Cabela's/Amusement Park

Big E · Post by **Big E** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 9:58 am

Put me in the column that is anti-LB500. However, don't put me in the column of people who are against the INTENT of the legislation. For the record, I was originally FOR the bill, until I realized the implications of the retail portion.

LB500 is very much like a lot of other legislation: the heart is in the right place, but there is just some small part of it that opens it up for abuse or misinterpretation. In the case of LB500, it's the incentives for retail.

Do me a favor... when you are debating the merits of this legislation, replace the word "Cabela's" with "WalMart". See if you have the same opinion.

-Big E

HskrFanMike · Post by **HskrFanMike** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 10:34 am

The speedway going up in Newton, Iowa would be an example of a project that makes sense as a destination tourism project if it were built in Omaha instead.

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=38&u_sid=1442033

Yes, they have a huge 100+K speedway in KC, but as NASCAR as shown, you can support 20 tracks in the Carolinas.

Please don't confuse opposition with LB 500 with opposition to development. (Like the previous poster said, replace the word "Cabelas" with "Wal-Mart" and see how you like the sound of it. Either way, it's a retail need that is already served to a large extent in this area between Cabelas in KC and Kearney, and other local stores such as Canfields.)

SolitaryMan · Post by **SolitaryMan** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 10:49 am

Minard has already signed onto LB500. I'm sure he was more than disapointed.

LB500's death this session delays construction on any projects that would benefit by it for quite a while, if not forever. If this does pass next session - and I still think it's a big "if" - you won't see cranes until spring or summer. That's about a year.

Can we afford to wait that long? Certainly not, but we're not going to get a special session for this, so I would wave this all goodbye.

icejammer · Post by **icejammer** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 11:02 am

jhuston wrote:Sales taxes, revenue to a Nebraska based business, salaries to Nebraska residents, new revenue to Nebraska businesses from these newly employed Nebraska residents, revenue to other Nebraska attractions/businesses from (yes, there will be a few) visitors, etc, etc... why is it so hard to see the benefits of a few economic incentives. And for once and for all... this is about more than Cabela's.

While those are tangible benefits, do those benefits offset the foregone revenue and other detractions created by these new attractions? While it would be nice to have all that new revenue and business, we cannot indefintely continue to give away the farm in ever-changing manners just to keep pace with the Joneses. Eventually something has to give.

And yes, we know it's all about more than Cabela's, but I for one, cannot envision creating these kinds of tax incentives for a retailer when other retailers have prospered without them. Take Cabela's (and any other retail) out of the picture...completely. Leave it to true entertainment venues, and this has a shot. The NASCAR track just outside of Des Moines is a prime example of what can be accomplished with this type of incentive (and somehow that didn't get mentioned in the OWH story today).