![]() ![]() ![]() The program highlights individuals and organizations seeking to make the SouthCoast a better place to live and work. Townsquare Sunday is a weekly public affairs program heard every Sunday at 6 a.m. The complete Townsquare Sunday interview with Jack Spillane can be heard here: Costly repairs were done year after year, but the determined squirrels kept at it.įinally in 2022, city officials decided to pull the plug on the Custom House Square lights, dimming our Christmas spirit just a bit. We also discussed the rampaging squirrels at Custom House Square. Spillane reported this week that for years squirrels have chewed through the wiring at Custom House Square, causing the holiday lights to out. Spillane also touched on the special election for the Ward 3 City Council seat, the future of the Schooner Ernestina-Morrissey, and the important work done by Lee Blake of the New Bedford Historical Society and UMass Dartmouth Professor Timothy Dale Walker on New Bedford's connection to the Underground Railroad. What once was a major power plant, then the possible home of the Oceanarium, then a planned waterfront casino may soon be no more. That site is considered essential to the development of offshore wind in New Bedford. However, one expert's report provided to Boston Magazine touches on how the New Bedford Oceanarium hopes to succeed: It lists the attraction's primary audience as “all of Rhode Island.” Its secondary audience? The report lists Suffolk County Â- home, of course, to the New England Aquarium.Now it looks like the building will be torn down in a more traditional fashion – with a wrecking ball. “There's a time and a place for marketing, and that's not now,” Ciolek says. (The New England Aquarium gets 1.3 million visitors a year and has had trouble sustaining attendance Denver's aquarium filed for bankruptcy in April.)Ĭhief operating officer Bob Ciolek admits that, with only $8 million in hand, he has no marketing strategy. One reason money has been slow to trickle in might be skepticism that the aquarium will draw the promised 850,000 people a year. ![]() Leontire says he has commitments for $86 million Â- both private and public. Of the $30 million in state and federal taxpayer money expected, just $3 million has been paid out. Only $5 million of the $70 million in private funds needed has been secured. Without a local tax hike, securing all $100 million for the project could prove challenging. “You must have strong tourism and nearby attractions,” she says. Whelan insists the Oceanarium will give New Bedford, which has the highest rate of unemployment in the state, “its own economic engine, plus 2,000 jobs.” Leontire says a retail boom is sure to follow.īut Debra Fassnacht of Chicago's Shedd Aquarium says aquariums alone don't drive a community's economy. Whelan says Desmarais “was a good host, but was always looking for a negative side. The station's management did not respond to requests for comment one report has said the station wanted to reorganize. “Things looked funny, but I wasn't allowed to ask questions.” “It was irresponsible of Whelan and Leontire to pull public money into the mix and refuse to show support that the project would succeed,” Desmarais says. WBSM-AM talk-show host Pat Desmarais, who questioned the aquarium on the air, says he was fired for it. In fact, the greatest scrutiny of the project came on local radio. “It always has been and it always will be.” “The men in charge don't have to answer to anyone because the project has the unconditional support of the Standard-Times.“ “The paper's a cheerleader for the Oceanarium,” longtime resident and aquarium critic Leo Allen says. You won't read much about any of this in the New Bedford Standard-Times, whose publisher, Bill Kennedy, sits on the Oceanarium's board of governors. ![]() Iacobucci's complaint, delayed by a dispute over which court has jurisdiction, says Whelan and Leontire used their influence to obstruct his purchase. Best Aquariums In Bedford, Bedfordshire ZSL London Zoo SEA LIFE London Aquarium Latest articles ZSL London Zoo ZSL London Zoo SEA LIFE London Aquarium. When Iacobucci's negotiations to buy it stalled, Whelan bought the building himself. This despite a lawsuit brought by Providence resident Peter Iacobucci, who claims that Oceanarium developer Bill Whelan and his partner, ex-city solicitor George Leontire, deceived him about the availability of a historic building beside the Oceanarium whose value stands to soar once the aquarium opens. Yet groundbreaking is set for this summer. We've got to wonder if this project is the best use for the site.” Oceanarium discounts - what to see at Bournemouth - check out 8 reviews and 4. The public money isn't there, and they've already exhausted potential private funding. “Mystic is where the Rhode Island people will go. “There's only so much you can do with fish,” says Peter Barney, chairman of the New Bedford Board of Assessors. ![]()
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