‘Iconic’ Cottage View Drive-In sign’s future unknown if Walmart builds on site
April 17, 2012 at 8:44 am in South Washington County Bulletin
When a proposed Walmart goes up and the lights of the classic Cottage View Drive-In theater go down for good, a historian hopes the theater’s unnique sign has a place to call home. Continue Reading
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I feel like I’m beating this into the ground, but why are you blaming the mayor and city council for this? It is not the city’s job to force places to stay in business when the business owner wants to sell. At least Myron is trying to do SOMETHING to save a piece of the drive-in’s history.
Why don’t you put your money where your mouth is and get a group together to buy the property and save the drive-in? All I’ve really seen during this whole process is a bunch of anti-Cottage Grove government rhetoric and nobody with any solutions other than blame the mayor and city council. You want to save the drive-in? Stop complaining, whining and carrying on and DO SOMETHING about it. Throwing your fist in the air, protesting and belly-aching is not doing something about it. It goes like this: This is the United States of America; you can put the capital together, buy the land, save the drive-in and continue to operate it in any way you see fit. But that would require a lot of hard work and personal investment, now wouldn’t it?
I’m sorry to say it, but it’s a lot easier to complain and blame and throw stones than actually do something about it.
As I’ve stated before, I don’t care for Walmart and I believe there are better fits for Cottage Grove (including keeping the drive-in in business). But you have to be realistic. We live in a capitalist society and this is, whether you like it or not, how business is done — not just in Cottage Grove, but everywhere else in the country.
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IF the city had any foresight, they should buy the site, save the drive-in, and use it for more than just the movies. Keep the city unique, not drive by. Investment in the land by the city would make more sense than some of the dumb things they’ve done with our money! If I had a spare few million, I’d do it myself, but I’m tapped out from all of the protest signs I’ve been painting. I think the city could discourage a WalMart from building at the site, not encourage it.
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Where do you suggest the city gets the money to invest in the drive-in?
What dumb things has the city done with tax-payer money?
You should have had the foresight back in 2007 to start saving your money to buy the drive-in with a group other investors. It was for sale back then, too. I’d like to point out that new businesses start up every day with investor capital and banks do loan money to the right projects/businesses. You’ve had as much time to plan for this as the city did. So what’s really your excuse?
I think the owner of the drive-in has as much a right to sell his land to Walmart as he does to sell it to any other business. I will miss the drive-in, but its going to sell. Whether or not you like the business that plans to develop the land won’t change that fact. Unless you’re willing to pony up the cash to counter their offers, it will sell to somebody else.
Look, I get it. The drive-in makes Cottage Grove “unique”. There aren’t many left in the state. But what does that tell you? The sun set on the drive-in era a long time ago. If there was really a drive-in revival or resurgence as some people have brought up, you’d see them popping up on every open piece of land. That’s just not the case. I know it’s unfortunate, but you can’t preserve everything just because it’s been there a long time.
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I’m willing to bet that if several citizens spoke with the mayor and/or the city council, I’m sure they’d be more than happy to start a “Movies in the Park” series like many other cities have. It would be a minimal investment for the city and a good, free-of-charge bonding experience for the residents of Cottage Grove. It would also use our existing park system instead of having to invest millions in a drive-in theater. Just an idea.
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