These comments express the views and opinions of the authors, and not the administrators, moderators or webmaster. The comments forum is governed by these rules. Please use the report abuse link if you find offensive comments.

Comment on this article

Fields marked with a * are required

Find this article interesting? Subcribe to The DeLand-Deltona Beacon to read more opinions. Subscribe now!