Thoughts relating to the site selection possibilities for the NERR Education and Visitor Center
https://www.efbcollaborative.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Revised-EFB-Management-Plan-2024_2026.pdf#page=16 lists three sites along the eastern shore of Green Bay where European frog-bit has been found, but https://dnrmaps.wi.gov/H5/?viewer=Lakes_AIS_Viewer shows a fourth location with European frog-bit, in Sawyer Harbor. All four places are in Door County.
The DNR map also shows how European frog-bit has spread considerably along the western side of Green Bay. The desire to control these invasive aquatic plants could be a factor in favor of locating the NERR Education and Visitor Center for the Green Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, https://www.uwgb.edu/national-estuarine-research-reserves/, at UW-Green Bay’s Marinette campus: https://peshtigotimes.com/content/ideas-abound-uw-green-bay-marinette-campus-uses
The Peshtigo Times states that UW-Green Bay has for now, retained its lease on the 38-acre campus property in Marinette while reducing its footprint on the property to “a small amount of space”. At the same time, the campus is being moved online starting this fall: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2024/01/22/another-wisconsin-branch-campus-move-online-fall
How well does the campus property compare with Sturgeon Bay’s bid for the center, https://cms9files.revize.com/sturgeonbaywi/NERR%20Prospectus,%20final/2023-02-27%20NERR%20Prospectus,%20reduced.pdf#page=22 ?
Sunset Park has a slightly larger acreage, but it lacks suitable pre-existing buildings for the center to take advantage of. The park has playgrounds on it, and the presence of a playground was stated to be undesirable during a meeting: https://www.uwgb.edu/UWGBCMS/media/National-Estuarine-Research-Reserves/files/Green-Bay-NERR-Public-Meeting-Slides_Sept-2022.pdf#page=19
The other sites on the prospectus are all smaller than the campus property. Sturgeon Bay’s prospectus states that nearly $500,000 has been raised and that “Once selected, that fund is expected to grow.” This is vague, but a definite commitment above and beyond this amount could be achieved by pledging a certain amount of room tax dollars.
Funds could be redirected from what is currently paid out to Meta, Facebook’s parent company, and from Google, which was recently faulted for having ads for deepfake pornography: https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2024/08/07/dirty-busines-google-profits-from-ads-for-nudify-ai-apps-that-produce-deepfake-porn/
Deepfake pornography is illegal in Wisconsin if it depicts children, https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2023/related/acts/224, but a bill to protect adult victims failed during the most recent legislative session: https://www.ncsl.org/technology-and-communication/deceptive-audio-or-visual-media-deepfakes-2024-legislation
Mentioning both Meta and Google invites a comparison. The problem with Meta is described in a previous post, “Room tax dollars should not go to a business which profits from drug trafficking”: https://doorcounty.substack.com/p/room-tax-business-profits-from-drug-trafficking
There appears to be a distinction in that Meta was shamed in months past and failed to change, while the exposure of this aspect of Google’s business is still recent. It is presently unknown to what extent its policy against these ads will be enforced in the future. However, Google has a record of ignoring the law when it gets in the way of profits. Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has recently been found to violate anti-trust laws in civil court:
The Department of Justice’s complaint is similar to David Chavern’s complaint in https://doorcountypulse.com/perspective-big-tech-is-trying-to-cancel-local-news/. He criticizes both Facebook and Google for damaging local journalism, stating that no company “should have this much control over an entire industry”.
If all the money which would otherwise be paid to both large tech corporations was instead pledged for the center, that could help influence the decision about where to locate it. How much would that be?
Looking back at the previous post, “Room tax dollars should not go to a business which profits from drug trafficking”, the same table of 2023 advertising expenditures which showed how much money went to Meta can also be used to understand how much was paid out to Alphabet. The first five columns appear to refer to payments for different Google branded advertising products. The columns total $393,267.72, although the name of the first several columns is vague enough and could also be inclusive of other search engine businesses. If so, the total should be lowered somewhat, probably in the tens of thousands of dollars. In addition, these figures are from last year. The advertising expenditures for 2024 have apparently not been released.
Meta received $142,421.33 in room tax dollars in 2023. Adding $393,267.72 to $142,421.33 comes out to $535,689.05 which could be redirected from online advertising to a pledge for the center. Extending the pledge over multiple years, it would be even larger.
The 28 members of the Door County Tourism Zone Commission have the necessary authority to reallocate the money. Would they rather pledge money to the NERR Education and Visitor Center, or would they prefer to continue the business relationships with several shady corporations?