In my opinion there is a greater than a 90% chance that the Embassy Square performing Arts Center is going to be a white elephant. According to legend in India elephants are revered; white elephants, amazingly rare, were considered sacred.
The monarch of India was one time given a white elephant as a gift by another monarch. He was thrilled and felt honored to have such a rare and blessed creature. He assigned twenty men specially to care for his prize.
Time went by, and the elephant was fine, but did not look quite as majestic as it had, somehow. The king asked his advisor what should be done. The man said the king was not honoring the godly beast enough, nor was it properly cared for; the king should request the elephant be given ten bowls of fresh, exotic fruit every day for its health. But since it was a holy animal, it could only have the best. It must be fed from bowls of solid gold. So the king commissioned these bowls and executed the order that the beast feast on mango and papaya and banana and pineapple each day. And five more men were required for this task.
More time passed, and for a time the animal looked better. But as months went by, the elephant began to look droopy once again. The wise man this time recommended twenty bowls of the finest grain to be fed to the white animal each day. And again, the bowls must be gold, to reverence the creature properly. And the king gave these orders too.
This continued throughout the years. Bowls of fresh berries, corn, and a new thing each time, in golden containers again. The king could no longer truly afford the upkeep of this animal. But it was such an honor to possess a white elephant he could not just let it go. To do so would displease the gods whose creature this was, and dishonor his kingdom.
Hence comes the term ‘white elephant’–unwanted gift that often brings inconvenience or financial trouble upon the receiver, far beyond the worth of the gift initially.
(Reference:everything2.com/title/white%2520elephant)
It is my opinion that this majestic gift imbued with the apparent sacred power to revive the prosperity of adjoining neighborhoods and the Vance County economy should be refused at this time because the cost of applying for this Community Block Development Grant is to lose the opportunity to apply for sewer and neighborhood development grants that will save moneys that we are required to make to comply with state regulations. Unless this gift can directly pay for itself and bring profits back to local government for reinvestment in infrastructure, it is too great a risk.
Becki Tremayne
Henderson