Loss of State Fair didn’t hurt Lincoln coffers
This was the first year Lincoln did not host the Nebraska State Fair — but you wouldn’t know it by looking at amount of sales tax revenue flowing into city coffers.
Despite all those dire predictions that the loss of the State Fair would hurt Lincoln’s economy, the amount of sales tax revenue raked in by the city in August and September — when the State Fair was being held in Grand Island for the first time — actually went up during each of those months. In August, city sales tax revenue was up nearly 6 percent over the prior year, when the State Fair was still in Lincoln. And in September, revenue was up 2.4 percent.
Which makes it appear as though the State Fair doesn’t have nearly the economic impact on a city as some people might think.
In fact, sales tax revenue — and this should be good news for the state, since Lincoln is a big part of the engine driving the state economy — is rolling in quite nicely so far this fiscal year. The money is coming in nearly 4 percent higher than the city predicted — good news for the city budget. Let’s hope the trend continues.
Winterized 
Maybe the taxes were up those months, and yes it is great our economy is doing good. But maybe it would have been up much more with the fair here. Projections are just that, they have no Idea how much better it could have been if fair was still here. I have talked to many small business owners who get a big boost during state fair time, but this year was flat, nothing like in the past. They can paint everything as rosy as they want, but is does hurt our local economy.
Roger, if you think that a few blue ribbon pigs and a few turkey legs for a couple weeks out of the year is going to make a bigger economic impact than Fortune 500 companies setting up research facilities and partnering with the University of Nebraska for EVERY week of the year you are as crazy as they say.
Reality Check, get real. The research facility in Triangle Park, NC which NU is copying, thanks to Milliken, has been in operation for 15 years and has not had an impact yet. When it will is anyone’s guess. If the prestigious Big Three Universities, U of NC, Duke and North Carolina State. can’t be successful in drawing tenants how will little ole Cornhuskerville do it? It won’t.
Oh snap!! Check out the wikipedia article.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_Triangle_Park
Here are the companies operating in or near the Triangle Park…
American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC)
ABB
AF & Associates, Inc.
AT&T
Audio Advice, Inc.
AudioCodes
Aviat Networks
BASF
Bayer
BE&K
Becton Dickinson
Bekaert
Biogen Idec
Biomedomics
BioResource International
Böwe Bell & Howell
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
ChannelAdvisor
Cisco Systems
Coleman Insights
Credit Suisse
Cree Inc.
Diosynth
DunnWell, LLC
DuPont
DynCorp
Eisai Co.
EMC
Environmental Protection Agency
Extreme Networks
Family Health International
Fidelity Investments
General Electric
Geotek Mapping
GlaxoSmithKline
Hatteras Networks
International Business Machines (IBM)
ICF International
iContact
International Society of Automation (ISA)
Integrated Laboratory Systems
International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry
Intersil
Intersouth Ventures
Kendle International
K&L Gates
LabCorp
Lenovo
MED-EL Corporation
Merck & Co.
Microsoft
Monsanto Company
Motricity
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
National Humanities Center
National Semiconductor
NetApp
Nortel Networks
North Carolina Biotechnology Center
Nufarm
Ogilvy
Overture Networks
PBM Graphics
Pharmaceutical Product Development
Premier Research Group
Qualcomm
Quintiles
RadarFind Corporation
Red Hat
Research Triangle Institute
ReverbNation.com
RTI International
S&R Communications Group
SAS Institute
Scenera Research
Semiconductor Research Corporation
Sigma Xi
Sony Ericsson
Southern Capitol Ventures
Spirent Communications
ST Ericsson
Sumitomo
Syngenta
Talecris Biotherapeutics
Teleflex Medical
Tekelec
TechZoomIn Inc
Triangle United Way
Troxler Electronic Laboratories
Underwriters Laboratories
United States Forest Service
United Therapeutics Corporation
Unithink Inc
Verizon
Virante
Web Tax Office
Wyeth
The IBM facility employs 11,000 people.
‘not had an impact yet’ says Jane Kinsey.
Jane,
Do you have any data to back that up or are you just pontificating like usual?
Deena, considering the people you have blogging on here have you ever considered changing the name of your blog to ‘Shutter Island’?
Yes, Jane, “has not had an impact yet,” is a pretty bold statement. I’d also be interested in seeing some supporting evidence on that one.
Jane, please check out a list of the companies associated with Research Triangle Park, and please explain to me how all of these corporations moving to the area could have no economic impact
Click to access 2008_rtp_map_alpha_081408.pdf
Oh snap!!
Looks to me like the biggest problem with Research Triangle Park is that they’re running out of space.
Reality check, it’s not just about the 10 days of the state fair, it about the many uses that state fair park had going on the other 355 days of the year that brought in money. Another thing, Innovation Park could have been built an many other spots in town not just here. Another thing, people who are afraid to use their own name really don’t have any reason to pontificate, if you are afraid to use real name then you are not willing to stand behind your statements, Jane and I always use our real names and can and are willing to stand behind our quotes and statements.On Innovation Park, there were about a half dozen other spots it could have gone in town and still kept the fair here, heck they are going to use only 80 acres of the park and sell off the rest for private development. The park could have been shared if people would have set down and talked. Reality check, your words are meaningless, use your real name not a non-de-plum! One more thing to Reality, put your money where your mouth is, run for office, Jane and I have, why, because we really do care about Lincoln and want to put it back in the hands of the people, not the university and the many lobbyists that now run it.
Roger, there is no place in Lincoln that is close enough to the University except the fairgrounds for Innovation Campus. Move the state fair outside of town if you want. I don’t know of one person who really missed the fair, I did however talk to some farmers from Phelps county who were glad they didn’t need to haul their cattle around in the city of Lincoln. You are NOT A CITY PLANNER and have no vision for the future. I could care less if you don’t like me posting anonymously. You’re just a weird guy who runs for office. When I googled your name the first thing that came up is “Is Yant a yahoo?” You started running claiming to be a Republican, but the Republican party doesn’t even support you.
Mr no name and no talent. What have you tried to do for the city in your life time?
I left the Republican party because they just continue to spend our money like the democrats, a little slower, but spend it they do. I know you’re a democrat or liberal, you know why? Democrats & liberals can not carry on a conversation with out calling people names, they have no ideas, just spend, build, waste money and spend some more. You mock people who have tried to make a difference, at least people like me have tried, we may have failed to win, but you call this mayor good? Lets see how much money we can blow in four years. Ya, he is fantastic, he has never held a private sector job, he is a professional government employee, like Obama. Also do some research, there are places to have built the park close to the university.
Who is Roger Yant?
Roger, let’s be honest. Your run for Mayor wasn’t for the glory of Lincoln, it was for the glory of Roger Yant. You trying to describe your vanity run as some sort of service to our community is laughable. Why don’t you run against Beutler now if he’s soooo bad and you’re such a saint? Do you think the Republicans would refuse to support you again like they did in ’07 if they don’t have a real candidate?
Also, do you agree with Jane Kinsey that all those companies moving into Research Triangle Park would not have any economic impact?