Comments about ‘Salt Lake mayor supports giving $10 million to Leonardo’

Good for Mayor Becker and for all of us,

One of my favorite things to do during my travels to large cities is visit their museums. This is another step towards making Salt Lake City a destination and maintaining a level of cultural offerings necessary for a regional center.

Keep it up.

So where is the uproar over the use of public funds?

Don't get me wrong, I am totally in favor of this project and public funding. But I find it ironic that such an uproar was made over the RSL Stadium deal and the use of public funds while other projects such as this one receive similarly big allocations of public funds without even a blip on anyones radar.

Is spending money on arts just that much more acceptable than sports to the tax payers of Salt Lake County? Or could it be that a substantial negative PR campaign was ran on the RSL stadium deal by business competitors?

I mean I don't want to call a lot of people hypocrits, but when the shoes fits I guess you must wear it.

MattC-

The money comes from bonds that were approved by voters.

How about cutting taxes or spending the money on things we really need?

Becker is like my ex-wife. He loves to spend money.

How have we come to lose a sense of community? Is there a place for culture and refinement in America today? All we want are more tax cuts so that we can buy new HDTVs, nicer cars, eat out more often, and live in bigger houses. Forget about public places to gather!

By the way, the latest Leonardo exhibit brought people from each of the fifty states. When they come from afar, they not only spend money to get into the exhibit, they also stay in hotels, eat out, and perhaps shop. All of this creates jobs. If we can attract tourists to our slopes, why not give them some additional reasons to stay for a while and spend their money?