“Hmm … let’s see. What does our city need that it does not yet possess and just has to have? Ah, yes! Its own center for the arts!”

Clearly, this was not the actual thought process that brought the city to take steps towards acquiring the Center for Arts at the Armory complex by eminent domain in the very near future. Still, to some it may well be easily imagined that way.

Many are opposed to the practice of the city laying claim to properties it would like to have in this way. They insist that the rights of property owners should supersede the wishes of the city.

Be that as it may, the system is what it is, and the city is well within its own rights to pursue this course of action.

The question now is how beneficial this action will be for the city, in both the short and the long term.

It’s no secret that the Center has been struggling to make ends meet – especially since the COVID-19 pandemic’s effects have devastated the local economy – and its fundamental ability to sustain itself is now in question.

The city stepping in to preserve the property as a center for the arts may indeed represent one of the most important initiative it has ever taken up.

The Center has been home to a great many highly valued programs and events that add character and creative vibrancy to the community.

It just might be that the city’s move to take the Center under its wing to nourish and sustain it will eventually regarded as one of the best things that could have happened in this most challenging time.