The long local nightmare is over. After doing just about everything they could to get out of it — including nearly losing a tax rebate worth more than $18 million — Ken Ham and his merry band of Creationists have finally agreed to pay a safety fee to the city of Williamstown.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2017/07/26/ark-encounter-fi...
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Does that mean the fire trucks will come and save the Ark if it catches fire? What a pity.
Ham is a snake in my opinion. But if the ark is bringing that many tourists to town, that ought to mean the entire town is receiving a boost in its economy. Hotels, restaurants, malls, and the rest of the places tourist visit ought to be receiving income.
I don't know how the law works in this regard, but the fee doesn't make sense
That's the thing, the ark has not. It has brought in a fraction of the projected numbers. The town helped fund the building of the ark, expecting a large boost in tourism dollars, and so far those numbers have not materialized.
Then that further shows the town is being shady. If people aren't going, why charge a safety fee to provide safety services for people who aren't there.
The town is responsible for providing safety services for the people in the ark park whether they visit the town itself or not.
The town, not the ark. That's why I'm wondering the legality of this. If I go make a lemonade stand, do I owe the city a safety fee when people start flocking?
The ark is in the town limits. They have to provide ambulance, fire, and EMS to the park.
So are you suggesting that because attendance is dramatically lower than expected that the people who do visit should not receive emergency services. This sounds crazy to me.
If it sounds crazy, its probably because you made it up.
I heard that tourists are brought in from outside by bus, spend all their money in the Ark, and then go home without even entering the town.
I'd guess that if the town has licensed a tourism facility of a certain capacity, they're obligated to provide a certain level of emergency preparedness.
I love this. The more this ark thing is in the news, the more we know it is a complete flop
That's a big ol' boat. I can't imagine taking a tour through it in the span of a single day. Had Ham-bonehead thought it over he would have truly invested in the town by giving them footprints inside the structure consisting of food and lodgings for the tourists to use versus having to book in the town itself. Gift shops, sundries, snacks bars and ark-themed businesses would have wrapped it all up within one structure. But, no, the entire affair started out silly and stayed the course as did the bible story itself.
The Ark may yet pay off for Williamstown. It is a small town but it is close to Cincinnati, the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, the Race Horse business centered around Lexington. The town is not as dependent on coal and corn like the part of Kentucky I live in. More businesses catering to the fools entering the park might spring up. If Hamm's park fails it could always be turned into a bourbon distillery or a gay disco (it is lit up with rainbow lights at night).