The Lava Lamp Approach To Economic Development
The City of Soap Lake, WA, is considering a towering 60-foot-high lava lamp in the center of downtown to revive tourism.
"Worried that visitors don't stop at Soap Lake any more even though its medicinal waters reputedly can cure anything from sheep parasites to snake bite, civic leaders are seriously considering trying to revive the tourist trade with a psychedelic blast from the past: a towering 60-foot-high lava lamp in the center of downtown, complete with viewing platform... But now two-thirds of its 1,700 inhabitants live in subsidized low-income housing. With little help available from the town, the lava lamp's champion, architect Brent Blake, is shopping the idea to big glass makers and philanthropists. The price tag, still as nebulous as the goo that would drift around in the lamp, could reach several million dollars."
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Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs, Cleveland State University
Feb 10, 2012
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