General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Creationist Ken Ham Blames Atheists For Ark Park Failure [View all]hatrack
(64,924 posts)If anybody's got reason to be pissed off, it ain't Ken Ham.
Oh, and btw, to the God-fearing folks of Grant County, Y'ALL GOT FUCKING PUNKED YOU FUCKING RUBES.
When Ham and his team at Answers in Genesis were looking for a location for their $100 million attraction, they pitched it as a way to create jobs. One projection (from the state) said Ark Encounter was expected to annually generate
a minimum of 3,000 new full-time equivalent jobs.
Unfortunately, those jobs turned out to be available only for people who agreed to Answers in Genesis fundamentalist Christian worldview. Even wannabe janitors had to agree the Earth was only 6,000 years old and gay marriage was an abomination.
Besides that, the city of Williamstown, which desperately wanted to be the home of the Ark, offered Hams team $62 million in junk bonds if they build the ship in their backyard. Grant County (which Williamstown is in) gave Hams team 98 acres of land for $1. (Thats not a typo. Just a single dollar.) And 2% of all employees paychecks were going back to Ark Encounter to help them pay off the loans, so neither the government nor the employees were getting everything they deserved.
Why would a city and county do all this? Because they hoped that the attraction would be so popular, it would increase tourism, liven up what was in many ways a dying town, create well-paying jobs, and be good for all surrounding businesses.
The state of Kentucky even promised Ark Encounter a tax incentive worth up to $18.25 million over the next decade based on attendance and sales. (Lawsuits to stop that, due to the discriminatory hiring, were unsuccessful.)
EDIT
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2017/05/24/ark-encounter-has-been-bad-news-for-the-people-of-williamstown-kentucky/