SCFD is an investment in civilized society
There’s a measure buried at the bottom of November’s ballot that doesn’t get a lot of press. Issue 4B, which appears on the ballot in the seven-county Scientific and Cultural Facilities District, would renew the SCFD for another 12 years.
Unlike issues closer to the top the ballot, this doesn’t deal with the partisan passion of the presidential race, the economic effects of minimum wage, or the tendentious traits of universal health care or right to die. It’s only about culture!
And because it’s not high on the political sex-appeal meter, let alone high on the long ballot itself, it stands the chance of losing, especially because, framed in its barest form, it’s about a tax. However, unless in your mind there is no such thing as a good tax, it is to our benefit because it elevates us all and if it loses, we all lose.
If voters reauthorize the SCFD, one penny out of every $10 spent in our seven metro Denver counties will continue to fortify the features that distinguish civilized society from uncivilized: culture, education and science.
Many people won’t even bend over these days to pick up a penny from the sidewalk, right?
The economic development agency Metro Denver labels us as “the cultural capital of the Rocky Mountain region.” So no wonder that it champions SCFD as a success story almost 30 years old now. Metro Denver calculates that the more than 300 organizations that get grants from the 1-cent sales tax contribute $1.8 billion to our economy, and provide more than 10,000 jobs.
That includes big dogs like the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, the Denver Art Museum, the Denver Botanic Gardens, and the Denver Zoo. Sure, one way or the other, the still-growing population of residents and tourists here probably would keep such big-city attractions afloat even if the SCFD were to go away. Not so, out in the boonies. In Evergreen, for example, eight non-profits owe their well-being to contributions from the SCFD: Center for the Arts Evergreen, the Evergreen Audubon and Nature Center, the Evergreen Chamber Orchestra, the Evergreen Children’s Chorale, the Evergreen Chorale, the Evergreen Jazz Festival, the Evergreen Players, and Sculpture Evergreen.
That’s quite a lineup for one small community. Multiply that by all the metro-area communities that keep art and science alive, then consider that 14 million people participate in all the programs the SCFD funds, and you get that “cultural capital” that Metro Denver brags about. Even better, if ballot issue 4B passes, a higher percentage of funds will be redirected to communities where culture has expanded since SCFD was born.
Not too long ago, Denver was known as a “cow town.” Since then, in everything from professional sports to fine cuisine to world-class culture, we’ve come a long, long way. We should keep the lead.