Obscure compared to what?

A report today from the Heartland Institute, a Chicago-based nonprofit group that advocates free-market solutions, recommended that the State of Illinois abolish its Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

Heartland Institute says the deficit-wracked state would save millions of dollars by abolishing the agency (although the group doesn’t specify how much savings would be generated by doing this, or what the possible consequences would be by closing the office).

The group cited three areas in which it alleged redundant or wasteful services by the agency. This citation caught my attention:

Promoting Obscure Tourism
The DCEO gave a $10,000 grant in fiscal year 2009 to Ryburn Enterprises in Normal, Illinois to “assist in the restoration and preservation of a 1930s gas station, garage, and restaurant.” The DCEO’s grant tracker explains the grant’s (#09-335011) purpose is to promote tourism in the area, as the old and outdated buildings lie on the historic Route 66 highway.

The grant in question is going to help preserve Sprague’s Super Service station at 305 Pine St. (aka Route 66) in Normal. Route 66 enthusiast Terri Ryburn acquired the 1931 building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, a few years ago and hopes to convert it into a tourism center, restaurant and a bed-and-breakfast.

The station is one of three along the entire route with a second floor for the station’s owner and an apartment. Here’s a good description of the station from the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program:

A building contractor, he constructed his large, unique, brick, Tudor Revival gas station using high-quality materials and craftsmanship.  The result, Sprague’s Super Service, appeared to be part manor house and part gas station, and sold City Service gas.  Steep gables distinguished the broad, red roofline.   Substantial brick peers supported the canopy.  Stucco with decorative swirls and contrasting half timbering distinguished the second story. […] The Tudor Revival style Sprague chose for his station, with its historical and domestic overtones, helped to both establish a local, homey identity and promote a conservative, rural aesthetic.  In the depressed 1930s, when gas far outstripped consumers, independent operators could use this civic persona to help sell their gasoline.

Obviously, the Sprague station isn’t just an old gas station. It’s a old gas station that’s architecturally very rare. Simply calling it “old and outdated” short-changes its significance.

Even if you question the grant or the station, the Heartland Institute implying that Route 66 is “obscure tourism” shows a lot of ignorance. Route 66 remains the most famous highway in the world. It’s also Illinois’ No. 3 tourism attraction, behind only Chicago and Abraham Lincoln sites. Tens of thousands of tourists — many of them foreigners who are flush with cash — travel the Mother Road each year. There’s nothing remotely obscure about Route 66, or its appeal.

So Heartland Institute’s dubious assertion — especially when considered with its other questionable activities — shouldn’t be given a lot of credibility.

6 thoughts on “Obscure compared to what?

  1. Tourism is essential to keeping our Illinois communities on Route 66 viable. The 305 E. Pine Street station, Terri Ryburn-Lamont’s project, is not only a valuable building, but it will enhance the Route 66 experience for the Bloomington-Normal area. This has been a fantastic year for European tourists, and they have a great appreciation for buildings such as this. Not only do tourists stop and take pictures, but tours enjoy coming back and seeing how far Terri has gotten with her project. From Terri’s we get people who stop in Normal and Bloomington and view other museums, get gas, and meals. These are tough times and every tourist dollar counts.

    The Heartland Institute would rather see another boarded up building on the side of the road? Maybe the Institute needs to get out of the city and on the road to see Route 66. Illinois is very proactive, and we have tremendous involvement with our section of the Mother Road.

    There’s a work day tomorrow at The Mill in Lincoln. There’s nothing like a Preservation work day (free lunch provided) to get your head straight and experience is the best teacher of all.

    Or better yet, why doesn’t the staff at Heartland go see the Sprague Service Center itself and volunteer a few hours?

    We spend millions on prosecuting our “leaders” in Illinois – who comes to Illinois to see a trial?

    I’d rather spend $100 on preservation on Route 66 in Illinois than join the Heartland Institute for one year. The $100 in preservation will go a whole lot farther.

  2. Great example of mixed messages vs. Route 66 Purist Logic. Here you have, basically, an old house once designed to fit into things in town and used, for some period of time, as a gas station. What the big deal is there, I don’t follow, as many places serve like purposes in many places.

    But, being Route 66 fans we’re getting this because the house sits on/at Route 66 in town. Because of that this station suddenly has merit as a project and applies for a state economic grant as a tourist attraction.

    I guess you could debate those facts alone, all day, with little progress.

    However, I can agree with the Heartland group’s call on this one. This station is ‘obscure’ to everyone except Route 66 fans. Other than that, it holds no real value to regular folks who aren’t into 66. Along those lines, I agree this place doesn’t merit the grant.

    If private funds can be raised, that’s another point and I agree with that 100%. But, with funds so hard to get, and with no real end to that in sight, grants should only go to very exclusive projects that provide benefit across the board. In my mind, and as a native of Illinois, I have to take off my Route 66 fan hat and see this as a regular taxpayer. In that regard, this is not a good use of the cash.

    I know the state Route 66 fans are doing a great job working the Route and trying to preserve places where it can. But, there does come a time when choices have to be made. This one got by and was funded, but in the future, you have to agree with the Heartland folks that the state can spend its cash better. And, that’s coming from a life-long Democrat who thinks Heartland is, basically, a GOP Tool.

    Private money built nearly all of what ended up along side Route 66 (save a few rest areas and stations). I believe, that with only few exceptions, any preservation work along it be done the same way. Route 66 was never designed to be a ‘tourist attraction’. It’s a road. A long road. And a road designed to get people from point A to B. Any other use of it is not something the taxpayers should always fund.

  3. Ron,

    I’d agree with you that the reference to Route 66, and this old station in particular, as “obscure” is unfortunate. But I think the sentence just a few above it…

    “Illinois owes $6 billion in late payments to businesses that provide goods or services to the state and has an $80 billion unfunded pension liability and the nation’s second-worst credit rating.”

    …explains much of their concern and sentiment. I guess I did not take the phrase “obscure” as a slam on Route 66 compared to other tourism in the state. I think they feel that any such use of public funds in light of the budget info. mention before it makes Route 66 preservation “obscure” from a budget priority standpoint.

    I won’t get into the relative merits of a tax/spend (invest) approach (in this case tax, and spend the money to try and spur economic development, in the hope of a better economy for all) or a smaller govt. approach (this place is an admitted tourist attraction as it is, even with slow, privately funded progress being made, with no govt. help or tax payer support). But I don’t find that advocating for the disbanding of this agency to be too outlandish.

  4. If agency funding is the issue, then that’s a matter unto itself, just don’t bring Route 66 into the conversation with it, as it’s a National Treasure that’s been endangered and neglected by the domestic public for years and yet a HUGE International Tourist draw. With our current economy and the overall lack of production of anything domestically, none of us can ill afford to lose site of tourism as an industry in our country and what it brings in outside dollars to all our local economies. As Ron so rightly pointed out, and 100% a fact, it is the MOST famous highway in the WORLD! That being said, purist or not, it is endangered still, and every last bit of it that can be saved is worth the endeavor. Sooner or later we have to face the fact it NEEDS to be SAVED, or it will ultimately vanish and lose its International Tourism draw. There’s a reason why the majority of those tourists come from overseas, because they get it and we continually DON’T! So just keep the funding issue to itself and don’t drag Route 66 into it, as some kind of ignorant excuse and use of the word “obscure”…

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