We Are Too Upscale!

The City of Colleyville took a giant step forward in their never-ending effort to show that they are just as up-scale and swank as Southlake. The city has had an inferiority complex for years as they've watched upscale shops and restaurants pass them by in favor of the obnoxiously well-heeled town of Southlake. When city leaders in Southlake built their sanitized version of a Texas town, C'ville one-upped them by constructing a faux French village, calling it Colleyville Town Center. If you want to visit the little slice of France in north Texas, just head up State Highway 26 and turn left at the Goodwill store.

Now comes word that a developer has snookered C'ville into helping foot the bill for a movie theater complete with an Imax screen. The cost to taxpayers? Why only $1,620,000.00. So I did some figuring. With an estimated population of 21,000, the tab for the fancy movie theater comes to $77.00 for every man, woman and child in the city. That would sure buy a lot of popcorn, or fix a lot of potholes.

The tax payers of C'ville might want to ask themselves if they really think it is the business of city government to get into the entertainment business. Theater receipts have been in decline or stagnant for years now. Which perhaps explains why the developer is seeking government welfare for his project. If it was economically feasible, he would build it himself. But then perhaps he figures, why risk more of his own money when the suckers on the C'ville City Council will let him play with theirs.