The boondoggle known as the Alabama Music Hall of Fame (AMHOF) has continuously had trouble finding money to stay afloat. The latest idea is to "re-brand the thing (See link).
The AMHOF was established through a constitutional amendment that provided only one way for the thing to be funded, namely through the sale of bonds. But, falling on hard times, thw AMHOF for a time wheedled money direct from the legislature to fund ongoing activities. The "justification" for this, as 'splained by the Director of the AMHOF, was that the voters (i.e. taxpayers) of Alabama approved the constitutional amendment establishing the AMHOF amd that, therefore the voters and their legislative representatives should all be in favor of unloading general fund money to prop the failing thin up. That "explanation is BOGUS. In truth, what the voters approved was a system of bond issuances to fund the AMHOF and that was all. The amendment contained absolutely nothing that woudl have suggested to the voters that the AMHOF would later come back to the legislature begging to be bailed out.
To the AMHOF's credit, they have sometimes bitten the bullet and staged fund-raising concerts to boost their budget. Still, one wonders what the long-term prospects for this struggling enterprise will be.
I have never seen any attendance statistics for the AMHOF, but I have driven past the thing dozens of times and have never seen more than a handful of cars in the parking lot. Some of their clientele might be from visits by school kids hauled in on group trips It would be interseting to see the figures.
http://www.timesdaily.com/arti...all-of-fame-s-appeal
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