Friday, December 14, 2012

BELO puts more money in Dealey Plaza. What do they want in return?


Endowment pledged for downtown park maintenance as Belo ups contribution to Dealey Plaza overhaul


Okay, don't get confused.  BELO wants good publicity for itself.  BELO which is a media company, which owns The Dallas Morning News and WFAA-TV, Channel 8 in Dallas, is giving itself money to care for its own little water park which is not in Dealey Plaza.  And, oh yeah, it has given more money to the Dealey Plaza restoration project too.

A $1.5-million endowment to support maintenance of Belo Garden was announced today by officials of The Belo Foundation, Belo Crop. and A.H. Belo Corp.
The intention of the gift goes beyond a desire to help with long-range impact of the garden, which opened last May in downtown Dallas.
“In cooperation with the Park and Recreation Department, we have planned this project from the outset to be a funding model for other urban parks wherein the public and private sectors join together in funding land acquisition and construction, then create endowments to provide long-term support of the park,” Robert W. Decherd, chairman of The Belo Foundation, said in a statement.
That theme was echoed by Dallas Park Board President Max Wells, who said the gift “set an example for private sector involvement and support of the city’s urban spaces.”
The 1.7-acre Belo Garden is owned and was partly funded by the city. Major private contributors included Belo Corp, The Belo Foundation, Maureen H. and Robert W. Decherd Foundation and others such as Downtown Dallas Inc. and the M.R. and Evelyn Hudson Foundation.
Decherd is chairman, president and chief executive officer of A.H. Belo Corp., parent of The Dallas Morning News, and also chairman of Belo Corp., a television broadcasting company whose properties include WFAA-TV (Channel 8). A.H. Belo Corp. was created in 2008 when Belo Corp. spun off its newspaper assets into a separate company.
Announcement of the new endowment was coupled with word that the Belo Corp. and A.H. Belo Corporation recently doubled their contributions to the restoration of Dealey Plaza. The park is currently undergoing an extensive face-lift in time for the 50th anniversary next November of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
The A.H. Belo Corp. has now contributed a total of $50,000 and Belo Corp $100,000 to the project. The new gifts bring the total contributions from the two corporations, the Decherd Foundation and the Dealey family to $400,000.
The amount accounts for just under half the private money raised for the restoration project.

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