There are those in the community whose passion in life is to see the Pantheon Theatre restored, and for them we have genuine admiration and great respect for their steadfast faith.
Their hopes soared with the Pantheon Theatre Co.'s purchase of the nearly 100-year-old building, all those promises to fully restore the facility for use as a performing arts center — only for the curtain to fall on those hopes, leaving the faithful to cope with all the murkiness that followed, with the Pantheon eventually abandoned to the fate of a tax sale.
True believers, they have demonstrated remarkable stick-to-itiveness in their love and devotion for the theater, in their hopes of its resurrection, in their passion for the Pantheon.
But their passion never loosened the community's purse strings, and therein, as some actor over the years must surely have uttered from the Pantheon's stage, lies the rub.
During the ill-fated Save the Pantheon campaign, with a couple of notable exceptions, few made the type of financial contributions needed to see to the theater's restoration.
Even now, with the theater under new management, getting the roof repaired required receipt of a $77,000 USDA grant; enough local money couldn't be rallied for the project.
So for lovers of the theater, plans for the Pantheon Business Theater must seem a godsend.
As much as we would like to see the Pantheon “restored” and the building put to some new, preferably revenue-generating, job-creating purpose, we don't see that taxpayers have a financial responsibility to save the theater, that they should foot the bill for its restoration.
Elected officials are entrusted with tax dollars and have a fiduciary obligation to see that the money in their charge is spent to the maximum benefit of the community, in ways that will serve the greatest number of residents in the broadest manner possible.
Can that confidence be met by those officials committing a large sum of tax dollars to the Pantheon Business Theater project?
If tax dollars are committed to the Pantheon, what investments would then not be made? What public-improvement projects, which have been discussed in the past and identified as important to the community in their enhancing quality of life, would have to be shelved for want of the tax dollars to pay for them? What disappointments would await the public?
Unless there's an endless supply of tax money available, tough choices will need to be made.
We think the logical step is for city officials to move the Pantheon Business Theater project into the
Stellar Communities Grant application, to try for funding through that program. That way state money could be matched with whatever money would be raised locally from private sources to see the Pantheon repurposed for a new life as a small-business incubator and co-working space — and whatever other uses the future might bring for it later on.
Really, we think whatever future the Pantheon Theatre will enjoy must depend on private investment and a suitable business plan guiding its usage.
We could actually imagine the Pantheon Business Theater coming out of a partnership between First and Main Investments LLC and, well, I'mpressed Coffee.
Some who would use the facility would be members with access (based on their level of membership) to the amenities the Pantheon Business Theater had to offer. Others could just be there for the coffee and conversation; they, too, could “buy” a one-day membership and have access to the broadband or to a meeting room or even professional advice if desired.
The conversation, we'd presume, would remain free. But you never know these days.
What public support to be given to the project could come in the form of tax abatement for new equipment and a relaxation of (or even exemption from) the rules governing development within the city's Historic District. And that should be the extent of such support.
So the Pantheon Theatre could be saved — without sticking taxpayers with the bill.