Ah, but the golden calf that is that retailer is too alluring, and there are new hints that it will soon arrive in southern Illinois, provided our state legislature cedes hundreds of millions of dollars in sales taxes to a developer who vows to erect a mega-entertainment/retail center in Marion.

Millennium Park, named such by Swansea developer Holland Construction, will supposedly create more than 6,000 construction jobs, the same number of permanent jobs and generate buckets full of revenue for the region.  

Let’s take pause and put this in perspective. Prairie State, the multibillion-dollar power plant/coal mine, under construction as you read this near Lively Grove, has more than 3,000 people working at it every day. Dozens of cranes are lifting hundreds of tons of steel skyward to erect the powerhouse that can be seen from miles away. The smoke stack towers even higher and a new rail spur were built just to haul in material.

All of that is being accomplished with just a mere 3,000 folks. So, we are to believe that it will take twice that many workers to create the Marion project which will include a water park and some retail outlets?

Now back to Cabela’s. The whispers are that the outfitter will be the anchor tenant. Nobody in the media has bothered to call Cabela’s to get its take on things, but we don’t want to hear truths. We like to live on false promises.

Funny thing, though. Holland Construction tried to sell communities in the metro-east St. Louis area on a project similar to this one. It was called University Town Center there. All officials had to do there was get the legislature to pass a bill authorizing that any sales tax revenue generated by the project (called STAR Bonds) be given to Holland to pay back the cost of construction to the tune of around $378 million. Instead of biting on the apple, though, they gave Holland the boot because they said it would have given the host community – Glen Carbon – an unfair advantage over the others.

Oddly, Cabela’s wasn’t part of this plan. IKEA, the yuppie furniture store, was the lure. Instead of a water park, Holland talked about a Legoland.

So the concept is different, the name has been changed and location moved. The only constant is this call for free money.  But jobs will be created, it is vowed, so our area officials are falling over themselves to give Holland the combination to the vault. Just like Perry County tried to do with Toney Watkins, only to be stuck with a $30,000 engineering study tab.

About the only people crying wolf are those from Mount Vernon who want a piece of the action. They cry that everyone talks about regional cooperation but few live it when it comes to feathering one’s own bed.

But if Mount Vernon is included as a STAR bond district, why not Effingham,that sits along the same interstate corridor. Why not Nashville, it too is near an interstate?

Where does it end? One company contrives a scheme: give us all this money and then we will tell you what is really going to happen. (sounds like Obama’s health care bill)

This region always seems to be swinging for the fences when it comes to economic development. Promise big plans, throw out big job creation numbers and you’ll have public officials eating out of your hand.

By the way, Holland is the company selected to build Pinckneyville’s new high school. Of course, there is no state money available for the project. Maybe we can float the idea of building a Cabela’s atop the football field. Money will certain free up then.